Yellow Split Peas in a Slow Cooker?

foxgloves

Oh no! Was so surprised to hear people still having rock hard lentils after so long in slow cooker. This just hasn't been my experience at all. I never soak them, just a quick rinse in a sieve as they can be a bit dusty. I get mine from the Co-op and I have honestly not once had an occasion when they haven't broken down in the slow cooker. (Agree they take ages in a saucepan though! I like making a Madhur Jaffrey dalh recipe and always have to allow more time than it says in the book) I never put salt in with them but having said that, there'd be a fair amount in the ham stock, so I don't know why this isn't working for so many people.

adelight

Hmm weird! In my 3.5l SC split peas in a soup/stew are almost disintegrated after 4 hours on low, I actually have to add them late! On the hob I boil them for 5 mins then leave them simmering with the lid on for another 30-40 and they're nice and tender.

tryingtoruletheworld

You could try bringing them to the boil for 10 mins on the hob first to get them going if they aren't cooking in the slow cooker? This would have the benefit of starting the cooking process without any salt if that is the problem.

Olliebeak

Just wondering if perhaps sometimes people have had the yellow split peas sitting in the kitchen cupboard for a long time

Primrose

I think some of the problems with split peas being hard (as well as bigger pulses such as red kidney beans, haricot beans and butter beans) is that we've sometimes left them in our cupboards far too long, which can make them hard to break down. (Guilty as charged :rotfl:)

One never knows how long they've been on a supermarket shelf before lurking in your cupboard so my experience is that they're best used up quickly. Using red lentils, which DON'T have to be soaked overnight will give an equally good result for ham and pea soup. I do just pour boiling water over them in a bowl for a couple of minutes before putting them into the stock to flush out any dust or other foreign bodies which might have sneaked into the mixture. Red lentils break down very quickly too. The decomposed puree can sometimes settle at the bottom of the pot leaving a clearer looking liquid further up the pan but it can quickly be whizzed up again.

cooking-mama

foxgloves wrote: »

Oh no! Was so surprised to hear people still having rock hard lentils after so long in slow cooker. This just hasn't been my experience at all. I never soak them, just a quick rinse in a sieve as they can be a bit dusty. I get mine from the Co-op and I have honestly not once had an occasion when they haven't broken down in the slow cooker. (Agree they take ages in a saucepan though! I like making a Madhur Jaffrey dalh recipe and always have to allow more time than it says in the book) I never put salt in with them but having said that, there'd be a fair amount in the ham stock, so I don't know why this isn't working for so many people.

Nope,its Split Peas we have the problem with not lentils...my slow cooker produces fantastic lentil soup...wouldnt do it any other way now...but split pea was a disaster.