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I grew up in Britain, where one of my standard meals (as a fussy eater with a number of allergies) was some form of meat with peas and mashed potato. Now I'm living in the US, and to my dismay the peas here taste completely different, and I'm trying to figure out why.

I don't think it's a brand difference; I'm wondering if it's in the variety of peas, or how the peas are treated after picking. I'd like to grow my own, if I could be sure I'd get the right results.

Here is a link to the product page for a representative sample. They seem to be being referred to now as "Garden peas", though I'm not sure if that's a description or a variety.

So, British and American chefs - what's the difference between peas on different sides of the Pond?

Werrf
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    There are many varieties of peas in both places - fresh, frozen, canned, shelled, in-the-pod, etc. Were the peas you had in England rather large in diameter ("marrow" peas or "marrowfat" peas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrowfat_peas)? – John Feltz Dec 21 '16 at 19:49
  • @JohnFeltz No, they were quite firm, about the same size as the peas I find the US. – Werrf Dec 21 '16 at 19:53
  • The Pea Growers' Research Organization may be able to help you...http://www.pgro.org/ – JavaLatte Dec 22 '16 at 14:37

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I've lived on both sides of the Atlantic and I've never noticed much difference in peas, but then I'm not a connoisseur. The UK generally has 2 kids of peas on sale on the store, regular peas (aka garden peas) and petit pois, which are smaller, younger peas. The petit pois are much sweeter than garden peas, which are bigger and less flavorful. I've never seen petit pois in the states as far as I can remember, but there are generally peas and "sweet peas", and sweet peas tend to be sweeter than regular peas. The UK also has a product called mushy peas where the peas are mashed up and served as more of a liquid - not as bad as it sounds, it can be tasty if done right. This would often be out of a can if served at home.

As for how to get your peas how you like them I'd ask whomever makes dinner in your family what type of peas are used and how long they are cooked. People in the UK used to boil vegetables until they practically disintegrated but cuisine has improved dramatically in the past decade and nowadays it's much rarer to get that.

GdD
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    note that mushy peas is made not with fresh green peas, but with dried marrowfat peas, which are soaked, boiled for long enough to all apart and often coloured to make them a more appealing green colour – canardgras May 09 '18 at 10:05
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    Appealing is a relative term @canardgras, especially when it comes to mushy peas. – GdD May 09 '18 at 10:08
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I've only been to the UK once, and so my only basis on 'British' peas is 'mushy peas' for the most part. I do know that American varieties of fruits and vegetables are much more likely to be bred for sugar content as compared to European bred ones.

I suspect that most of what you were getting in the UK were 'hull peas', as another name for them is 'English peas'.

As I don't know how peas are classified in the UK (other than 'mange tout'), this is what I know for US peas (may be incomplete; I couldn't find an authoritative exhaustive list):

  • snow peas : aka. sugar peas; available fresh or frozen, as a whole pod, almost flat with very little peas inside; you eat the whole thing (mange tout)
  • snap peas : aka. sugar snap peas; available fresh in the spring and sometimes late fall. Sold as whole pods with large peas in them (sometimes so large they start flattening each other); you eat the whole thing (mange tout)
  • hull peas : aka. garden peas, shell peas, English peas; available fresh in the spring as whole pods, but the pod is not edible. Some varieties are sweeter than others.
  • field peas : aka dry peas; Used as a fall cover crop, and commonly sold dried or used as cattle field.
  • peanuts : (might not be a pea; definitely is not a nut) : Bends over as it grows, so the pods grow underground. Can be sold fresh ('green peanuts'; highly perishable, only available in areas where it's grown) or dried ('raw peanuts'), but commonly available in the US in a cooked form (mostly roasted, but also fried and boiled (seasonal) in the US south)

And to differentiate by processing:

  • fresh peas : it's possible that there are places that sell them already shelled, but around here I can only get them shell on, and can typically only get snow peas out of season.
  • frozen peas : typically labeled as 'sweet peas' or 'petite peas'
  • dried peas : I'm not sure if these are made from garden peas, field peas, or both
  • split peas : dried peas that have had their skins removed and split in half; cook up similar to lentils
  • canned peas : foul things; I'm not sure if they're really food; avoid at all cost

And then we have all of things with 'pea' in the name, but are actually different families of plants (I think they're all beans / legumes / pulses):

  • pigeon peas
  • black eyed peas (cowpeas)
  • the 'peas' in 'peas and rice'
  • chickpeas
  • crowder peas
  • cream peas

... and if anyone knows of any naming differences between the US and UK, please add it to Translating cooking terms between US / UK / AU / CA / NZ

Community
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Joe
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My impressions from visiting is that peas in the UK seem to be let go longer before harvest and as a result become more starchy than sweet - they also seemed to be vastly overcooked on a regular basis (as seen from a USA perspective.)

Ecnerwal
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I just saw where some listed kinds of peas. I just wanted to say peanuts are not fried yes they are roasted and boiled. Bush sells boiled peanuts in a can.

I grew up in the Deep South and we had small greens peas out of a can not very often usually at Easter and Christmas at my house. They were more fancy food than the field peas we ate all the time. These peas were always called English peas.

Someone said the US Breeds plants to have more sugar and I had never heard that before and I don’t think that is true. Peas have carbs and all peas have carbs but most of them have good carbs meaning it takes longer for your body to break them down and use them vs a bad carb that the body is able to break down quickly like potatoes are bad carbs.

When you start talking about peas in general in the Deep South you are talking about lots of kinds of peas but not green peas( the little round green peas out of a can) you are talking about field peas ,purple hull peas, black eyed peas, crowder peas and more. Most of these types of peas came to the Deep South from Africa by slaves. They are nothing like the little round green peas. If you grow the little round peas in the Deep South you have to grow them very early in the Spring because later the heat will kill them.

Some of the other types of peas you might find dried (black eyed peas) but most of the other peas are frozen. When I grew up in the Deep South in the 1950’s and 1960’s we grew peas by the acre or more peas were a staple food for most of us. I know we had peas every week served with cornbread. I wish I could post a picture of the small green peas vs the field peas. They are so different.

Martha C Moore
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    Welcome to SA! I must note, though, that you're answering a question which is 6 years old ... and not really answering the question that the OP had (the differences between current UK and US peas, as opposed to asking about peas in the South, which seems to be what you're talking about). – FuzzyChef Jan 14 '23 at 05:52
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From what I have been able to find is that marrow fat peas are what we call feeder peas. They have less sugar and are grown for animal feed but they are also grown and packaged as split peas in regular grocery stores. See Dry Field Pea

Gerrie
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