Peasecods - The Virile Vine

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Overview:

Peasecods, or pease, 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.

. Description:

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.

Territory:

Peasecods are a cultivated plant for the most part, so 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.

Usage:

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.

Myth/Lore/Origins:

The origins of the plant are not known; it has been cultivated in Santharia 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!