Stuff by Cher: Pease porridge hot

Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold

Pease porridge in a pot, nine days old.

Some like it hot, some like it cold.

Some like it in the pot, nine days old.

Have you ever wondered what ‘pease porridge’ is? I did . . . hence the blog post.

Pease porridge is much like what we know as split pea soup. I like split pea soup . . . but nine day old soup? Hmmm . . . I’m dubious about that.

Apparently some people like it nine days old; the nursery rhyme says so.

Like split pea soup, pease porridge starts out as dried peas(e) in a pot of water with spices. If vegetables or meat were on hand then those would go into the kettle, as well.

Dried peas are nutritious, inexpensive, easy to store, and easy to cook. All you need is water, a sprinkle of salt, a cooking vessel kettle, a heat source, and something to stir with.

At night, the kettle would be left hanging over the dying fire. In the morning, the pease porridge was breakfast . . . cold. More water, vegetables and meat (if they were lucky) would be added to stretch it out for the next meal and then the next and so on and so forth. This would go on until the porridge was gone. Would it last nine days? It’s conceivable. Waste not, want not.

I know what you’re thinking . . . food sitting out in the open for days on end is going to spoil. It makes sense that they would stretch out what little food they had for as long as possible. And what would kill you or I would be tolerated by someone who was used to eating less than fresh food. I think it’s entirely possible that people living in dire times, on the edge of starvation would build up an exposure-based resistance to food borne pathogens. And, reheating the food would kill off most bacteria.