The Mazourek Flat Snap Pea Collection

For many years, we've worked with Dr. Michael Mazourek and his team at Cornell University to introduce exceptional new vegetable varieties to chefs, other growers, and home cooks. Dr. Mazourek is a vegetable breeder and professor at Cornell whose work has produced some of the most celebrated modern vegetables, including the Habanada pepper, Honeynut squash, and Koginut squash. Over the years, our trials with him have included peppers, cucumbers, beans, and many other crops. This season, we're excited to introduce the complete collection of his colorful flat snap peas.

While colorful peas may seem like a modern innovation, they're actually a return to the crop's ancient roots. Wild peas naturally produced pods in shades of purple and red, and purple-podded peas have been cultivated for centuries. A domesticated purple pea has even been rumored to have been discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

So why don't we see colorful peas everywhere today?

The same pigments responsible for their striking colors—anthocyanins and related flavonoids—also tend to produce bitterness and astringency. It's a relationship found throughout nature. Cranberries, for example, are packed with these beneficial compounds, but few people enjoy eating them straight off the bush.

Dr. Mazourek's breeding program set out to solve that problem.

Over many years, his team crossed colorful podded peas with exceptional eating varieties, then evaluated hundreds of breeding lines each season alongside Chef Dan Barber and the culinary team at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Through careful selection, they identified plants where vibrant color and genuine sweetness could coexist. The result is a collection of peas with remarkable flavor—sweet enough to balance the subtle tannins that give them their distinctive colors, much like a perfectly ripe blueberry.

The Collection

Zap
Bright yellow pods with exceptional sweetness and tenderness. The most approachable variety and a favorite for fresh snacking.

Blush
Golden-yellow pods kissed with a soft red blush. Delicate, sweet, and especially beautiful served raw or lightly cooked.

Beauregarde (via Row 7)
Deep purple pods with outstanding flavor that retain much of their dramatic color when steamed or braised.

Cardinal
Rich crimson-red pods with excellent sweetness and remarkable color retention during cooking.

Each variety is harvested when the peas inside have fully developed but remain tender and sweet—a harvest window that lasts only a short time.

Look for the Mazourek Flat Snap Pea Collection at our farmers markets, order online for nationwide overnight shipping, or contact us for wholesale availability.