Hundred-Day Pea

Peas are among the world’s oldest legumes. They have been a staple food on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius since the times of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, and over the centuries the local growers selected many different varieties. One of these is the Centogiorni, cultivated in the Vesuvius area for at least a century. Its name, which means “a hundred days,” refers to the average length of its production cycle. The peas are grown in open fields, often intercropped with fruit trees like apricots and cherries, or sometimes grapevines, and do not need irrigation. The climbing plants are given support from a system of wooden poles and interwoven wires or nets. All the cultivation phases are carried out manually, from the sowing (in single rows) to the harvesting of the fresh pods, a long and gradual process. The peas are eaten either green and waxy, or when dried and the seeds turn beige.
Appreciated for their sensory qualities, such as their exceptional sweetness, and the tenderness of their skin, even when dried, the peas make an excellent accompaniment to meat dishes and to the king of Neapolitan cuisine, baccalà (salt cod). They also star in a typically Neapolitan soup of pasta and peas, in which the peas are cooked with onion and pancetta before the addition of little tubes of pasta or mixed pasta shapes.

Season

The harvest is from March till the first half of May. The dried peas can be found year round