I've been meaning to give it a try for a while now. I forgot it last year until after I'd shelled my last pea and I almost forgot it this year too. My peas are doing better than anything in my garden and I've already canned enough to replace what we've eaten since last year. Last year I picked peas until the first freeze
Today I decided to give it a try. You gather all your hulls, give them a good wash or two and boil them for various amounts of time depending on who you listen to. I did my biggest stock pot full of hulls, added water to the level of the pushed down hulls and brought them to a boil. I decided to do mine thirty minutes. I ended up with about a gallon of purple hull pea juice/tea. I should have let them set for a few hours and steep for a little more color but the jelly was still a pretty amber color with a blush tone. I only used 4 cups of the juice to give it a try. I'll be making more but less sugar. I've got Pamona's Pectin and the low sugar Sure Gel.
Anyway, it's suppose to taste like grape jelly and it does a little bit but maybe more like plum jelly. I figure the recipe was developed in the south during the civil war or depression and I figure the hulls were used to give the jelly a little color and flavor.
Today I decided to give it a try. You gather all your hulls, give them a good wash or two and boil them for various amounts of time depending on who you listen to. I did my biggest stock pot full of hulls, added water to the level of the pushed down hulls and brought them to a boil. I decided to do mine thirty minutes. I ended up with about a gallon of purple hull pea juice/tea. I should have let them set for a few hours and steep for a little more color but the jelly was still a pretty amber color with a blush tone. I only used 4 cups of the juice to give it a try. I'll be making more but less sugar. I've got Pamona's Pectin and the low sugar Sure Gel.
Anyway, it's suppose to taste like grape jelly and it does a little bit but maybe more like plum jelly. I figure the recipe was developed in the south during the civil war or depression and I figure the hulls were used to give the jelly a little color and flavor.