Love Me Tendril

Chinese Lessons: You Might Be Throwing Away the Best Part of the Pea

Two years ago, while flying to Des Moines for a cooking show, San Francisco chef/author Shirley Fong-Torres carried a bag of snow pea tendrils on her lap. She never expected to find the Cantonese delicacy in Iowa markets, but soon discovered a choice of tendrils, most of which had been picked fresh within 24 hours, at the Des Moines Downtown Farmers’ Market.

That market is home now to about a dozen Asian vendors who have helped educate Des Moines about new foods like baby bok choy, Asian eggplants, broccoli rabe, bitter melon, yellow chives, long beans, coriander (cilantro), ginger, lemongrass and ginger’s powerful twin - galanga. They have also taught the rest of Iowa to use parts of plants that we used to throw away, like squash blossoms, pumpkin flowers and, especially, pea tendrils.

Xe and Her Vue have been bringing their Marion County produce to the downtown market since 1998. Xe explains why many Asians prefer vegetables that white Americans avoid, “The only raw vegetable we eat is baby romaine lettuce. We like most things better when cooked. Spinach, collards, mustard, pea leaves. These are our greens, ” she said.

Xe knows that most vegetables turn sweeter when cooked, and that minimal cooking brings out the most flavor. Before refrigeration, European immigrants to Iowa cooked vegetables for preservation, “cooking them to death” by today’s culinary standards. Stir frying, Xe’s method of choice, brings out more flavor.
Choua Yang of Des Moines grows snow pea tendrils, bitter melon, lemongrass and flower blossoms from pumpkins, zucchini and bok choy. She too says that pea tendrils should be quickly stir fried.

Fong-Torres put the Asian perspective in context. “Because of the population density in Asia, people there learned to use the entire plant. It just wasn’t economically feasible to throw edible food away. In the case of pea tendrils though, it’s hard to understand why anyone would ever throw them away, they taste so good.”

Though peas originated in the Near East and found there way to Europe some 8000 years ago, only the dried variety were popular in the western world through the Middle Ages. Dried peas were cultivated by the ancient Greeks and Romans as an important source of protein. When the Florentine queen of the Renaissance, Catherine dei Medici, took piselli novelli, the sweet green peas of Tuscany, to France, they caused a sensation and earned their most prestigious name petits pois. Both the wife of Louis XIV and the mistress of Louis XV wrote about their love this new food and Louis XIV commissioned the first royal greenhouse because he wanted peas in the winter.

Though the tendril came late to the western plate, compared to the rest of the pea, they have always been cherished in Asia. After coming to China in 100 B.C., peas quickly spread through south and east Asia, where young leaves, shoots, pods and peas were eaten much as they are today.

Ironically, the French name for snow peas is mange-tout, meaning “eat it all.” All, in this case, isn’t everything. The French until recently ate the soft, translucent pods and the tiny, almost unnoticeable sweet peas inside, but not the tendrils, the leaves and shoots of the young pea plant. Only in China have tendrils, sometimes wrongly called sprouts, been considered a delicacy. Fong-Torres says that in China they are mostly stir fried with garlic and chicken broth, but that they are also used as a garnish on soups, sandwiches and salads in Hong Kong.

They are just beginning to find popularity on American menus. The pretty green tendrils are a Springtime delicacy in Canton, and Iowa, as hot summer weather burns them out. Several Iowa gardeners plant a second crop in early Fall. Larry Cleverley, of Cleverley Farms in Mingo, says that he knows he will always have tendrils, which are best picked at just four inches, even if an early frost prevents him from harvesting Fall peas.

Called dau miu in Cantonese, tendrils are traditionally culled from immature snow peas, but delicious varieties may be cut from a variety of pea plants. All varieties are sweet, tender, and have a strong pea taste. You can cook them as you might any green -- very quickly in hot oil with, perhaps, salt, garlic, and a splash of sherry or rice wine; or steamed with garlic, vinegar and oil.

Growing Peas

Americans grow two basic types of pea today, the starchy smooth coated ones that give us split peas, and the wrinkly, sugary kind that we eat immature. The latter produce better tasting tendrils and both are good sources of thiamine, B6, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur and protein. Both the snow pea and the sugar pea are now eaten, before they ripen, in their pods and they have extremely sweet tendrils.

Most gardeners plant them in a bed of manure, peat, compost and fertilizers. Better Homes and Garden’s “New Garden Book” advises laying chicken wire down the center of each double row, for trellising. In Iowa, it’s important to sow the seeds as soon as the ground can be worked, as hot weather comes to soon. The plant begins to produce peas quickly and in large quantity, about 55-70 days after sowing.

Plant every three inches on both sides of wire and place double rows 4 feet apart. Keep the peas moist, and weeded. Pick the tendrils as soon as they leaf out, four inches is prime. Pick the peas when they are still small and tender.

