# growing "split peas"



## freegal

I would like to grow my own peas for split peas. Are these just regular peas that are left to dry or are they are a different variety? I found that you can grow Austrian field peas (not sure if I remember the name correctly) for yellow dried peas but what about the green ones? Anyone know about this?

Thanks!


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## turtlehead

I haven't grown them myself, butthis page suggests they are plain old garden peas with a smooth hull rather than a wrinkled hull.


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## turtlehead

Try doing a search for "Cajanus cajan" too -- that might be more what you're looking for.


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## freegal

Thank you Turtlehead! I didn't think to search the extension websites. Now I just have to figure out which pea seed is smooth.


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## turtlehead

I know, they don't always say. 

I'm thinking that "cajanus cajan" might be more appropriate, as those are the split peas used in Indian cooking.

I'm the only one in the house that likes split peas so I haven't bothered growing them yet. I just buy them at the grocery store when I get a hankering for ham and split pea soup. Mmmm, that sounds good right now!


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## freegal

We eat split pea soup quite regularly here so it would be nice to have a home-grown supply. Growing beans for dry beans is so easy, I guess peas would be too. The field peas I mentioned seemed to be right for the yellow split peas or even livestock feed. The cajanus cajan are pigeon peas which is a perennial bush which some of the frugal folks grow for feed for chickens. I don't know if they are good for people to eat though!


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## Freeholder

Look for 'Alaska' peas. That's the ones that make the green split peas. They can be hard to find -- if you come across them, better get enough for two or three years.

Kathleen


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## susieM

Have you tried planting some from a store-bought package?


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## freegal

I went through all my seed catalogs and read all the pea descriptions and did come across the Alaska peas (thanks BJF!). Not too many catalogs describe the pea as wrinkled or smooth. I never tried to plant from store-bought peas but I think I will try to see if they will sprout. The next thing I was thinking about was lentils, so I'm going to try to sprout those too.


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## Colorado

BakerCreek has Alaska listed. Says great for soup. I have grown them years ago. Just for fresh peas. 

SusieM, peas that is split open does not grow. They come that way in the store. I have grown dried peas from the store that was whole and they seem to be the Alaska. My mother would buy yellow split peas. I think a type of field pea.

My sister at the ranch would dry peas for winter use. Far as I know she used the Alaska. There at 8000 ft and cool the peas would grow all summer.


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## ceresone

Seems like I remember wrinkled and smooth peas show which is planted early--or later? might be wrong--anyone else know this?


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## mpillow

Another thought.....

Certain things are cheaper to buy like split peas and pinto beans; therefore, we choose to grow something more expensive to buy or marketable in available garden space.


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## freegal

mpillow said:


> Another thought.....
> 
> Certain things are cheaper to buy like split peas and pinto beans; therefore, we choose to grow something more expensive to buy or marketable in available garden space.


Yes, that's true. Split peas used to be 25 cents a pound, now they are 52 cents - still not expensive but other beans are higher. I like to have my own home-grown food on hand, it tastes better. Dried peas & beans are so easy to grow and I certainly have the garden space for them. My plan is to produce more of a variety of foods to put by for winter use.


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## karsan

I regularly grow a small amount of yellow dry peas for soup, for the same reason as freegal - more or less for they fun of knowing that I can. They are about the cheapest thing in the store, and a traditional common dish here in Sweden, so there is no economics in it. The first I grow from a store-bought package that had been sitting on a shelf for more than a decade - perhaps two. I was just curious to see if any would germinate - and few did! (Never give up on old seeds until you have tested them)

In any case, last year my soup peas were a flop. I usually have my peas in the greenhouse for deer protection and early harvest, but this year I got not one ripe dry pea there. Not from the yellow soup peas and not from the snow peas (right name - you eat the pod?) from which I usually save some seeds for next year. No problem with the pods - but as soon as the peas were approaching maturity, they disappeared. Every one - and including the pod. I suspect some kind of small rodent - just 15 m away I had a few yellow pea plants that I took a chance of planting where deer could get them. They survived. I figure a bird or bigger mammal certain would find those as well as the one in the greenhouse. So the culprit should be one with a limited range. There are bushes and piles of rocks close the greenhouse that could be the home of the thief. 

The difference between the snow peas and the yellow peas grown for soup is not large - they look exactly the same. But the pod of those meant for soup is stringy, otherwise the taste is very much the same. The peas seem all to ripen at the same time on the soup pea plants - whereas the others come in two waves for me. 

karsan


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## Colorado

I think you are right Ceresone, smooth peas are the early ones. 

I can not remember what I paid for dried split green peas. But about like that. Pintos are the cheapest bean here . How do you split peas or do they cook up from whole that way.?


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## Freeholder

Colorado said:


> I think you are right Ceresone, smooth peas are the early ones.
> 
> I can not remember what I paid for dried split green peas. But about like that. Pintos are the cheapest bean here . How do you split peas or do they cook up from whole that way.?


I haven't grown the Alaska peas to dry yet, but since they have a hull on them, I suspect there must be some winnowing process to get them to the split stage that you buy at the store.

Kathleen


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## freegal

Only one catalog (that I have) listed peas as smooth or wrinkled. Perhaps as the peas dry and are shelled the thin skins come off and the peas split. I guess I will figure it out at that time!


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## freegal

Oh, and I found a source for 2 types of lentils for sprouting. I don't see why those couldn't be grown for dried lentils. I use those regularly, too. I'll check the extension website to see how those are grown.


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## bbbuddy

I have read that split peas are "shot" at a hard surface to split them, so I doubt that you can buy any that split naturally...


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## freegal

bbbuddy said:


> I have read that split peas are "shot" at a hard surface to split them, so I doubt that you can buy any that split naturally...


Maybe put them in a paper bag and use a meat pounder on them? Sounds like a good way for the boys to use up some energy!


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## Colorado

I wonder if set the mill just a bit tighter than a pea and run them them if would crack them open? You can crack up corn. I have bean and pea sheller. Never had any to try in it. But not split them.


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## JulesP

Colorado said:


> BakerCreek has Alaska listed. Says great for soup. I have grown them years ago. Just for fresh peas.
> 
> SusieM, peas that is split open does not grow. They come that way in the store. I have grown dried peas from the store that was whole and they seem to be the Alaska. My mother would buy yellow split peas. I think a type of field pea.
> 
> My sister at the ranch would dry peas for winter use. Far as I know she used the Alaska. There at 8000 ft and cool the peas would grow all summer.


Why do dried split green peas not grow?


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## Danaus29

Dried split peas won't grow because the seed coat has been removed and the seed has been split. If you peel the seed coat off a pea seed you will notice the seed has 2 halves with a little nodule in between. The nodule is the part that produces the root and stem of the plant. The halves are what becomes the cotelydons, also known as the first leaves. Beans are about the same. Grocery store packages of beans and lentils (which are also in the pea family) will grow because the seed is intact.


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