Pease porrage hot, pease porrage cold
By Chelsie Vandaveer
January 3, 2003
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading—>Click here.
Long before humans built houses, wild peas were part of the human diet. Dried peas were found in Hungarian caves among the remnants of early human habitation. Peas were discovered in archaeological digs in the ruins of Troy and in Swiss lake sediments beneath where the stilted homes of the lake dwellers stood. The Greeks called them pison, the Romans, pisum. Linnaeus retained the Roman name for the botanical designation.
It appears that for most of the history of peas, the pods ripened on the plant. Peas were dried and stored for food in winter. According to the Horticulture Department of Texas A and M, green peas, used as a vegetable, are not mentioned until after the Norman Conquest in 1066. In Old English they were called pise, probably related to the French, pois.
In 1597, John Gerard listed six 'species' of peason, although they were probably varieties of the garden pea. (The singular was pease.)
"There be divers sorts of Peason...some of the garden, and others of the field, and yet both counted tame..." Those he considered wild simply did not produce large or many pods.
One was unusual, Gerard called it Pisum perenne sylvestre, the Everlasting wilde pease. "The Pease whose root never dies differeth not from the wilde Pease, onely his continuing without sowing, being once sowne or planted, setteth forth the difference." (The Herbal, 1633 edition)
According to the 1889 Century Unabridged Dictionary, pea is "A modern form, assumed as singular of the supposed plural pease. The dictionary attempted to guide grammar into reserving pea for a single seed, "...but when used collectively the old singular pease is properly used, as a 'bushel of pease'..." Pease-meal was a flour made of dried pease and used in the making of foundry molds for brasswork and strengthening sand molds. The poor used pease-meal for making porridge.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has a great article, "Pease Porridge Hot", its origin, lyrics, and in popular culture. To read the article, click on the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pease_Porridge_Hot
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has information on peas, including ways of eating peas, peas in science, and etymology. To read the information on peas, click on the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peas
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
How are sweet peas color coded? Weird Plants - January 9, 2003
How do sweet peas pollinate? Renfield's Garden - January 15, 2003
What proof came from peas? Weird Plants - January 2, 2003
How did we get so many varieties from the common bean? Weird Plants - September 20, 2001
What are popping beans? Weird Plants - September 23, 2004
Why did Linnaeus call these beans vulgar? What's in a Name? - September 21, 2001
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