Split pea

Harvesting

The peas are round when harvested, with an outer skin. The peas are dried and the dull-coloured outer skin of the pea removed, then split in half by hand or by machine at the natural split in the seed's cotyledon.

There are green and yellow varieties of split pea. Gregor Mendel studied the inheritance of seed color in peas; the green phenotype is recessive to the yellow one. Traditionally, the genotype of purebred yellow is "YY" and that of green is "yy", and hybrids of the two, "Yy", have a yellow (dominant) phenotype.

Split peas are high in protein and low in fat, with one gram of fat per 350 calories (1,500 kJ) serving. Most of the calories come from protein and complex carbohydrates. The split pea is known to be a natural food source that contains some of the highest amounts of dietary fiber, containing 26 grams of fiber per 100 gram portion (104% DV based on a 2,000 calories (8,400 kJ) diet).

The Indian toor dal (split pigeon peas) and chana dal (split yellow gram, desi chickpeas) are commonly also referred to as peas, although from other legume species than Pisum sativum.

Culinary uses

Green and yellow split peas are commonly used to make pea soup or "split pea soup", and sometimes pease pudding, which was commonly prepared in Medieval Europe.

In north India, they are generally known as matar ki daal, sometimes used as a cheaper variation for the very popular chhole on stalls offering it.

Yellow split peas are most often used to prepare dhal in Guyana, Trinidad and the Fiji Islands. Referred to as simply dhal, it is prepared similarly to dhals found in India, but also may be used in a variety of other recipes. Yellow split pea is the main ingredient of the Iranian food "khoresh gheymeh", which is served on the side of white rice in Iranian cuisine. It is also an important ingredient in the famous Tabriz köftesii, a kofta speciality from Northern Iran,

Yellow split peas are used to make a sweet snack in Beijing cuisine. Wandouhuang (豌豆黄) is a sweetened and chilled pease pudding, sometimes flavored with osmanthus blossoms and dates.

The Greek word for the yellow split pea, and an appetizer or meze dish made with puréed split peas, is φάβα ("fáva").

In the Caribbean split peas are a key ingredient in many Indian dishes.

Split peas were used for an unusual non-culinary purpose during the Second World War. Great efforts were made to optimise the manufacture of the British Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft, speeding and cheapening manufacture while maintaining or enhancing performance. Flush-headed rivets were used on a prototype for the smoothest possible surfaces, but this made it more difficult, expensive, and slower to produce than using the usual dome-headed rivets. Rather than the cumbersome alternative of comparing actual rivets, split peas were glued over all the flush rivets to simulate dome heads. This reduced the speed by 22 mph (35 km/h), which was unacceptable. Split peas were then progressively removed to determine which rivets really needed to be flush; the results were applied to production aeroplanes.