Don't know if I do any better but here goes. Dry beans, English peas, southern peas, edamame (soybeans) are fully matured seeds. Each of these species has its own unique flavor. Dry beans are like the ones in the dry beans section of the grocery store. They will usually also have dry southern peas, usually Blackeyes and Clay (field peas). Dry English peas are used mostly for split pea soup and are some times found in the same section as either whole or split peas. Edamame are usually only used as shellies. Frozen will be shellies regardless of specie. In all cases the flavor and texture of the shellies will be different than that of the dried. Fresh can mean most anything in todays market place, but usually means not canned or frozen.

Dry beans and dry split peas have pretty much converted their sugar to starch and taste accordingly. Green Peas picked at the mature stage are sweet, tasty, and highly edible straight from the plant. Shell the green peas first, eat the sugar snap types as is, or stir fry snow peas.

Cowpeas are a 'whole nother animal'. The best cowpeas are picked when the peas are just mature but before the pod has dried down. There is a unique maturity stage at which the peas can be readily shelled out of the still flexible pod. This stage can usually be recognized by a color change in the pod. White Whipporwill peas for example change from a darker green color to a pale cream to pale yellow. If the pod has turned straw colored, then the peas are over dry but still edible. They have to be cooked longer and the flavor is not as good. Please note that the difference between a green pod, a pod ready to shell, and a too dry pod is about 3 days so you MUST be out there picking cowpeas every day to get the very best flavor.

Green snap beans would normally be picked when the beans are just sizing up before the beans develop in the pod. If you are like me and love greasy beans, we need to have a slightly different conversation. If you let the pods swell up with the beans inside and then pick them just as the pod changes color, they are referred to as 'shellies'. Do not eat the shucks, they will be too tough. The beans are sometimes referred to as 'horticultural beans' if they are deliberately grown to be eaten at this stage. There are also many varieties that are grown to be dried down on the vine, picked, and shelled. This would be the common Pinto, Navy, Great Northern, etc. The important thing to know is that each variety of bean has a specific use that it is best adapted for. There are very few beans that are truly multi-purpose. Turkey Craw is one that comes to mind that can be snapped, shelled, dried, and used for Leather Britches though there are trade offs for such diverse uses.

What would you think of being able to pop beans like popcorn? Look up Nuna Beans if you are intrigued.

DarJones