According to the early accounts of the art of canning, peas were among the first vegetables to be preserved in this manner, and later they were among the first to enter the canned-goods trade.
Pea canning may be said, therefore, to be as old as the canning industry. At first the process was used only to preserve such choice fruits and vegetables as were most difficult to keep in the fresh state, as the cost of glass bottles and earthenware jars prevented their use for cheaper products.