LOCAL PEAS
You can include peas or pea shoots raw in the salad bar, as a vegetable side dish, as an ingredient in a pasta dish, soup, or stew, or as a taste test item. Included on this website are featured curriculum connections for peas, along with recipes for food service departments and for students and their families.
Agriculture Facts:
- Peas are an annual plant, with a life cycle of one year. In early times, peas were grown mostly for their dry seeds.
- Peas are a cool-season crop grown in many parts of the world. Planting can take place from winter to early summer depending on location.
- Immature peas are used as a vegetable, fresh, frozen or canned. Varieties of the species typically called field peas are grown to produce dry peas like the split pea shelled from the matured pod.
- Pea is a fragile plant that can grow as a low-ground plant or as a vine. They develop snake-like tendrils which support the plant by attaching to the surrounding structures and objects. They can grow up to 6 feet in height.
- Since 2003, global cultivation has ranged between 1.6 to 2.2 million planted hectares (4–5.4 million acres) producing 12–17.4 million tons per year.
- Wild vs Domestic: Unlike grains, which ripen all at once and stand up straight with their grains on predictably sized spikes, wild peas put out seeds all over their flexible plant stems, and they have a hard, water-impermeable shell that allows them to ripen over a very long period of time. Traits developed in domesticated peas include pods that don’t shatter on maturity—wild peapods shatter, scattering their seeds out to reproduce.
Nutrition and Food Facts:
- High levels of antioxidants in peas prevent several reactions in the body that may cause serious diseases.
- Peas are rich sources of many minerals such as iron, calcium, zinc, copper, manganese etc. which enhances the immune system of your body.
- The high dietary fiber content of peas makes them a good digestion aid. The fiber also improves the metabolism of the body in general by improving digestion.
History and Lore:
- Fossil evidence indicates that people ate peas even during the Bronze Age.
- The earliest archaeological finds of peas date from the late Neolithic era of current Greece, Syria, Turkey, and Jordan.
- In Europe, eating fresh immature green peas was an innovation of Early Modern cuisine.
- Over time a lot of lore, superstitions, and rituals accumulated around the pea plant. Ultimately, as small as it is, the pea came to play a central role in European folklore and fairy tales than did any other vegetable. More than a few fairy tale heroes won both a princess and a castle with its help. As peas porridge is said to be a favorite dish of the wee folk, dwarves, and good house spirits, in order to please them a small bowl of it was traditionally placed in a dark corner of the house on Christmas Eve.
- According to the German fairy tale “The Fairies of Cologne,” the wee folk used to come secretly in the night to relieve those sleeping of much of their unpleasant work. They helped with carpentry, sewed, baked bread, washed clothes, cleaned, and swept. They would probably still do this to this day had it not been for a curious tailor’s wife who thought she’d have no peace until she’d find out what they looked like. Toward midnight the nosy woman tossed a bucket of peas on the steps and lit a lantern; lo and behold, there she caught sight of the wee folk stumbling and tripping over the peas in their hasty flight. After that incident the helpful dwarfs left the city of Cologne forever, leaving the people to do their work themselves.
Spread the word and build partnerships
Don’t be a solo act. Invite your community to the table!
Promote in-house:
- Announcements
- Newsletters
- Website
- Social media
- Events (health fairs, open houses, garden working events, back to school, holiday activities, parents night, sporting events)
- Meetings (PTO, wellness committee, board of directors, staff professional learning days)
- Food tastings during events
Promote in your community:
- Report on activities and share pictures with news sources
- Share with community partners for their websites, social media and newsletters
- Post fliers at public places (libraries, health centers, non-profit hospitals, garden groups, local farm hubs, farmers markets, health agencies)
- Ask students to create and publicize local food stories – include photos or create videos
Invite others onsite to get involved:
- Build impact by engaging culinary arts, Future Farmers of America, wellness, botany, ecocentric and garden programs
- Create relationships and engage non-profit hospitals, garden groups, local farm hubs, farmers markets, health agencies and advocates
- Find support in local culinary leaders and businesses
Curricular Connections and Activities
K-12:
- Pick a better snack lesson plans from the Iowa Department of Public Health. Click here to view the PDF for K-1, and here for 2-3 grade students.
- Peas in a Pod from Ag in the Classroom for grades 3-5. Click here to view the lesson.
- Peas Lesson from U of I Extension in Champaign. Click here for the PDF.
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Recipes
We have many recipes for you to look through in our Recipe Index! Here you can see take-home recipes for use in the community as well as more choices for your cafeteria. You will find hot and cold recipes for most foods. Be sure to use the provided icons on your menu!
Featured Food Service Recipe #1: Orzo Pasta with Spring Peas
Featured CACFP Recipe: Snap Pea and Berry Salad
Featured Home Recipe 1: Fresh Pea Salad
Featured Home Recipe #2: Lemon Jasmine Rice with Spring Peas