Peas - home page.

Harvesting 'frozen' peas

Peas are very important and useful crop when grown in their own right but are also useful as a break crop as they belong to the family of plants called legumes. The legumes, which also include beans, clover and lupins are able to "fix" and use the nitrogen from the air thanks to bacteria which inhabit nodules in their roots. This nitrogen becomes available to the following crop as a fertiliser when the roots decay after the legume crop has been harvested - an important source in both conventional and organic systems. Legumes (typically peas and beans) which are grown for their seed are known as pulses.

Dry Peas

Peas are grown either to harvest the seed dry which is rich in protein and are used either for human or animal consumption.

Vining Peas

Peas are also grown for freezing within a few minutes of been harvested - typically within 150 minutes of harvesting. These fresh green peas are harvested from the vine by a very sophisticated harvester which is able to collect and pod the peas without them becoming mushy peas!!! These are generally referred to as vining peas and are grown in special co-operative groups due to the investment which is need in harvesting and processing equipment. These are generally grown from East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and East Anglia - you have probably smelt them being harvested in the summer as you drive past peas fields in these areas.......

Vining Peas Page

Further statistics on peas can be found on the UK Agriculture web site