Peas vs Beans

I feel funny asking something that sounds so basic but... What is the difference between peas and beans? I always thought of them as the same thing but now that I am getting into gardening they seem to be two different things. :scratch:

If you believe Wikipedia

peas have tendrils and beans do not. Also, vine growth patterns are different. Seed food storage structures (cotyledons) on beans emerge from the soil whereas on peas, they do not.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_a_pea_and_a_bean#ixzz1mZq83IRC

I usually take wiki with a grain of salt but if that answer works for you then Im good with it. Thanks

Being in the south, they might be the same! A friend brought me some peas, turned out they were a type of bean, but they were green, but oblong instead of round, never did find out exactly what they were. They had a pod about 8 in. long.

I told her I wanted English peas and could not find anyone that grows them. I had to grow my own if I wanted some.

sugar pod peas-eat the pods in chinese dishes

english peas- round and green

crowder peas- yuk-brown

black eye peas-eat at New Years

beans--pinto, northern, navy, cranberry(white with red mottling)

lima-white

baby lima-green-not just a baby of the lima- it's a separate bean.

normal green bean- eat pod and all.

I know there are lots more, hope this helps.

Jo

It does thanks! Only peas/beans I have ever really dealt with came in a can or the occasional bag of dried beans. Maybe Im confused as to which ones you eat the whole pod vs which ones you take them out of the pod. And whats the difference between beans you take out of the pod and shelling beans? Ive never actually seen any of these being grown... Born and raised in Georgia, in what most call the 'country'. Guess that shows how few people grow food anymore. Only thing I saw growing up was cotton and corn.

Your question was a good one. I thought about it and looked it up online.

“There IS no difference – they both go well with cornbread!”

Here is where the quote came from

http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/pea-and-bean-difference/

At least you are thinking about what you eat. Are you planning on trying a garden?Home grown food is soooooooo much better than what you can get in the store!



The only beans/peas I've eaten in the pod is green beans and sugar pod peas.

All the rest are 'shelling' You take the shell off before eating.

They can be eaten fresh or dried as in dry beans at the store.

Jo

Being an oldtimey NC southern gal, to me there were two types of peas, garden peas and field peas.

Garden peas (also know as green peas, May peas and English peas) were early spring vegetables, grown in the household garden and were my personal favorite. They were shelled and eaten young. BTW this was before the days of snow peas and snap peas.

Field peas (also know as crowder peas, blackeyed peas, purple hull peas and a bunch of others) were grown in the field during the hot summer when garden peas would not grow. These were picked and shelled with a sprinkling of very young unfilled pods snapped into the mix.

Beans were another animal and I was brought up on Kentucky Wonder Pole beans, picked when barely starting to fill out and snapped into pieces, hence the southern term Snap Beans. If the pod was too filled out and tough, then the bean was shelled into the pot of snap bean. Often cooked together with "new" potatos.

Butter beans were the baby lima mentioned in the above post. Shelled and cooked.

Kay

Family joke often told on me. I was about 4 and my uncle announced one evening that he was going to get some (spelled out) I C E C R E A M. He turns to me me and says, "Kay this is something you really like". My reply was "Oh goody, garden peas"

I am in GA too and have wondered this same question. Field peas as I call them do remind me a lot of beans because you shell them like a bean, but they are definitely different. Walsh pretty much nailed it, but I will throw in my 2 cents.

English Peas - These are peas you grow really early where me and you are from. I planted mine in late January and hope to harvest in early April. You shell these and they are the little green peas most kids hate to eat.

Snow Peas - Like English peas, you plant these really early, but you eat the whole pod and harvest early before the peas form inside. Most often used in stir fry and Asian cuisine.

Field Peas - This is a generic term to me for any podded pea that grows well in the heat of summer. Purple hulls, black eyes, crowder, whatever you want to call them. My personal favorite is white acre peas.

Lima Beans - These are beans, you shell them like a field pea, but the pods are smaller and the beans are small and flat. You will probably hear folks in Macon call them butter beans.

Green Beans - These are the beans that are eaten pod and all and cut into little chunks. When you buy a can of green beans, this is what I think of.

Misc Beans - I think of things like pinto beans, soy beans, etc. I have never grown these so can't really say. I think these are what get people confused between beans and field peas because the pods are similar and the beans/peas are similar shape.

As for what I love to grow in this order:
Field Peas then
Lima Beans then
English Peas then
Snow Peas

I don't fool with green beans, my freezer only has so much space.

Hope this helps.

Thanks everyone . I'm honestly not a huge fan of alot of beans but given the health aspect and the variety you can grow vs what comes from the store I am going to experiment and see what I come up with.