three bowls

I braved the heat yesterday and walked uphill both ways to the University District Farmers Market to fetch a veg to Get to Know.  I was hoping for bamboo shoots because they are supposed to be in season but there were none to be had.  Instead, I bought some pea vines.  I had previously used them in a Captain Ahab recipe, but I didn't really know them, per se.  What is their story?

About: Pea vines are the leaves, shoots, tendrils and sometimes flowers of young pea plants.  They are generally from snow peas, but can be from any type of garden pea.  They are popular in Shanghai and Vietnamese cooking, and are said to be a "expensive and highly esteemed leafy green favored by Chinese chefs."⁴

AKA: Pea vines, pea shoots, pea tendrils, Dua Mui, Dou Miao.  I have also seen the term "pea sprouts" used, although sometimes that seems to refer to actual sprouted peas.  Here's a note from the San Francisco Chronicle on the topic:

According to Charles Phan, owner of Slanted Door and Out the Door, pea sprouts are the new tender shoots of pea plants, while pea shoots refer to the more mature, but still tender shoots with its leaves and tendrils. The term "pea shoots" is often used interchangeably in Asian cuisine because they are the same plant, just in different stages of maturation.

Appearance: Pairs of oval-shaped leaves and curling tendrils on short stems.  They have a tendency to wilt because they are young plants without mature fiber.

(I believe these pea vines are a bit older hence the larger leaves and thicker stems.)

Taste:  Sweet with a delicate to strong pea flavor.

Growing Season/Area: There is some conflicting info here.  In Melissa's Great Book of Produce, the season is listed as year-round, and that might be for the whole U.S.  In a pamphlet provided by Washington State University, spring, early summer and fall are listed as the times for pea vines, noting that the season can be short since peas do not grow well when daytime temp is over 65 degrees.  Pea plants are apparently a good crop to plant as they are nitrogen fixing and beneficial to the soil.

Buying: Look for bright green, undamaged, fresh, not-wilted shoots.  Avoid yellowing, limp or tough shoots.  If you are feeling particularly bold, take a bite of of the shoot and tendrils to see if they are tough and stringy.⁶  When it comes to quantity, keep in mind that cooked pea vines reduce quite a bit.  If you are not serving raw, buy a quantity to serve as you would plan for serving cooked spinach, which reduces generally by at least half.⁷

Storing: While there is some disagreement among the various sources as to whether you can wait a day to eat your pea vines, the general consensus seems to be: eat them as soon as you can, preferably on the day you bought them.  You can possibly store until the next day, but you might be risking it.  Storage method recommendations vary: store in a plastic bag^1,8, store in paper towel in plastic bag^5,7, store loosely in a container³, or, winning points for most dramatic verb usage, Joy of Cooking exhorts you to "plunge the ends into a jar of water."  (Note to the other bug-o-phobes out there: my pea vines had a lot of little guys living in the leaves, so if you, like me, have a bit of an irrational skeeved reaction to that, you might want to choose the closed and contained method of storage.)

Preparation:  Trim away any large stems and rinse¹.  Do not rinse until you are ready to use.  Commonly used in stir-fries (cooks very quickly), raw in green salads and as a final addition to  soups and noodle dishes..

Pairs well with:  "Artichokes, chervil, chives, crab, lettuce, mint, salmon, scallinos, scallops, shad, sorrel, tarragon."¹

Substitutions: None listed although I assume some other young Asian greens like tatsoi and mizuna?

Nutrition:  Good source of Vitamin A, K and C.  Two cups have 132% RDA of Vit. K, 15% of Vit. A, and 35.5% of Vit. C.  Also has 10.5% RDA of Folate.  According to the WSU pamplet:

Pea shoots may also contain valuable phytochemicals. Certain pea plants have these natural disease fighters, but it is not known whether garden peas contain them. The phytochemicals found in other types of pea plants include lignins, a flavonoid called quercetin, and caffeic acid. Researchers believe these substances help prevent cancer in different ways and have other beneficial health effects.

Recipe ideas:

• Wilted Asian Greens
• Spring Vegetable Ragout
• Sauteed Pea Vines
• Pea Salad with Radishes and Feta Cheese
• Spring Stew with Fish or Shrimp
• Sesame Pea-Shoot Salad
• English Pea and Spring Herb Salad with Lemon-Yogurt Vinaigrette
• Cretan Mixed Greens and Tomatoes with Black-Eyed Peas
• Chicken/Tofu and Shiitake Stir-Fry with Peas and Pea Tendrils

PREVIOUSLY GOTTEN TO KNOW:

• Broccoli Rabe
• Sunburst Squash

_{^{Sources: 1. Field Guide to Produce by Aliza Green; 2. The Asian Grocery Store Demystified by Linda Bladholm; 3. Handy Pocket Guide to Asian Vegetables by Wendy Hutton; 4. Joy of Cooking; 5. Washington State University "Food from the Field" pamphlet; 6. Sunset Magazine; 7. Peashoots.com; 8. Melissa's Great Book of Produce by Cathy Thomas.}}