Black-eyed Pea The so-called black-eyed pea
or cowpea is not really a pea, but an African
relative of the mung bean that was known to
Greece and Rome and brought to the southern
United States with the slave trade. It has an
eye-like anthocyanin pigmentation around the
hilum, and a distinctive aroma. A variety that
produces a very long pod and small seeds is
the yard-long bean, a common green
vegetable in China (p. 336).
Pigeon Pea Pigeon pea is a distant relative of
the common bean, native to India, and now
grown throughout the tropics. In India it’s
called toor dal or redgram because the tough
seed coat of many varieties is reddish brown,
though it’s most often hulled and split, and
the cotyledons are yellow. It’s been cultivated
for around 2,000 years, and is made into a
simple porridge. Like the other grams, it
contains little in the way of antinutritional
factors.