There isnt a large variety of Peas but they are still important to our diet. Snow peas and sugar snap peas are the most commen and a 1 cup serve is an excellent source of vitamin C and potassium. The french word is "mange tout" which means" to eat the lot". There are only 90kj per a 50gm serve which is about 20 snow peas. They are available all year and sugar snaps from May to January. They should snap crisply when fresh, store up to 7 days in crisper. Eat raw, steamed, microwaved or in stir fries. You only need to top and tail and dont overcook. Use in salads, risotto, asian cooking, with noodles, soups, split pea soup, mashed peas in potato, in fritters and omelettes, in patties and our Aussie favourite, pie with peas. Suprisingly the nutrients are often better in frozen peas as they can lose goodness from the time the are picked till you buy them at the fruitshop.
Chick Peas are included here though they are a legume, and have been grown in Goondiwindi, Qld since the early 1970's. It is a very important crop in Northern NSW and Southern Queensland. The Chick Pea got its name from the small peak at the end of each pea which looks like a chickens beak. Desi chick peas are small, wrinkled at the beak and can be brown, fawn, yellow, black, green or orange. They are favoured in India and are usually dehulled and split to obtain dahl. Kabuli is rounder and larger, with the seeds about 400mg, they are a creamy white in colour. They are mostly used whole and are preferred in the Mediterranean, they are also the ones we use mostly here in Australia. Chickpeas area very good source of protein, and carbohydrates, full of fibre, have iron and minerals, are low GI, have a high digestibility and are rich in calcium and phosperous. Vegetarians use chickpeas as a replacement for meat, and they can be used in soups, stews, rissoles, salads, also used to make hummus and falafel. A very useful pea to have in our everyday diet.