Experiments with Dry Edible Field Peas

Dry Yellow Field Peas, whole peas in the measuring cup and  'split' with a blender in the bowl

A person can buy green or yellow split peas at their local grocery store. The one pound bag costs a couple bucks at most. This is fine if you only eat split peas once or twice a year, we however really like split pea soup and I am always running out of peas.  Long story short, I had Richard bring some edible dry field peas home from work in a 50 pound bag for the huge price of $16. Come to think of it, I think that price included a five gallon bucket of lentils too.

Yesterday I had some ham thawing in the fridge and decided pea soup sounded good. I put two cups of whole peas in bowl of water to soak about 9ish in the morning. By noon they were not very soft, it seemed that the clear seed coat was absorbing the liquid. I read somewhere on line that a person can use a regular kitchen blender to make legume flour.

So I stuck a cup of whole peas in the blender and as you can see in the picture had surprising results. The seed coat comes off and a the pea is bright yellow just like the store bought ones. You can see a pile of the seed coat to the left in the bowl (picture). I skimmed off some of this 'chaf' seed coat but left most in the bowl. Next I added water to the bowl full of blended peas. These seemed to absorb the water better.

A few hours later the whole peas still weren't very soft, they still crunched when I tried to chew them. It was time to add some heat. I boiled the whole peas with the blended ones and they were starting to get soft but the texture wasn't the best, kind a chewy crunchy and they didn't seem to be breaking down like the store bought pea splits. Dinner time was approaching and I didn't have time to let the whole peas cook. Into the blender the peas went, out came yellow pea soup, very thick. Success

In retrospect I will try soaking whole peas in overnight then cooking on the stove top. I will also try putting the whole peas in the crockpot to cook/soak all day. All in all buying field peas from the local elevator is a great way to save money and eat healthy.