Golden Gate Garden

This year I grew some seed that was given to me, by I forgot who, for "Brazilian peas." I had never heard of these before, and had no idea what kind of pea they were, but they grew and produced pods. Now I am learning a little about them.

The pods are extremely wide, something like 1 1/4 inch, with the peas forming along one side. I wondered if the pods were edible, and found out that they are! That is, they don’t have a fibrous lining that you can’t chew, like shelling peas. So these seem to be a sort of snow pea. The plants are about 2 1/2 feet tall, growing on a string trellis that I made (you can see the green string in the photo at left.)

I am growing the few pods that I have to maturity, so I can grow more plants next year. My web search found one fairly complete description of this pea variety, on the website of the Seed and Plant Sanctuary for Canada (www.seedsanctuary.com) From their home page, click on "beans" in the database list, and you will find Brazilian peas included. They say "best when pods are full," which seems to mean to eat them after the peas partially form,  rather than when the peas are still tiny, which is when you would eat Asian-type snow peas. From the seed sanctuary site, I found www.saltspringseeds.com, which seems to be their commercial arm. They sell the seeds, and call them Ervilha Torta Flor Roxa. What does that mean? Flat peas with red flowers (a wild guess–the flowers are two-toned purple). Unfortunately, this company doesn’t sell seeds in the U.S., due to too many customs restrictions they say.

Using Google Image Search, I found a photo that looks just like my peas, on the website www.isla.com.br,  which seems to be a Brazilian seed company. They mention a pea Erhilha Torta de Flor Roxa in the text.

So, I shall grow these out and multiply them. Does anyone know any more about these peas, botanically or culinarily? Or a better translation of the name? Or how they got to Brazil? Or whether they are grown anywhere besides Brazil?