the haulm, they may then be either stacked or threshed out as soon as they are dry ; but care should be 
taken not to let them remain too long abroad after they are ripe, as wet would rot them, and heat after a 
shower of rain making their pods burst in such a manner, that the greater part of their seeds would be lost. 
General History of the Dichlamydeous Plants, by George Don. 
Young Green Peas well dressed, are one of the most delicious delicacies of the vegetable kingdom. 
They must be young; it is equally indispensable that they be fresh gathered, and cooked as soon as they are 
shelled, for they soon lose both their colour and sweetness. 
If you wish to feast upon Peas in perfection, you must have them gathered the same day they are 
dressed and put on to boil within half an hour after they are shelled. Pass them through a riddle, 
i.e. a coarse sieve, which is made for the purpose of separating them. This precaution is necessary, for 
large and small peas cannot be boiled together, as the former will take more time than the latter. 
For a peck of peas, set on a saucepan with a gallon of water in it ; when it boils, put in your peas 
with a table spoonful of salt, skim it well, keep them boiling quick from twenty to thirty minutes, 
according to their age and size : the best way to judge of their being done enough, and indeed the only- 
way to make sure of cooking them too, and not beyond the point of perfection, or, as Pea-eaters say, 
of “ boiling them to a bubble ,” is to take them out with a spoon and taste them. 
When they are enough, drain them on a hair sieve. If you like them buttered, put them into a 
pie dish, divide some butter into small bits, and lay them on the peas ; put another dish over them, 
and turn them over and over, this will melt the butter through them, but as all people do not like 
buttered peas you had better send them to table plain, as they come out of the saucepan, with melted 
butter in a sauce tureen. It is usual to boil some mint with the peas, but if you wish to garnish 
the peas with mint, boil a few sprigs in a saucepan by themselves. 
N.B. A peck of young peas will not yield more than enough for a couple of hearty pea-eaters; 
when the pods are full, it may serve for three. 
Plain Pease Soup.— To a quart of split peas, and two heads of celery, (and most cooks would 
put a large onion,) put three quarts of broth or soft water ; let them simmer gently on a trivet over 
a slow fire for three hours, (stirring up every quarter of an hour to prevent the peas burning at the 
bottom of the soup kettle, if the water boils away, and the soup gets too thick, add some boiling water 
to it ;) when they are well softened, work them through a coarse sieve, and then through a fine sieve 
or a tammis, wash out your stew-pan, and then return your soup into it, and give it a boil up ; take 
off any scum that comes up, and it is ready. Observe this is an excellent family soup produced with 
very little trouble or expense ; — that is. 
Quart of Peas . . 
Two Heads of Celery 
Pepper and Salt . . 
Dried Mint . . . 
s. d. 
0 8 
0 2 
0 1 
0 1 
1 0 
Kitclieher (No. 221.) 
