PEAS, DRIED WHOLE, GREEN
This is perhaps the best form with which we meet peas dried. When the best quality is selected, and care taken in their preparation, they are quite equal to fresh green peas when they are old. Indeed, many persons prefer them.
Soak the peas overnight, throwing away those that float at the top; put them into cold water, and when they boil let the peas simmer gently till they are tender. The time varies very much with the quality and the size of the peas, old ones requiring nearly three hours, others considerably less. When the peas are tender, throw in some sprigs, if possible, of fresh mint, and after a minute strain them off; add pepper, salt, and about two ounces of butter to a quart of peas--though this is not absolutely necessary--and nearly a dessertspoonful of white powdered sugar.
If you wish to have the peas as bright a green as freshly gathered ones, after you strain them off you can mix them in a basin, before you add the butter, with a little piece of green vegetable coloring (sold in bottles by all grocers). The peas should then be put back in the saucepan for a few minutes to be made hot through, and then finished as directed before.
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From Cassell's Vegetarian Cookery - A Manual Of Cheap And Wholesome Diet by A. G. Payne