Varieties

For tendrils, Larry Cleverley recommends a variety called Dwarf Grey Sugar. “I like them because they're short and don't require trellising and have a beautiful bi-color pink and lavender blossom. They need to be picked just as the blossom opens and the season is short here in Iowa. I think our mid-June heat makes them tough. We also plant a crop in late August for fall picking. Try them sauteed in sesame oil with a little garlic.”

A consensus of web site reviews praises two other varieties: Oregon sugar pod snow peas taste infinitely better fresh from the garden, than bought from a store, and produce an abundance of tasty pods which should be picked when flat, before the seed forms; Cascadia snap pea have edible pods that are best in stir-frys. They have a 3", deep green, thick, juicy pod. The 30" vines are self-supporting and, like the Oregon sugar pods, resist mildew and pea virus.

Cleverley advises pea gardeners that “Menards and other fencing/lumberyard stores sell fencing panels, 52" high & 16' long, for about $13.00. They're made for cattle fencing but work great for peas and climbing beans and squash. We use them for our tomatoes as well.”

A Brief History of Peas

Peas, native to the Near East, were probably cultivated for the first time about 8000 B.C..

Swiss cave dwellers made bread out of crushed peas and other grains around 6000 B.C..
People in the Indus Valley were growing peas in 4000 B.C..

The Han envoy Jang Qian returned from Bactria in 100 B.C. with peas, cucumbers, grape seeds walnuts and pomegranates, changing the Chinese diet forever.

When the Carolina colonies were founded in 1670, the daily ration per colonist was one pint of peas.

When Louis XIV of France commissioned the first royal gardens in 1677, the greenhouse was ordered to supply peas in winter.

In April of 1863, as his armies prepared to invade the Union, President Jefferson Davis asked the citizens of the Confederate States of America to plant peas instead of tobacco and cotton.

Campbell Soup company began in 1869 by canning peas and asparagus.

When the first successful pea podding machine was installed in an Oswego, NY cannery in 1883, 600 employees were laid off.

When Clarence Birdseye introduced frozen foods in 1930, his first two products were June Peas and spinach, at the outrageously high price of $.35 a package.

Recipes

Tendrils as Greens

Unlike collard greens, for which pea tendrils can be substituted in most any recipe, tendrils do not need to be parboiled to remove the bitterness. The stems do not need to be removed either, unless you plan to put them in a blender. The whole tendril tastes sweet and pea-like.

Shirley Fong - Torres’ Snow Pea Tendrils

1 lb. Snow pea tendrils
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons corn oil
4 oz. Chicken broth

Quickly stir fry garlic in hot oil, add the tendrils and stir fry for one minute over high heat, slowly stir in the broth and keep cooking until most of the broth is absorbed by the tendrils. Season with a dash of salt. Serve immediately.

Wroburlto Fong-Torres’ Snow Flower Soup
(Shirley’s father developed this recipe when he was chef at Trader Vic’s in San Francisco. The meat of chicken breasts gives the appearance of white blossoms on the deep green pea leaves. When the chicken “blossoms” turn white, the soup is ready to serve.)

1 lb. pea tendrils
4 cups chicken broth
4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 medium egg white
2 tsp. corn starch
salt
ground red chili pepper

Finely chop the chicken with cleaver, or mince it in food processor. Add corn starch and egg white and work into a paste.

Rinse the pea tendrils in cold water, discarding the tough stems. Drain and dry.
Spoon the chicken paste into balls, or form them into the shape of flower petals. Press them onto the tendrils.

Heat the chicken broth until it simmers, but not to a full boil. Add the tendrils and simmer until the chicken turns white, about four minutes. Overcooked tendrils will turn yellow and taste bitter.

Serve at once with salt and chili to taste.

Deborah Wagman’s FRESH VIETNAMESE-STYLE CRABMEAT SPRING ROLLS
(Deborah Wagman’s Wire Whisk Workshops are a hands-on learning experience in Des Moines’ East Village. She uses tendrils on the outside of her spring roll stuffing because look dramatic through the translucent wrappers.)
Makes 12

12 rice paper wrappers
1 oz. rice noodles, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes, then drained
½ lb. fresh pea tendrils
3 carrots, cut into very fine julienne
1 cucumber, halved, seeded and cut into fine julienne
6 scallions, halved and finely sliced
4 oz. enoki mushrooms
Fresh leaves from 6 sprigs of mint
Fresh leaves from 8 stems of cilantro (Chinese coriander)
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
2 cups cooked crabmeat

Nuac Cham dipping sauce

Fill a large bowl with lukewarm water. Work 1 roll at a time.
Dip one rice paper sheet in the water for about 30 seconds until softened. Place on work surface.

Place 1-2 pea tendrils down the center of the sheet. Press leaves lightly into the rice paper to make them lie flat and try to keep the tendrils in their natural shape.
On top of the tendrils, place a small pinch of each ingredient in a line down the middle of the sheet. Fold over both sides of the sheet to enclose the filling, them roll up tightly, like a cigar.

Spray with a mist of water and set aside, covered with a damp cloth, while you prepare the others.

Serve with Nuac Cham dipping sauce.