Split Peas

Photo: flickr user Zed.Cat

About

Split peas are dried, peeled, and split peas of Pisum sativum. Split peas are usually greenish-gray or yellow in color. Split peas are usually made into split pea soup or into pease pudding or pease porridge.

When peas are eaten fresh from picking, they are quite sweet. They are rich in protein, low in fat, and high in fiber. Yellow split peas are known to take much longer to cook than green split peas.

Peasmeal, a flour made from peas can also be made by grinding yellow peas.

Information

Other names: Yellow Split Peas, English Green, Shelling Peas, Garden Peas

Translations: Split Zirņi, Split Mazăre, Grašak Splitu, Spliterwten, विभाजित मटर, Лущеный горох, Split Μπιζέλια, تقسيم البازلاء, 분할 말린 완두콩, Сплит грашак, Hatiin ang mga gisantes, 豌豆, Split Grah, Secchi spaccati, פיצול Peas, Delade ärter, Biji kapri yg dibelah-belah, スプリットピーズ, Pois cassés, Spalterbsen, Flækærter, Лущений горох, Split herneet, Сплит Грах

Physical Description

A pea that has been sliced down its natural seam to aid in rapid drying.

Colors: Yellow, green

Tasting Notes

Mouthfeel: Soft, Mealy texture

Food complements: Thyme, Sage, Bay, Curry powder, Cumin, Carrots, Garlic, Onion, Pork

Wine complements: Whites

Substitutes: Lentils

Selecting and Buying

Choosing: Yellow or green, other than that, they are all quite similar

Buying: Fresher dried beans and peas cook faster and taste better. Choose a source with regular turnover. They are readily availabe in grocery stores, health stores, and via online retailers.

Preparation and Use

Requires no pre-soaking, can be cooked in soup or boiled by itself.

Cleaning: rinse

Conserving and Storing

let cool, refrigerate

Social/Political

Used to make puddings centuries ago, predominantly used in Beijing but still used in most traditional cuisines worldwide.Yellow split peas are sometimes confused with the Indian toor dal (split pigeon peas) or chana dal (split yellow gram, chickpeas or garbanzo beans); while all commonly known as peas the latter are from other legume species.

They are a great source of protein.

Green and yellow split peas are commonly used to make pea soup, and sometimes pease pudding, which was commonly prepared in Medieval Europe.

Yellow split peas are most often used to prepare dhal in Guyana and Trinidad. Referred to as simply dhal it is prepared similarly to dhals found in India but also may be used in a variety of other recipes.

Yellow split peas are used to make a sweet snack in Beijing cuisine. Wandouhuang (豌豆黄) is a sweetened and chilled peas pudding, sometimes flavored with osmanthus blossoms and dates