History/Origin
Created in 1979, the sugar snap pea was a product of the crossing of the English and Snow Pea.
http://www.freshking.com/
Archeologists exploring the "Spirit Cave," located on the border between Burma and Thailand, found peas that were carbon dated at 9750 BCE. No doubt these were a variety of wild peas that were gathered rather than cultivated. Another archeological dig at Jarmo in northwestern Iraq uncovered peas that were dated between 7,000 and 6,000 BCE.
http://www.vegparadise.com/
Nutrition/Chemical Composition
Green peas are a very good source of vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese, dietary fiber, folate and thiamin (vitamin B1). They are also a good source of vitamin A, phosphorus, vitamin B6, protein, niacin, magnesium, riboflavin (vitamin B2), copper, iron, zinc and potassium.
http://www.whfoods.com/
The largest chemical component in peas is carbohydrates which composes about 56.6% of seed weight. The most plentiful pea carbohydrate is starch at 36.9-48.6%, while amylose is about 34% of seed weight in peas. "Nutrient composition of milled and polished peas as measured per 100 grams of edible portion of dried matured whole seeds are 1.4 g oil, 6 g crude fiber, 16.7 g dietary fiber, 54.1% starch, 8.1% sugars, 4.4 mg iron, 0.77 mg thiamin, 0.18 mg riboflavin, 3.1 mg niacin and 330 kcal energy" (Newman et al., 1988). Fertilizing peas with sulfur has increased their methionine content from 1.3 to 2.2 g per 100 g protein. "Pea hay (at 88.6% DM) contains (zero moisture basis): 10.7-21.6% crude protein, 1.5-3.7% fat, 16.8-36.1% crude fiber, 6.0-9.3% ash, and 41.9-50.6% N-free extract" (Duke, 1981).
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropfactsheets/pea.html#Chemistry
Interesting Facts
During the Roman Empire they were considered to be poisonous and was no longer popular.
http://www.plantea.com/
The French called them mange-tout, translated as eat the whole thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment