Carlin Sunday

Today, the Sunday before Palm Sunday, is Carlin Sunday and on it we traditionally eat Carlin Peas. As far as I can tell it's a peculiarity of the North, and even then it may not be the whole of the North - in fact even around here few people still eat Carlins. I was introduced to them many many moons ago by my Aunty who was an excellent cook and baker and followed many traditional "geordie" recipes. I'm going to do a blog some day just about her, she deserves one as she's a very special aunty.
Carlins are really Maple Peas, and other names for them are Black Peas, Brown Badgers and Pigeon Peas. The latter is most common around here and comes from the fact they're used as pigeon food. If you can't find them at a deli or health food shop, you can often find them at a pet shop (I'm not sure if they're food grade there though!).
You prepare Carlins by soaking them overnight and then boiling them for up to an hour - it's a matter of taste as to how soft you like your peas (they are tough little things and it's difficult to over-boil them). Then you fry them in a little butter for a few minutes, then add some salt and a good dose of vinegar to the pan, coughing madly as the vinegar evaporates.
Serve however you like - we have them as the "meat" of a Sunday Dinner, but it was traditional to eat them out of a paper cone in the style of chips, you could buy them like this in shops and pubs. Some places still sell them this way, such as Ken Bentley's of Driffield.
It would be a shame if Carlins died out even more so than they seem to now. They're far and away my favourite bean/pea - I could sit and eat a whole plate of them with no accompaniment. It's pretty tricky to get Carlins all year round, they seem to appear in time for Carlin Sunday and then they're gone again. It's a shame, they're great any time of year.
Support your local Carlin!

Comments

[sandy]

Interesting - not heard of this before. Your aunty sounds very special. (in the right post now)

[steve]

We know you're blonde, no need to keep proving it :-ppp

[Maureen]

I can remember having carlins the Sunday before Palm Sunday in the 1950's when I was a child in Northumberland. The custom was beginning to die out even then. I am surprised to hear that they are still obtainable and must try to find some as I have often told my (non geordie) family about them. We used to eat them out of newspaper cones after Sunday School.

[Patricia Forsyth]

I am a 69 year old Geordie who has lived in Perth Western Australia for 23 years. Today is Easter Sunday and I am off to visit my many grandchildren. I decided I would tell them about Carlin, Palm and Paste Egg Day. Then I suddenly realised I wasn't sure what carlins were and so looked up and found your great web site. cheers TRISH

[vicky boardman]

Black peas are traditionally eaten in the Bolton(Lancashire area)around Bonfire/Halloween night. The preparation is a little different to the North East method, we will soak them for 24-48 hours, then simmer untill they have gone mushy (adding salt during cooking stops them from softening).Salt and vinegar is added just before eating, I have just baught some to cook for a friends halloween party.

[Keith Jewitt]

I was told as a child that "Carlin Sunday" was a commemoration of a time (I guess the Civil War) when Newcastle was under siege from the Scots and the only food available was a cargo of carlins which were brought in by a Dutch ship which ran the blockade.

[Ronda]

I lived in Guisborough(8 miles from Middlesbrough)till I was 18. I now live in York and nobody has ever heard of Carlin Sunday. I even started to doubt myself and thought I may have dreamt it! It must be very local or have certain 'pockets' in the north that still continue this custom.
When we were kids we had this saying 'carlin Sunday farting Monday!

[Malcolm Little]

Carlin Sunday used to be widely celebrated here in Carlisle, back in the days when the State Management ran the local pubs. Regulars would be given Carlins, usually in a plastic cup, liberaly doused with vinegar, salt and pepper.
I lived in one such pub, and still use my late mother's recipe -
Soak the Carlins together with a ham shank overnight, rinse, fill the pot with clean water, bring to the boil, scim off any scum, and allow to simmer as long as you like, remove the shank, remove the fat, chop up the meat and return to the pot.
The tradition has died out since the big breweries moved in, but if you try hard enough you'll find carlins in one or two pubs.
Yet to meet anyone who doesn't like them!

[Steve]

Thanks. It was of course Carlin Sunday again yesterday and we had them for dinner, as we will again tonight because they're just soooo delicious. I can't think why we only seem to have them on Carlin Sunday when they're one of my favourite dishes. I'm going to make the effort to have them more often (provided I can find them).

