Know your Marrowfat pea

Marrowfat peas, pisum sativum, are green mature peas that have been allowed to dry out naturally in the field, rather than be harvested in their prime of youth like the normal garden pea.

Marrowfat peas have many different uses around the world.

In the UK they are traditionally used for canning, or as many of us would recognize them, mushy peas with fish and chips.

The better samples are normally exported to the far east where they are used as snack food wasabi peas.

As a spring sown field pea (pisum sativum) they are sown in March and harvested in August.

This lateness in maturity of marrowfat peas makes them more difficult for the farmer to achieve a good sample and, as a result, they invariably reach higher prices than other UK grown pulses.

They are grown on a wide range of soil types, mainly in the East, the Midlands and South of England.

Varieties grown in England:

1. Maro

2. Kabuki

3. Kahuna

4. Princess

5. Progreta

6. Samson

7. Sakura

8. Genki