ioo THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES 



which authors who complain of their publishers' terms 

 would do well to bear in mind. Dried peas require a 

 little more care in their cooking and preparation for the 

 table than it is usually their destiny to receive. They 

 should be well washed in several waters and then left 

 to soak in cold water for at least six hours. It is when 

 they appear as pea-soup that dried peas deserve best the 

 encomium of the thrifty gastronome. 



To make Pea- soup, 



take a pint of soaked peas and place them, together 

 with a sliced onion, a sliced carrot, two sliced turnips, 

 a little celery, some thyme, mint and sage or other 

 herbs, a dozen peppercorns, a teaspoonful of salt and 

 three pints of water, in a large saucepan. Boil until 

 the peas are tender, which will take about two hours. 

 Strain and pass the vegetables through a sieve, and add 

 the puree to the broth. It is a good plan to fry the 

 sliced vegetables in a little butter, previously to placing 

 them in the saucepan. Mrs Roundell advises that, just 

 before the pan is taken off the fire, a little cream or the 

 yolk of an egg beaten with milk be added to the soup, 

 and either of these certainly is a pleasant supplement. 

 Fresh green peas may be used to make soup in some- 

 what like manner, but, in their case, soaking is not to 

 be practised, nor is so long a period of boiling required. 



BEANS 



Few vegetables, as indeed few plants of any class, 

 surpass in decorative value the sturdy, self-support- 

 ing broad bean, with its fragrant, creamy flowers ; or 

 its scarlet-blooming relative, the twining kidney bean. 

 Among the ancient Egyptians, however, so far from 

 being an object meet for admiration, the bean was 

 considered an unclean thing, evil even if but looked 