[Jill]

i am also from cumbria - and remember them cooked with a ham shank! Someone said that the custom started after the danes sent them over to the north in a time of starvation - but not convinced!!! Anyone know where this tradition came about? seems 2 be a real northern thing

[helen]

Remember having carlins in the pub in Melmerby, Cumbria, in the late 1960's.
They were very nice, but just seamed a local thing.

[Simone]

I'm sure I've seen pidgeon peas available all year round at the Indian Supermarket down the road...I live in Leeds now but used to live in Bury where at this time of year you could always get black peas and vinegar on the market in polystyrene cups..much missed,...the black peas and vinegar, that is! Eh up!

[Elsie Jones]

I remember a rhyme which said Tid, Mid, Miserai, Carlin, Palm, Paste Egg day.
This was in the 1940's
The story I heard was about them being the only food on a ship that came into somewhere in the NE,(not sure which port) after a war, maybe Napoleonic wars, not sure, so people were glad to eat them or starve.
At Sunday school all the boys had pea-shooters and some Carlin's and blew them at the girls.

[Tintin]

The rhyme:
Kid, Mid, Miserai
Carlin, Palm, Pace Egg Day.
We shall have a holiday,
Bonny frocks on Easter Day.

I've just bought some carlins in Harrison's butchers in Wigton and I'm looking forward to Sunday! Definitely be cooking them the Cumbrian way, with ham shank.

[Steve]

Dunno if that's a mis-type, but here we say "paste egg day"...

[Dave]

I am from Whitby and run a bar / pub, it is Carlin Sunday tomorrow and I have my pans of peas all ready for tomorrow, I boil my carlins in ham or bacon stock and add bacon from shanks or nuckles.
I always keep the tradition of Carlin Sunday and all our regulars will have their carlins after the pub quiz. KEEP TRADITION ALIVE

[Paul A Taylor]

Hello everyone,I prefer black peas/carlins to mushy peas and bought some the other day from the market in Wigan at a scoop weigh store,50p pound or whatever the new money is lol (500grams).

Enjoy everyone,dont forget a splash of dark rum before serving

[jackie Thorburn]

I from County Durham but live in Edinburgh now... & we have Carlins every year. I get them sent from home.
I was told it had something to do with the Cholera epidemic in Sunderland & that people were forced to eat the peas that had been used as ballast on a ship in port, the vinegar was seen as some kind of early antiseptic!!!
Whatever the truth is I love them & so does my daughter (my Scottish husband just thinks they are weird)
Nobody up here has heard of Carlins, & I agree that certain parts of North just don't do Carlins.
It was always referred to it as Carlin Sunday followed by farting Monday in our house!!!

[Lucy Keighley]

I told you so!

[Andrew Grygus]

Someone mentioned seeing "pigeon peas" in an Indian grocery. Those are Cajanus cajan, not a pea at all. Carlin (maple peas) are just an older variety of plain peas, Pisum sativum. Wikipedia, though, mistakenly says Carlins are Lathyrus niger, a neurotoxic vetchling.

Maple peas are grown in good quantity in Canada for inclusion in racing pigeon food. Madman that I am I recently sorted an entire 50 pound sack for 1-1/2 pounds of maple peas.

[Paul DEavid]

Carlin (maple) peas are known in the Black Country as Grey Peas and traditionally eaten with bacon that has been added to the peas about an hour before the peas are cooked.
Do a Google search on 'Grey Paes' (sic)
Try it. Bloody delicious!

[Matthew Tomlinson]

Like someone else above this is a rather blurred childhood memory brought back to me when I cooked some Puy lentils the other day. I wondered if I had dreamt it, as I have not found anyone here in Birmingham who has heard of carlin peas aor Carlin Day. I remember being told about them at Hesket Primary School - something about a cargo of carlin peas wrecked in the Solway which saved Carlisle from starvation.

[C PEACOCK]

I was the River tyne that was blockaded and a ship carrying the peas gave its cargo to feed the people of North Shields

[Alison]

My north-east parents told me about Carlings (they always put the "g" on the end!) and I was always curious about them. Recently I've begun buying them by mail order from Ken Bentley, in Yorkshire. As I now live in the USA, the cost of postage is far more than that of the peas themeslves, but well worth it. And I'm determined that my grandchildren will learn about "Tid, Mid,Miseray, Carling, Palm, Paste-egg day"!

[Jennie]

I grew up with my grandparents and we always had black peas on bonfire night! Since moving from Lancashire I've been unable to buy these peas but then someone told me about www.countryproducts.co.uk where they are listed as Carlin peas! I'm from near Oldham and never knew them as anything other than black peas!