Pigeon peas are a leguminous crop used in may cusines and a staple in Puerto Rico, especially with a dish called rice and pigeon peas (arroz con gandules, in Spanish) (Figure 1). This dish consumed daily by many Puerto Ricans, both in Puerto Rico and the United States. In 2010, the value of pigeon peas in Puerto Rico was $1,361,000, which was second among beans/grains to tender corn (maíz tierno, in Spanish), followed by green beans (habichuelas en vaina, in Spanish), dried beans (habichuelas en grano, in Spanish) and fresh beans (habichelas tiernas, in Spanish).

In Puerto Rico there is strong demand for fresh pigeon peas; however, the majority of pigeon peas consumed in Puerto Rico are canned or frozen, and all imported. 

Pigen peas are found in markets serving Puerto Rican communities in Massachusetts in three forms: canned (Figure 2), frozen (Figure 3) and "fresh" (Figure 4). Markets and consumers in Massachusetts will call the gandules for sale in Figure 4 "fresh", but in fact they are harvested fresh in the Dominican Republic, but then frozen and shipped to the United States where they are thawed and put out for sale as fresh (Zoraia Barros, Personal Communication, 2017). One can find fresh pigeon peas for sale, and grown, in Puerto Rico (Figure 5).

Many Latinos living in Massachsuetts have said they perfer trye fresh pigeon peas over frozen and canned. Here is a short video with Beto Gody-Hernández interviewing two Puerto Rican women at Nuestras Raíces in Hoyoke Mass. about their preference for fresh pigeon peas (in Spanish) Interview with Puerto Rican women about fresh gandules