Did you know you can use your entire harvest of purple hull peas with NO waste? I didn’t either until I stumbled upon this recipe for purple hull pea jelly. Let me tell you, it is amazingly delicious!
I knew once I saw this recipe I couldn’t pass it up. I had to try it for myself. I have canned peas for years but I always threw out the hulls for the compost bin. Now, there is another step before they reach that point!
In times past, our frugal grandparents and their elders before them used everything possible to feed their families. Of course, they lived in a society in which it was just common practice to salvage every morsel of good from the garden and their animals.
And I am SO thankful I get to learn their experience and apply what I’ve learned to our homestead. My goal is to return to their practices, savor those benefits for my own family. Then I get to share what I’ve learned with you, as well!
Purple Hull Pea Jelly
I was amazed to learn that various types of peas produce a specific taste of jelly comparable to a fruit. Purple hulls generate a grape flavor. Lady peas make an apple-flavored jelly, and you can produce a plum flavor by combining crowder, lady, and purple hulls. White crowder pea hulls give you a honey taste. Is that not amazing?!
Don’t toss those hulls! You work hard to shell all those peas, unless you put them through a sheller, that is. Even so, you can save those hulls and make them work for you!
I’ll give you a little tip here. I picked up boxes full of the hulls for free at a local farm stand that shelled the peas. I used the shells from a half bushel of peas and had a fantastic bounty of three cases of various sizes of jelly jars full of this marvelous treat!
We ate biscuits for days because we couldn’t get enough of it! We were hooked at first bite!
I believe you, too, will be impressed. Go ahead, try it out and leave a comment with your opinion. Now, I can’t wait until next year to try the hulls from our lady peas. I’m up to a challenge, so now I’m curious how other pea jellies will taste.
Have you tried others? I would love to hear your experience!
Purple Hull Jelly
Ingredients
- 1½ gallons hulls of purple hull peas
- 2 packages Sure-Jell pectin
- 8 c granulated sugar
Instructions
- Wash pea hulls thoroughly and drain.
- Transfer hulls to a large stock pot and add enough water to cover the hulls.
- Bring to a boil over low heat and cook about 10 minutes.
- Remove hulls from the water and discard.
- Pour water through a fine collander into a heat-safe bowl and save the juice, You will need 8 cups.
- Pour juice back into the stock pot and add Sure-Jell. Stir well and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes.
- Add sugar and boil for one minute.
- Ladle the liquid into previously prepared jars.
- Process in a water bath. Process 8 ox jars for 10 minutes or pints for 15 minutes. Let cool at room temperature to set.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.