Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold,Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old.
old nursery rhyme
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Pease porridge, the ancestor of what is now known as pea and ham soup, was a staple food in medieval times. It consisted of split peas, salt, spices and water, and was both filling and nutritious.
Peas originated in the Middle East, in the area around Turkey and Iraq. They are an ancient food source, having been cultivated, along with wheat and barley, at the beginning of agriculture, around 7.000 years ago. Originally peas would have been picked at the end of their life-cycle, as dried peas, then stored and cooked when needed; fresh peas, or garden peas, came into cultivation around 5,000 years ago, in Switzerland. The Ancient Greeks and Romans were known to have cultivated garden peas.1
DESCRIPTION
Peas (Pisum sativum) are legumes, from the same family as beans, broad beans, pigeon peas and, perhaps surprisingly, wattle trees. They are known to be nitrogen-fixing plants; which means that they fix nitrogen on to their roots via nodules: please note, that this is only possible if the correct rhizobium are present in the soil.
All parts of the pea plant above the ground are edible. Young leaves can be eaten as pea sprouts, which are often sold at quite high prices in supermarkets. Shelling peas or garden peas are grown for the peas inside the pods, but very young pods can be eaten. Snow peas are usually eaten while they are still flat and the pea has only just started to develop. These are sometimes called ‘mangetout’, literally: “eat all”. Snap peas, also known as sugar snap peas, are a cross between garden peas and snow peas. Snow peas are sweeter than garden peas, and snap peas are sweeter than snow peas.
While many peas are climbing varieties, there are also dwarf peas for smaller gardens. Dwarf peas will probably still need some form of support. Those parts which we call “peas’, are actually the immature seeds of the plant. Mature peas can be dried completely and stored for many months.
Please note that the annual flowering, usually fragrant, plant we call “sweet peas” (Lathyrus odoratus) is not edible.
CULINARY USES
Young peas can be eaten raw. More mature peas needs to be cooked to be palatable. Snow peas may only need a quick blanch to warm them through but they are also delicious eaten straight from the vine. Peas are, of course, the basis for pea and ham soup but they can also be used as a side dish, or added in the last few minutes of cooking stews or casseroles. Snow peas can be stir fried. Fresh peas can also be blanched and frozen for later use.
Peas have many nutritional benefits but they are also very dense in calories. 1/2 cup of peas provides 12g of carbohydrate (70% carbs) and 55 calories (230kJ) of energy.
MEDICINAL USES
Peas are a good source of Vitamins C and E, zinc and contain antioxidants. They are also very high in dietary fibre. They contain nutrients that may assist in eye health and in lowering blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes. Some studies have shown that peas may assist in preventing plaque from building up in blood vessels.2, 3
HOW TO GROW PEAS
Peas prefer soil with a slightly higher pH than many other vegetables, between 6 and 7.5. In very acidic soil, you may need to add to some dolomite or garden lime to your soil. We use wood ash from a trusted friend’s fireplace mixed into the compost that we lay as a top dressing on the soil several weeks before planting. Peas also prefer fertiliser that is higher in phosphorus – well rotted manure will help to keep phosphorus levels high.4
Peas need a soil temperature of less than 20°C to germinate, which will be no problem at this time of year!
If your garden soil is too cold (less than 8°C), sow your pea seeds into a toilet roll tube or make a paper pot from newspaper by rolling it around a narrow, straight-sided container, then folding the bottom – the soil will hold the folds of the paper pot (or toilet roll) in place. Detailed instructions for making pots can be found on YouTube.
Ideally, pea seeds are sown directly, at a distance of 5-15cm apart (check your plant label for the variety you are growing). Pea seeds will germinate in 7-21 days, depending on the temperature of your soil and the air temperatures at night. If you sowed your seeds into a paper pot, plant them out when they are 1-2cm tall. If you leave it too long, the transplant shock may set them back quite a bit. Some may not recover.
Water your peas when sowing, then do not water again until the young shoots emerge above the soil. Peas are prone to rot in wet soil so, if the weather is rainy or your soil does not drain well, it may be better to plant in a disposable pot (as described above). If gemination has not occurred after 21 days, the seed may have rotted (or been planted too deeply). Replant more seed after making sure the soil is free-draining.
You can use succession planting to have a continual harvest of peas for the entire season; as the older plants begin to die off, there will be new a plants to take their place. To do this: plant some seeds at the beginning of the season then plant more every two-three weeks until the soil starts to get too warm (usually around late August-early September). There’s no reason why you would have to grow the same variety for every sowing: you could start with tall-growing shelling peas and end the season with dwarf varieties. or plant shelling peas in success with snow peas …. Peas are self-pollinating but there is a small chance that changing varieties could result in cross-pollination. This is only an issue if you intend to save seed for next year — or to donate to the seedbank.
All peas, even dwarf varieties, will need support: trellis, fence, arch, teepee, etc. Remember to put the support in before you sow the pea seeds.
Young pea plants can be hit hard by frost, so if frost is a problem in your garden, make sure you cover the plants at night with horticultural fleece or something similar. All young seedlings can be susceptible to slugs and snails so provide protection from these too.
You can pick pea shoots while you are waiting for the peas to develop but the more you pick, the slower the plant will be to mature. In the right conditions, peas will start flowering in about 10-14 weeks; garden (shelling) pea pods may take up to three weeks after flowering.
If saving seeds to sow next year, you will need to leave pods on the plants until the whole plant dies off. Even then the seeds may not be dry so place them in a paper bag, and hang the paper bag in a cool, dry area (such as a garage) for several weeks. Seeds can then be stored in a cool, dry place out of light.
PEAS IN THE PSW SEEDBANK (your seedbank)
- ‘Alderman‘ (aka ‘Telephone’) – a tall growing shelling pea
- ‘Capucijner‘ – RARE – purple podded peas that can be used fresh or dried
- ‘Golden Podded‘ – tall growing, young pods can be eaten as snow peas
- ‘Green Feast‘ – dwarf plant to 90cm, shelling pea
- ‘Massey‘ – dwarf plant to 50cm, shelling pea, popular variety
- ‘Mammoth Melting‘ – tall growing snow pea variety
- ‘Novella‘ – a strange looking dwarf plant, which is more tendrils than leaves
- ‘Sugar Snap‘ – climber to 1.2m; shelling pea, more frost hardy than other varieties
- ‘Yakumo‘- snow pea with large pods, up to 15cm in the right conditions
Links above are to the PSW 2023 catalogue, where you can find information about, and (sometimes) photos of, the varieties available. (PSW is always appreciative of donations of photo of plants to update our catalogue, thank you).
Your catalogue is now open for mail order and “click and collect” sales. Please note that mail orders incur a $5 postage and handling fee; “click and collect” orders incur a $2 handling fee.
Seeds for all seasons are available while in stock. We only bring seed for the current month to PSW meetings unless you have placed a “click and collect” order.
Please note: seeds are for sale to PSW and PSN members only.
Thank you.
Until next month
Lynne (PSW Seed Savers Team Coordinator and Custodian of the Seed Bank)
DISCLAIMER
This article is for gardening information and general interest only. Being neither a herbalist nor a qualified medical practitioner, I cannot give any medical advice on the use of any plant, internally or externally. Readers of this article must do their own research before using cabbages for any purpose other than as a garden plant.
REFERENCES
- FoodPrint.org, Real Food Encyclopedia | Peas
- Poonam Sachdev, Health Benefits of Peas
- Brianna Elliott, Why Green Peas are Healthy and Nutritious
- University of Minnesota, Growing peas in home gardens