Picking Purple Hull Peas

[Nyboy]

 

[ninnymary]

Welcome to our group LankoszFarm! Looking forward to hearing more about your garden.

I love that drying rack with the partitions Ridge. What a great idea.

Mary

 

[LankoszFarm]

When I grow purple hulls I find if I keep them picked they keep producing until frost. I get a lot of peas from them.

I try to pick them just as the pod starts turning color. It takes some practice to learn when and I don't always get it right. If I get them before the pod dries they cook up pretty well, it's the way my wife prefers them. But if they are really dry they still cook up well, it just takes longer.

I try really hard to hull the moist ones the day I pick them, no later than the next day. I leave them in 4 gallon buckets overnight if I have to. As somebody said, since they are moist they can go bad pretty quickly. If you spread them out though they will dry without spoiling but I find the quality of the dried peas aren't great until they reach a certain level of maturity.

I generally don't hull out the ones that are "dry" immediately. I dry them out really well in the hull. They generally hull easier that way plus they will keep in a quart jar forever if they are really dried out. I treat the dried ones much like I treat my dried beans, whether I'm saving seeds or using them as dried beans. After I hull them I dry them even more. I dry them out of the sun in a workshop.

I made some drying racks out of 2x4's and some window screen. That's the first photo below. This photo is my black turtle beans after hulling and as they continue to dry. Before I hull them I put the pods on here and let them dry. Eventually I look the beans or peas carefully and put them in quart jars. That frame is elevated a little so air can get under it and I stir the beans or peas regularly.

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I don't know how many peas you have but for the smaller quantities of the bans I grow out for Russ I made a frame with small divisions or I Dry them in old coffee cans.

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For the peas that have not dried out I look them closely after hulling, blanche them, and freeze them in vacuum bags. Those are as good as fresh.

Wow, Impressive drying racks! Thanks for the good info!!