All parts of the plant Pisum sativum are edible. Palatability is a different debate. Shelling peas normally have tought stringy pods. If this one is tender enough for your taste, have at it.

They are perfectly safe.

Even when fully developed and you have shelled out the peas you can make excellent soup from the pods. Because you seive the soup the fibrous nature of the pods is not a problem. There are lots of recipes for hot and cold versions if you Google 'pea pod soup'.

The main difference between an "edible" podded pea and a regular pea is a gene to make "vellum" which is the clear, tough,sort of parchment paper like inner lining of the pod. If you are so inclined, you can peel that away on a more mature pod, and also remove the "string" along the seam, and yield a much more edible product. However, its a lot simpler just to grow snow or snap peas, which lack this gene.

If you have access to a university library, you could look up the following article and learn all about the genetics of edible podded peas -- they only give the first few pages online.

No, it won't poison you -- it will just be tough to chew.

Here is a link that might be useful: Genetics of snap peas abstract

Holy cow, flora uk... I'd never heard of pea pod soup. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Only some kind of Sweet Peas, (the flowing kind) are poison, and they are a dif species.

They are edible - Including a site that covers the science and the myth. I've eaten them and no probs here. Also found a food writer in France who found they are a delicacy and has not only eaten them, but explains how they are prepared and why. It's the fibrous vellum on the inside that's a nuisance. Info site is: https://honest-food.net/the-myth-of-the-poison-pea/

Seems like if the normal shelling pea pods were that good to eat, they would have been eating them years and years ago. Shell peas are a lot of work for a small amount of food. Or maybe the poorer people did, just cooked them longer.

Just cooked a couple 'Alderman/ Telephone Pole' pods, they start out looking oddly like snow peas then fill up. Way too chewy. Suppose you could eat them if you were starving.

I don't think anyone says they're 'good' to eat. The questioner wanted to know if they're safe, not good. The answer, of course is yes. They also taste good if you sieve out the fibre, as in soup. If one has gone to the trouble to grow peas it can be depressing to see how few one gets from a huge pile of shells. It's nice to think they don't have to be wasted. https://www.greenprophet.com/2008/07/pea-pod-recipe/

Floral- UK: Your post pulled up some memories. Back in the WWII era we had had a neighbor who had served as an army cook (WW I) He always cooked the pea pods and added the resulting broth to the shelled peas.