Help with split pea soup…

lucym

We are using this recipe http://www.thefoody.com/int/snert.html

The soup has been cooking for about 3 hours now and the peas still don’t seem to be cooked…we used yellow split peas that had been soaked overnight. We were expecting them to soften and disintegrate in the way that lentils do but they haven’t. Where have we gone wrong or are they supposed to stay quite hard?

JoeyEmma

How old are they? The older the dried legume, the tougher they are and the longer they need cooking.

lucym

They were bought from Sainsbury yesterday...

JoeyEmma

Hmmmm.... no idea then!

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Eels100

That's odd, I make yellow pea soup with dried split peas, and although I never pre-soak them they only take 30-40 minutes to get tender. I usually boil the soup hard for ten minuted then simmer for another 45ish.

Sorry, I can't help either. Sounds like defective peas to me!

lucym

Thanks for all the help…can’t believe we wasted a lovely organic gammon hock.

kathyd_2

lucym wrote:

Thanks for all the help…can’t believe we wasted a lovely organic gammon hock.

Surely not wasted. If its still in one piece slice when cold and use in sandwiches. If its all chopped up can't you salvage it from the liquid and use it in another soup?

lilynolife

Is it possible to seperate the split peas from the rest of the stock/soup and boil them rapidly for 20 mins or so until tender? Might be worth a try... when i use dried peas I soak them overnight then boil rapidly... I love split pea soup... good luck

ashby

They may be too old it's always better to get dried peas/beans from somewhere that sells a lot, though Sainsbury should be OK?
Also salt can keep them from softening I always add at the end when cooking dried legumes. This could be the prob if ham was very salty. Sorry.

cheerfulness4

Lucym I had exactly the same problem with some that I bought from Morrisons. They wouldn't soften no matter how long I cooked them for. I whizzed them with the wand in the end but they weren't all that nice. Wasn't their own brand but some other make they were selling for 22p. So annoying as I bought a few packs as we love pea and ham soup.