Green Pea

The green pea, also called the garden pea, is the small round seed of Pisum sativum harvested while still immature and sweet, before the pod dries and the seed hardens. Eaten fresh, frozen or canned, green peas are one of the most widely grown vegetable legumes in temperate climates and are typically shelled from their pod before cooking, unlike edible podded varieties such as snap peas and snow peas. Once the same plant's seed is left to mature and dry on the vine, it becomes the dried pea used to produce split peas and pea flour, so the fresh green pea and the dried pea are two culinary stages of the identical crop rather than different plants.