Hikes in Rain
08-12-2012, 20:52
I was reading one of those old camping and woodcraft books I collect, and came across a recommendation for pea flour as a food staple. I'd read about it before, but had forgotten it. It's exactly what it sounds like: dried peas, ground to the consistency of flour. It's use, I read, goes way, way back. Kephart mentioned in Camping and Woodcraft that German soldiers, back in 1870, were issued as an emergency food ration something which looked like a short stick of dynamite. Compressed dry pea soup, "guaranteed" to sustain a man for a day.
Well, heck, I have a grain grinder, and there's split peas in the pantry. A little googling indicated that pea flour is still sold commercially, and is the basis for "instant" split pea soup. A few minutes later, I have a small batch of pea flour. On the coarsest setting, it still came out about the consistency of all purpose flour, except it was light green. Googling also indicated that you take three heaping tablespoons of flour, two teaspoons of chicken broth powder, and two cups of water., bring to a boil and simmer a couple of minutes if you like. I used Better Than Bouillon ham broth, because pea soup needs ham. The mix looked real thin and watery to me, but I stayed with the original recipe, figuring I could always add more flour if needed. Instead, almost as soon as the first bubble came up, it thickened up on its own.
Smells like pea soup, looks like pea soup except that it's a lighter green than the olive color of traditional soup. I thought the flavor wasn't quite as developed, as well, seemed fresher and "greener", if that makes sense. Very, very good, though, especially since it didn't take much more than bringing it to a boil. Those old timers were really on to something here!
For a hiking meal, I think it would need to be bumped up a little, with shelf stable bacon, some summer sausage, or maybe a little can of ham. Dehydrated onions, too, and maybe some dehydrated potatoes and carrots if I can find them. Three tablespoons of flour is only about 1/8 cup of peas, I'd estimate, so you'd need more substance to it. Sure would have been good on a cold, wet, rainy camp I remember!
I used a WhisperMill grinder (a misnomer similar to the Whisperlite stove. Both sound like jet engines!). A blender, food processor or coffee grinder would also work, I'd think. I see this as probably more useful to section hikers than thrus, since thrus would have a harder time getting access to a grinder. There are the coffee grinders in a lot of grocery stores, but your soup would have a pretty strong coffee flavor, I'd think. But it's certainly going to be in my food bag next hike! I also read you can grind beans the same way, to make an instant bean soup. That's going to be my next experiment.
Well, heck, I have a grain grinder, and there's split peas in the pantry. A little googling indicated that pea flour is still sold commercially, and is the basis for "instant" split pea soup. A few minutes later, I have a small batch of pea flour. On the coarsest setting, it still came out about the consistency of all purpose flour, except it was light green. Googling also indicated that you take three heaping tablespoons of flour, two teaspoons of chicken broth powder, and two cups of water., bring to a boil and simmer a couple of minutes if you like. I used Better Than Bouillon ham broth, because pea soup needs ham. The mix looked real thin and watery to me, but I stayed with the original recipe, figuring I could always add more flour if needed. Instead, almost as soon as the first bubble came up, it thickened up on its own.
Smells like pea soup, looks like pea soup except that it's a lighter green than the olive color of traditional soup. I thought the flavor wasn't quite as developed, as well, seemed fresher and "greener", if that makes sense. Very, very good, though, especially since it didn't take much more than bringing it to a boil. Those old timers were really on to something here!
For a hiking meal, I think it would need to be bumped up a little, with shelf stable bacon, some summer sausage, or maybe a little can of ham. Dehydrated onions, too, and maybe some dehydrated potatoes and carrots if I can find them. Three tablespoons of flour is only about 1/8 cup of peas, I'd estimate, so you'd need more substance to it. Sure would have been good on a cold, wet, rainy camp I remember!
I used a WhisperMill grinder (a misnomer similar to the Whisperlite stove. Both sound like jet engines!). A blender, food processor or coffee grinder would also work, I'd think. I see this as probably more useful to section hikers than thrus, since thrus would have a harder time getting access to a grinder. There are the coffee grinders in a lot of grocery stores, but your soup would have a pretty strong coffee flavor, I'd think. But it's certainly going to be in my food bag next hike! I also read you can grind beans the same way, to make an instant bean soup. That's going to be my next experiment.