Pea
Peas
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Subfamily: Faboideae Tribe: Vicieae Genus: Pisum Species: sativum
Binomial name
Pisum sativum

A pea (Pisum sativum) is the small, edible round green seed which grows in a pod on a leguminous vine, hence why it is called a legume. Several other seeds of the family Fabaceae, most of them round, are also called peas.

According to etymologists, the term was taken from Latin and adopted into English as the singular term "pease." as in pease pudding below. However, by analogy with other plurals ending in "-s", speakers began construing "pease" as a plural and constructing the singular form by dropping the "s", giving us the term "pea". This process is known in linguistics as back-formation.

Pease pudding hot,

Pease pudding cold,

Pease pudding in the pot,

Nine days old

Some like it hot,

Some like it cold,

Some like it in the pot

Nine days old

Peas are cooked as a vegetable in many cultures.

Contents

1 Cultivation history 2 Types of pea 3 Ways of eating peas 4 Peas in science

Cultivation history

Peas have been found in Near Eastern archaeological sites which date back nearly 10,000 years. Domesticated varieties appeared relatively shortly after wheat and barley, which appear to have been cultivated as long ago as 7800BC. By 2000BC, pea cultivation had spread throughout Europe and east into India.

Types of pea

Peas grown for the immature peas are called garden peas, shell peas or green peas. They are sold fresh (usually in the pod), or tinned or frozen.

The mature pea, which dries naturally in the field, is known as the marrowfat pea. This name is recorded by the OED as early as 1733. It is grown mainly in Britain, but many are exported to the Far East. One of the oldest export varieties, popular in Japan for the last hundred years, is called Maro. This has led some people to assume mistakenly that the English name marrowfat is derived from Japanese.

Several varieties of peas are eaten pod and all and are known as mangetout, edible pod peas, snow peas, sugar peas or snap peas. They are especially characteristic of oriental cuisine. The snow peas are eaten before the pod inflates, whereas the snap peas are eaten when the seeds have partly matured and the pod is round.

Field peas, also reffered to as protein peas are a cultivar of P. sativum (P. sativum var. arvense) that are grown as forage or for hay production.

Ways of eating peas

Dried peas are often made into a soup or simply eaten on their own. In Japan and other Far Eastern countries, such as Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia, the peas are roasted and salted, and eaten as snacks. In the UK, marrowfat peas are used to make pease pudding, a traditional dish. In the US a similarly traditional dish is split pea soup.

Fresh peas are often eaten boiled and flavored with butter and/or spearmint as a side dish vegetable. Fresh peas are also used in pot pies, salads and casseroles. Pod peas (particularly sweet varieties called mangetout and sugar peas) are used in stir fried dishes.

In the UK, dried, rehydrated and mashed marrowfat peas, sold as "processed peas" but usually known by the public as mushy peas, are popular, originally in the north of England but now ubiquitously, and especially as an accompaniment to fish and chips or meat pies, particular in chippies or fish and chip shops. Sodium bicarbonate is sometimes added to soften the peas.

Cooked peas are sometimes sold dried and coated with wasabi as an eye-watering snack.

Peas in science

Pioneering geneticist Gregor Mendel studied seven traits of pea pods in teasing out three early laws of genetics.

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Peas is also the name of a commune of the Marne département in France.

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