The Pea reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004
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Scientific Classification
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.

Types of pea

The immature pea is called the garden pea. It is sold fresh (usually in the pod), tinned or frozen.


Ways of eating peas


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.

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