[Sca-cooks] Dutch gray field pea

[Terry Decker]

Pisum is an Old World genus with several species.  There are no New World 
peas.  You are thinking of Phaleolus, the genus of New World beans.

P. sativum, the common pea, has at least two subspecies and many varietals. 
Gray peas are a naturally occurring color across a number of varietals and 
have been around at least since the Middle Ages.  Most modern cultivars of 
gray peas originate in the Low Countries, thus Dutch gray (or grey).  Gray 
varietals of field and garden peas are available, but most of those 
available are post-period hybrids.

Bear

> Bear said:
> <<< In this particular instance, the pea under discussion is probably the 
> Dutch
> gray field pea.  It was under cultivation in the Low Countries and appears
> to have been introduced into England in the late 15th or early 16th 
> Century
> at the same time as the orange carrot. >>>
>
> Let me confirm. This is an Old World pea variety, not a New World one, 
> right?
>
> If so, is it still around? Or did it get extinguished by the introduction 
> of the various New World peas?
>
> Thanks,
>  Stefan