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THE
PEASECODS
(THE
PEAS) |
Peasecods (or Peas, Pease, Peaspods, Podgreen, Beanbabies) are the 'fruit' and young husks of a green tendrilling vine, eaten raw or cooked. Usually served in bulk, resembling a large grain or small bean.
Appearance..
The Peasecod
is the product of a flowering vine with wildly curling tendrils, that must be
trained along a support (a hedge, fence, or wall) if one desires the fruit to
ripen evenly. Small white flowers turn to tiny green buds, which swell into
long, slim cods/pods. Ranging from a finger's length to a hand's length, the
cods will eventually hold four to eight small green globes, or pease (singular,
"pea"). If left too long on the vine, the cods become tough and the pease yellow
and dry.
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Territory.
Peasecods are a cultivated plant for the most part, so
they may be found in regions
with much sun and moderate rain, wherever farmers desire to grow them. They tolerate
neither desert nor swamp, but only fertile ground where support for their vines
may be found. In some parts of the country they can be trained along the hedges
and between other vegetables.
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Usages. The plant may be harvested young while the cods are yet slim,
and the entire cod lightly boiled and eaten, or harvested old, when the pease
become full and round within the cod. In the latter case the cod has toughened
and is discarded, only the pease being eaten, but this is considered somewhat
wasteful and indulgent by most but the highest nobles.
A mess of peasecods may be enjoyed lightly boiled, with seasalt and milchbutter,
and some say this simplicity is the only way to taste the true fresh flavour.
Yet they may be prepared in a variety of ways for the table, and lend their
colour and unique shape to many a dish.
Dried pease keep well, and may be ground and added to soups, broths and stews
for nourishment, or even chewed in the mouth on a long journey. Though not delectable,
they are sustaining in this form.
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Myth/Lore.
The origins of the plant are not known; it
has been cultivated in Santharian
territory since out of time. Children often play with
the husked pods, making small boats and coracles to sail upon puddles and in
ditches. There is also a superstition that pease should only be planted at the
full of the moon, the rationalle being that if planted in other lunar aspects,
the shape of the pea will reflect that of the celestial orb. A half moon or
shrinking moon will bring you withered pease, and planting in the dark of the
moon may mean your vines never grow at all!
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Information provided by
Bard Judith
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