Dean, I grew 4 types of soup peas this summer. These varieties aren't split peas (as far as I know). All came from an enthusiastic young organic farmer who runs Annapolis Seeds in Nova Scotia. I'll post a picture when I get batteries for the camera! Here are the results: *Capucijner - planted: 60 seeds, yield: 6.5 cups, 5-6 ft vines with beautiful purple blossoms & indigo leathery pods, peas look a bit like golden raisins *King Tut - planted: 60 seeds, yield: 5.5 cups peas, 5-6 ft vines, beautiful purple blossoms & indigo leathery pods, peas look like Capucijners but a bit darker *Canadian - planted: 60 seeds, yield: 4 cups, 5 ft vines with white blossoms, and papery pods, peas look like tiny garbanzo beans *St Hubert - planted: 60 peas, yield: 3 cups, 4.5-5 ft vines, white blossoms, papery pods, peas look like tiny garbanzos with lt green tint I've tried the Capucijners in a ham soup. Soaked them overnight because they're larger than black beans in size. Then cooked them in a ham soup in the crock pot. (onions, carrots, ham, etc) Made a very good soup. Peas looked & tasted like soup beans. Next time I will use the immersible blender to thicken it. I'm looking for a good French Canadian soup recipe to use with my Canadian & St Hubert peas. I've heard that split peas are actually field peas that naturally split. I've also heard that smooth garden peas aren't as sweet and make good soup peas, Alaska, for example. These peas are mechanically split. I'd like to know more about split peas. One thing I like about growing soup peas is that they can go in the ground much earlier than beans & they mature early leaving plenty of time for another crop such as lettuce, spinach, kale, etc. A big plus in Vermont. Here is a link that might be useful: Annapolis Valley Seeds

Here are a couple of tasty variations in different colors: Red Lentil Soup With Lemon (NY Times 1/9/08) Time: 45 minutes 3 tablespoons olive oil, more for drizzling 1 large onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper Pinch of ground chili powder or cayenne, more to taste 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth 1 cup red lentils 1 large carrot, peeled and diced Juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro. 1. In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons oil over high heat until hot and shimmering. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes. 2. Stir in tomato paste, cumin, salt, black pepper and chili powder or cayenne, and sauté for 2 minutes longer. 3. Add broth, 2 cups water, lentils and carrot. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. 4. Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée half the soup then add it back to pot. Soup should be somewhat chunky. 5. Reheat soup if necessary, then stir in lemon juice and cilantro. Serve soup drizzled with good olive oil and dusted lightly with chili powder if desired. Yield: 4 servings. ============================================================ Yellow Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup (www.wholefoods.com) 1 cup yellow split peas 1 quart vegetable broth 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch slices 7 whole green cardamom pods 1Â2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) or canola oil 1 medium yellow onion, chopped 1 teaspoon garam masala 1/2Â1 teaspoon ground cumin lemon Cayenne pepper sea salt, to taste ground pepper, to taste Soak the peas in water to cover overnight. Drain and rinse. Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a medium pot. Add soaked peas, sweet potato slices and cardamom pods. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for an hour. (N.B. I skipped the soaking and gave the split peas a 15 minute head start and simmered until the peas and potato were falling apart -- less than an hour) Heat ghee in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garam masala and cumin and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. When sweet potatoes and peas are tender, add the spiced onions to the pot. Stir and cook another 5 minutes. Remove cardamom pods and season the soup with lemon, cayenne, salt, and pepper, as desired. Serves 4

There's a first step I follow with split peas and dried beans to speed cooking and reduce intestinal flatulence. Put the legumes into a pot of water with at least 3X the volume of water as the volume of dry beans/peas. Bring to boil. Turn off heat, cover, let sit one hour. Pour off water, then use the almost fully cooked legumes to prepare whatever recipe you're making. Soup can be done in as little as one more hour. You can saute onions and other veggies in another pot while the peas sit. Or, take out the peas when done, use the soup pot to saute the veggies, then add back the peas and whatever liquid and other things you use.

Well, I decided to just put the beans in without quick-soaking them and also cut up the little cottage ham and added that at the same time. Did that around 9:45am. and set the crock pot on high and it's 1:36pm. here now. They seem to be cooking alright, smells good in here. I've had to add water several times already, just a cup or so at a time. They are absorbing alot of water. Outside caulking the old siding of the little barn and come in every so often to check on them. I might have them for supper by 6pm but not sure. Thanks everyone!