The skin (seed coat) of the peas is a light yellow. Inside, the peas are a darker yellow, though the colour fades when cooked. They are slightly larger than green peas. While a green pea will be 7.5 to 8.5 mm wide, a Yellow Pea will be 8 to 9 mm wide.
Yellow Pea varieties grown in North America for human consumption include Belinda, Century, Impala, Lenca, Miranda, Paloma, Renata, Tipu and Victoria. A variety called "Procon" is used for animal feed; the variety called "Trapper" is grown as feed for birds.
The flavour of Yellow Peas is grainier, milder and less sharply vegetable tasting than the flavour of green peas, because Yellow Peas have less chlorophyll in them. Yellow Peas are also quicker to lose their shape when being cooked than green peas.
Yellow Peas are used in India as well, though they don't really grow any great amounts there and import most of them. Yellow Peas are not the same as the legume called "Chana Dal", though you can use Yellow Peas as a perfectly acceptable substitute for Chana Dal.
Yellow Peas can be bought whole or split in half along the seam down their middle. When the peas are split, the seedcoat and the "embryos" inside the seeds are also removed. (The discarded parts of the peas are then sold as animal feed.) Split ones cook slightly faster than the whole ones.