Snap pea
A pea with a sweet, edible pod and full-sized peas, commonly eaten whole, raw or cooked.
Garden pea: A cultivated form of Pisum sativum grown for its edible seeds. Snap peas belong to the same cultivated species, but their pods are eaten too.
Stir-frying: A cooking method that rapidly fries small pieces of food over high heat while stirring. Brief high-heat cooking keeps snap peas crisp and bright.
Legume: A plant in the family Fabaceae, whose fruits are pods and whose roots often host nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Snap peas are legumes, with pods that enclose their seeds.
Pea domestication: The transformation of wild peas into cultivated crops through human selection. Snap peas descend from the long history of domesticating Pisum sativum.
Shelling pea: A pea grown for its seeds, which are removed from the inedible mature pod. Snap peas are eaten pod and all rather than shelled.
Pea pod: The fruit of a pea plant, enclosing its seeds within two joined halves. In snap peas, the pod wall is tender enough to eat with the seeds.
Blanching: A cooking technique that briefly immerses food in boiling water, then cools it rapidly. Blanching tenderizes snap peas while limiting loss of color and crunch.
Nitrogen fixation: The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into biologically usable compounds by certain organisms. Bacteria associated with pea roots can supply nitrogen to the plant.
Edible-podded pea: A pea cultivated for pods eaten whole rather than for seeds alone. Snap peas are a plump-seeded type of edible-podded pea.
Field pea: A pea crop grown mainly for dry seeds, livestock feed, or soil improvement. Field peas are generally grown for mature seeds, not crisp edible pods.