Fried peas – just the dish for this Sunday (From Darlington and Stockton Times)
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Fried peas – just the dish for this Sunday
2:25pm Friday 15th March 2013 in News
TRADITIONAL FARE: Gary Jefferson preparing his Carlin peas
A RICHMOND grocer is reviving the tradition of eating Carlin peas during Lent.
The dish of fried peas was traditionally eaten in the region during Lent, often on the fifth Sunday, which is also known as Carlin or Passion Sunday.
Now Jefferson’s in the Market Place is hoping to bring back the tradition ready for Carlin Sunday this weekend.
The custom of eating Carlin peas on that date is said to stretch back to 1644 and a siege of Royalist Newcastle by the Scots during the civil war. On the point of starvation, the inhabitants of Newcastle welcomed a French ship which sailed up the Tyne with a cargo of maple peas.
Children in the North-East and parts of North Yorkshire were often given them to eat on Carlin Sunday after a special church service, reciting the rhyme: “Tid, Mid, Miserai, Carlin, Palm, Paste Egg Day, We shall have a holiday, Bonny frocks on Easter Day.”
Gary Jefferson, a partner at the grocer’s, said: “Traditionally, they are served with salt and vinegar, but a dash of Henderson’s Yorkshire Relish also works well.”
