Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 345 kcal | 98 kcal |
| Protein | 23 g | 6.5 g |
| Fat | 1.7 g | 0.5 g |
| saturated | 0.3 g | 0.1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 38.4 g | 10.9 g |
| sugars | 24.3 g | 6.9 g |
| Fibre | 24.3 g | 6.9 g |
| Sodium | 21 mg | 6 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 1.7 kg fresh Peas, shelled OR uncooked frozen peas, thawed
- Ice bath
Instructions
- Shell fresh peas as late as you can and keep them cool until they meet the pot. Pea sugar starts turning to starch within hours of leaving the pod, and starch is what makes a dried pea taste of cardboard.
- Boil them for one minute and no longer. A minute stops the enzyme that dulls the colour; much more and you are cooking them, and a cooked pea splits its skin in the machine.
- Lift them straight into the ice bath. The object is to stop the heat dead, so it wants more ice than water and a fresh bath for each batch.
- Drain them and roll them about on a towel. Peas hold a surprising amount of water in the dimple where the stem was attached.
- Spread them one layer deep and shake the tray to settle them into the gaps. They roll, and a tilted tray sends the lot into one corner.
- Dehydrate at 52 °C for 6 hours. They wrinkle early and look finished long before they are, so ignore the appearance and wait the time out.
- A finished pea rattles on the tray and cannot be dented with a fingernail. Anything that squashes has a soft centre, and a soft centre sealed in a jar will spoil what is around it.
- Cool them completely, then keep them airtight and dark for a year. The green fades across that time even when they are bone dry, and colour is the first thing to go.
- To use them, cover them with boiling water and leave them twenty minutes. They will never come back to fresh-pea sweetness, but in a soup nobody is looking for it.
