ALL MUSHY OVER GROWING PEAS
MUSHY peas are having a mini-comeback and it’s not all down to the chip shop trade.
Rather it’s a revival in traditional British cooking that has given this old favourite a new lease of life.
If you fancy growing your own, however, it’s no good trying to make do with normal varieties of green peas because they aren’t high enough in dry matter, not even if you forget to pick them and the older peas have turned a tad starchy because they’ve been left too long in the pod.
No, you need a special sort known as marrowfat peas, which are grown especially for drying: they’re the sort that, as a small boy, I fired from my peashooter.
In the pre-freezer days, marrowfat peas were widely grown by farmers and left on the vine to dry before being harvested. Any not making the grade for human consumption were used to boost high-protein animal feedstuffs.
However, for anyone wanting to give growing their own a try, Thompson & Morgan lists the Maro variety as a new introduction in this year’s catalogue.
Grow the plants as usual but don’t pick the pods green.
Instead, treat them like haricot beans or flageolets. Leave them on the plants to swell and mature.
When the pods have dried out to a light tan shade, pick them, then shell the peas out and store in screw-top jars.
To prepare dry peas for eating, soak them in tepid water overnight, boil for an hour or more till they are so tender they squish when squeezed and then “mush” them with a potato masher. For superior mushy peas, enthusiasts add garlic and/or cooked chopped onions.
Dilute any leftover mush with stock to make tasty pea and ham soup or thicken it with oatmeal to make a medieval peasant’s favourite, pease pudding, which is a delight with a plate of bangers or faggots.