Soup peas

[ceara]

Slightly off-topic, but yesterday I made a pot of Black Eye Peas with chunks of ham and onion/garlic. Hubby said it reminded him a lot of the yellow pea soup but said he liked what I made better because it wasn't mushy.

[americangardener]

Patrick..

While looking for some purple podded peas i came across another name for Desiree. Apparently it's also called Stamblauw Schokker. Think i saw that in the SSE yearbook. Anyways i saw it somewhere. Don't know what that would translate into english to mean though.

And for anyone in Canada.. there's one company i found that carries the Capucijners: www.damseeds.ca/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=2560

I got one from bakers creek that 's just called purple podded pea.. but the description sounds like it'd be a match for the Capucijners.

I'm not familiar with all the soup type peas.. but there is a company i think is quite interesting here in the US that has alot of usefull info bout beans that i check out sometimes: www.purcellmountainfarms.com/ (they have whole yellow soup peas too.. but that link dosen't work here)

I've even thought of ordering bulk amounts of beans from them to grow in the garden.

[PatrickW]

Feb 8, 2009 15:06:41 GMT -5 americangardener said:

While looking for some purple podded peas i came across another name for Desiree. Apparently it's also called Stamblauw Schokker. Think i saw that in the SSE yearbook. Anyways i saw it somewhere. Don't know what that would translate into english to mean though.

Hi Dave,

That makes sense, Stamblauw Schokker means low growing or bush variety blue podded, and the Désirée variety is the low growing one, to about 1m. Even though the name here translates to 'bush', I think the plants still need some support.

Amishland seeds sells this pea in the US, as does Sand Hill Preservation Center. If you live near a Dutch foods store, you will almost certainly be able to buy this pea in bulk and may be able to grow that, but of course have to find out the hard way if it's the low or high growing variety.

Yes the Blue Podded pea at Bakers Creek looks like it too. It's too bad they don't tell you if it's low or high, or which of the dozens of blue podded pea varieties floating around it is. Their naming of this variety is like calling a pea 'green podded', and is a little lacking in detail.

By the way, you cannot harvest it young and eat it as a snow pea like Baker Creek suggests, it will not taste nice. This is what Rebsie's Red Podded Pea project was all about, trying to grow a purple podded snow pea.

You can however harvest the peas 'fresh' rather than dried, but you still need to cook them like a soup pea. They won't taste nice raw (a bit like eating raw beans).

[raymondo]

Whoa, a month, that's a worry Michel. No sign of them here. They haven't been intercepted by quarantine because they always contact the recipient if they take them and I've heard nothing. Fingers crossed that it's just very slow post!

I have a few varieties of soup peas, including one called Blue Podded Capucijner. I can see I'll have to bulk them up and try them out.

[biorag]

Thank you Patrick for the explanations.

[greeneyes]

Hi CanadaMike,Just got in todays post the soup peas that you sent me...Thank you very much,if there is anything that I can do for you just let me know.Would you be interested in some podding radish,chile de arbol seeds,hopi squash???Dawn

[canadamike]

No, thank you very much. I am ok with seeds for a while. Don't talk too loud, you could wake up Grungy and she would send me another gazillion seeds

And Ceara: mushy, or not successfully creamy as we prefer to say, is not the desired state of the french canadian pea soup... but there is an art to it

Not all pea soups are equals... and it is pointless to cook them from the dry stage and dare call it french canadian pea soup... I soak my peas for up to two days, changing water everytime I get in the kitchen. There is a difference in the creaminess when you do that. And there is a delicious difference in taste too...

[Rebsie]

I missed this discussion during my absence.

But Patrick's post is absolutely spot on in every detail.

I've grown Desirée, and it reached a height of 3 or 4 ft - definitely needs some support. It's a very beautiful plant with lovely flowers, and bears very dark purple pods in pairs. Attractive for sure, but Patrick is right about its edibility. I wouldn't describe the young pods as suitable for eating whole - frankly they are horrible! Very bitter, even by purple-pod standards. A lot of seed companies try to claim their purple varieties have edible pods but I've yet to find one (unless you like the bitterness). Desirée is less edible than most. As they mature the pods go very leathery ... to the extent that it's a job to pull them off the plant.

The fresh peas of Desirée are also bitter, starchy and horrible. But pop them in a pan of boiling water for a few minutes and they are transformed to deliciousness.

I also share your frustration Patrick about the meaninglessness of "Purple Podded" as a variety name. A few years ago I ordered as many packets of "Purple Podded" as I could find from several different seed companies and trialled them ... they were ALL different! And some had very little merit to be honest. The use of a simple descriptive term for all these different cultivars has really muddied the waters. Will need DNA tests to sort out the mess.

[raymondo]

I grew some peas from a packet of yellow split peas (the half with the dormant radicle/hypocotyl will grow, even though it has only one cotyledon) and got these tough little plants, more tendril than leaf, which produced smallish, perfectly round peas. Not a wrinkle in sight! I'm keen now to bulk them up to try out.

I have four purple podded peas: Angela's Blue, Blue-podded Capucijner, Purple Podded and Purple Podded Dutch. The only one I've grown is the Capucijner. It's a beautiful, tall plant with striking two-toned flowers. I can't remember the taste of the fresh raw pods. They certainly got tough quite early in the piece though, that I do remember. I'll try all four next spring (September for me).

[caroline]

???I had thought that the Deseree were an edible podded variety?
The ones I have have very tough chewy pods?
So was I sent the regular Blue capojiners?

[caroline]

Okay, I posted before I read some of the earlier posts.