[Sca-cooks] OOP-French View of English Food

[Sharon Palmer]

Rumpolt has many references to "Weisse Erbeß" or 
white peas.  There are 16 recipes in the Zugemüß 
or side dish section for dry peas.  They are 
mentioned in several menus including the 
Keyserliche or Imperial banquet, so not just 
poverty food.

I found white whole peas at an Indian grocery, 
but after they were cooked and the hulls removed, 
they were exactly like common yellow split peas. 
The outside was greyish white, but the inside was 
yellow.

Ranvaig

>Grey or gray peas get their name from the color 
>of the seed.  You will find that there are both 
>field and sugar varieties of gray pea.
>
>In this particular instance, the pea under 
>discussion is probably the Dutch gray field pea. 
>It was under cultivation in the Low Countries 
>and appears to have been introduced into England 
>in the late 15th or early 16th Century at the 
>same time as the orange carrot.
>
>I wouldn't read much into a reference of the 
>commoners eating "grey pease." Peas were fairly 
>common poverty fair in England for centuries.
>
>Bear
>
>>Otherwise, I've never seen field peas called gray peas  before:
>>"The Common people feed much upon Grey Pease,"
>>
>>I also wonder if this is an early reference to British vegetarians  (who
>>seem to have been the first to be at all organized):
>>
>>Jim Chevallier
>>www.chezjim.com
>
>