To the right the normal seeds of Golden Snow Pea, to the left a solid purple variation.
I jumped a little on my chair, when I saw these solid purple peas in my Golden Snow Peas.
Since the plant, and the size and shape of seeds are normal for Golden Snow Pea, I guess it’s a sport.
To know, I will grow the seeds seperately, but next to Golden Snow Pea.
Wouldn’t it be interesting with a golden podded solid purple pea?
In the toad's garden 
August 31, 2007 at 22:03
That’s very interesting!
The seeds I have came from Baker’s Creek in 2004, and I am pretty sure even then there was some variation in the color of the seeds. I have always assumed this was natural for this variety.
I still have some of the seeds I saved in 2005, and yes quite a number of them are purple, but because of their age are more dark brown than purple.
In the Seed Savers Exchange yearbook, where the members are usually quite precise at this kind of thing, several different members describe the seeds as brown or tan with purple with purple flecks. No one describes them as solid purple. This makes me think you have really found something different!
Purple pods yes, but I’ve never heard of purple peas before. Have you?
I wonder if they they can be shelled as fresh purple peas…
September 1, 2007 at 20:19
Patrick thank you for your comment. First, I realise, the name i Golden Sweet. The solid purple seeds I will grow next year, and see what happens.
I do know of a swedish graypea described as purple (not the pod) pea, ‘Biskopens gråärt’, but I have not grown it myself.
September 2, 2007 at 12:32
I think you are right about the name. I see in my notes from 2005 I was calling them Golden Sweet, and somewhere along the way I dropped the word Sweet. They are not really all that sweet!
I’ve just been emailing Rebsie (Daughter of the Soil) about this. She has been breeding peas, and has some with a lot of purple color in the pea itself. I think she might post about this sometime.
November 1, 2007 at 23:36
This summer I grew & ate these Golden Snow peas & afterwards something ( a hungry mouse?) ate most of my seeds – all of them, I thought until I cleared the whole patch after our first frosts this week. The 20 remaining seeds I found are all tan, some with tiny purple flecks.
July 18, 2008 at 11:47
May I ask how you got on with the solid purple seeds this year? I’ve just come across the very same phenomenon. I did find this on Rebsie’s site – http://daughterofthesoil.blogspot.com/2008/05/more-french-beans-than-you-can-shake.html – which suggests that there won’t be anything startling to see in the next generation, but I’m still planning to have a go! I’d be interested to hear how yours worked out.
July 18, 2008 at 21:29
Hi miss Fuggles.
The pea pods are still not mature. I’m just as curious as you.
I expect the peas to be just normal Golden Sweet tan with purple spots, but there is a little chance something will be differet. I will write a post, when I can take a photo of the seeds.
In the meantime I have aquired a swedish heirloom pea with solid purple seeds. It is a field pea, with purple flowers and green pods.
July 22, 2008 at 15:22
Thanks Søren – I’ll look forward to the post when it comes. The single pod of purple peas is the only one I’ve found from all the pods on about 20 plants, although admittedly I seem to have been sharing my harvest with a mouse or two…
I would very much like to hear more about the Swedish pea as well, if you have time to make a post on that too some time – I have a lot to learn and really enjoy seeing your experiments here.
August 3, 2008 at 18:11
[…] five purple pea seeds found in a single pod last year, I only had a single pod full of purple seeds. That pod was […]
July 17, 2014 at 16:06
Hello! I was wondering if you ever finished growing these out? I just had the same thing happen — a pod of deep purple among the Golden Sweets — and was wondering if it bred through or disappeared. 😀
July 17, 2014 at 16:27
The purple seeds made purple seeds and normal seeds in the same ratio, as the normal seeds. This means, what I found was not inheiritable, but a reaction to environmental factors.
I find the same in the old danish heirloom “Errindlev”, where standard seeds also are purple spotted. In my garden some seeds will become solid purple, but produce tha standard plant in next generation.
July 17, 2014 at 16:43
Very interesting. Thank you so much! (By the way, I was just reading up on your other posts — what a great website! Would you happen to know of any grey peas available in the U.S.? I’d love to start growing some for our food. They sound wonderful.)
July 17, 2014 at 21:17
‘Golden Sweet’ is in my oppinion a grey pea, now adays grown as a snowpea. Shouldn’t be too hard to source in US. Also the european purple podded peas are all grey peas.
You can recognize them on the darkening with age of the seeds.
July 25, 2014 at 14:00
That’s great to know — thanks! Even more reasons to grow those peas, which I already preferred. 😀