A pea is the small, edible round green bean which grows in a pod on the leguminous vine Pisum sativum, or in some cases to the immature pods. This legume is cooked as a vegetable in many cultures. Several other seeds of the family Fabaceae, most of them round, are also called peas; this article deals with the species Pisum sativum and its cultivars. The pea plant is an annual plant, with a lifecycle of a year. The average pea weighs between 0.1 and 0.36 grams[1].

Peas are a cool-season vegetable crop. The seeds may be planted as soon as the soil temperature reaches 10

Culinary use

Frozen green peas In early times, peas were grown mostly for their dry seeds. In modern times, however, peas are usually boiled or steamed, which breaks down the cell walls and makes the taste sweeter and the nutrients more bio-available. Along with broad beans and lentils, these formed an important part of the diet of most people in Europe during the Middle Ages (Bianchini 1975 p 40). By the 1600s and 1700s it had become popular to eat peas "green", that is, while they are immature and right after they are picked. This was especially true in France and England, where the eating of green peas was said to be "both a fashion and a madness" . New cultivars of peas were developed by the English during this time which became known as garden peas and English peas. The popularity of green peas spread to North America.

 Canning

With the invention of canning and freezing of foods, green peas became available year-round, and not just in the spring as before.

In India, fresh peas are used in various dishes such as aloo matar (curried potatoes with peas) or matar paneer (paneer cheese with peas), though they can be substituted with frozen peas as well. Peas are also eaten raw, as they are sweet when fresh off the bush. Dried peas are often made into a soup or simply eaten on their own.

In the UK, dried yellow split peas are used to make pease pudding (or "pease porridge"), a traditional dish. In the United Kingdom, dried, rehydrated and mashed marrowfat peas, 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, particularly in fish and chip shops. Processed peas are mature peas which have been dried, soaked and then heat treated (processed) to prevent spoilage

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