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Carlin peas have deep roots in British food culture but are now little known outside regional pockets of appreciation in the North of England. Carlins were one of Hodmedod's first four products back in 2012 and we've worked hard to get these neglected peas into production on more British farms and back into British kitchens. We hope to help preserve part of our culinary heritage while encouraging more agroecological and diverse crop rotations on arable farms. Seed Sovereignty is also working to raise awareness of carlin peas. Northern England coordinator Catherine Howell describes their recent "Carlin Wednesday" celebration. |
How many parts of the UK and Ireland have a whole day dedicated to peas? Carlin Sunday in the North East is one such celebration, at risk of extinction unless we save it soon!
Carlin Sunday falls on the fifth Sunday of Christian Lent, a period associated with fasting and abstinence. It almost certainly has much deeper and older roots, but today its story is associated with the relief of famine in Newcastle in 1644, when the city was under siege from the Scots during the Civil War. Carlins, small and dark drying peas, washed up on the banks of the Tyne and saved Newcastle’s citizens from starvation!
Traditionally boiled carlins were served on Carlin Sunday with salt and vinegar (sometimes sugar and rum!) to commemorate this event, but gradually it has been almost completely lost from common knowledge. At a time when pulse consumption is at its lowest, yet the benefits of growing pulses to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and soil degradation are so keenly known, we’re on a mission to restore this special day (and crop) in the hearts of the people of North East England!
Carlin ‘Wednesday’, held recently in Teesside, was the first step in this process. Together with local environmental charity Middlesbrough Environment City, their fabulous Healthy Cooking duo Lesley and Kim, and expert ‘Communities Growing Together’ lead, Dave, we held an afternoon of cooking, eating and growing celebrations. With the support of British-grown pulse champions, Hodmedod (who supplied both the peas and the brilliant recipes to accompany them), Les and Kim served our select 15 guests a red pepper and carlin stew with flatbreads, carlin pea salad, and delicious carlin pea brownies to finish.
We were blessed with sunshine, so made our way outdoors to sow some peas using the packaging paper from the Hodmedod’s delivery to make paper pots that our guests could take home. Each received an envelope of pea seeds and instructions to grow, save and share them too. What a day! And hopefully the first of more annual celebrations.
It’s not too late to bring a little Carlin Sunday into your life! This year it falls on Sunday 6th April. You could explore cooking with carlins (check out the Hodmedod’s recipes for inspiration), and you might even plant some in your garden, allotment or growing site. They’re really easy and will grow from the dried peas. (Don’t forget to save the seed – they don’t cross and you can eat what you don’t use!)
To buy carlin peas, either order from Hodmedod or shop at your local high street Holland & Barrett. Our recipes were for carlin pea stew (an adaptation of Aine Carlin's recipe), salad and brownies. Cooking the peas with bay leaves is reported to reduce the potentially unwanted effects of eating pulses. (As is practice!)
The Carlin Wednesday celebration was an activity delivered as part of the Seed Sovereignty Programme’s role in the Northern Pulse Collaboration, a project with many partners kindly funded by Farming the Future.
We would like to thank especially Middlesbrough Environment City’s Healthy Cooking and Communities Growing Together teams, and Middlesbrough Food Partnership; Josiah at Hodmedod; and those who helped share our celebration!
Hodmedod co-founder Josiah Meldrum describes how Hodmedod emerged from the question of whether we can reliably and sustainably feed ourselves.
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