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Carlin Sunday

(16 Posts)
MiniMoon Thu 23-Mar-23 16:14:33

Since last Sunday was Mothering Sunday, this coming Sunday, the 5th in Lent, must be carlin Sunday.
Growing up, my mother always boiled a piece of ham, and in the stock she boiled carlins (or badger peas) and we ate them as a starter before our Sunday dinner, I loved them with butter and pepper and a splash of vinegar.
I still keep this strange festival, and was wondering if anyone else still eats carlins. You can't find them in the shops these days, but I bought mine from an online store specialising in pulses and legumes.

Lizbethann55 Fri 24-Mar-23 10:27:20

I have never heard of that before. What are Carlin's/ badger peas? Which part of the country are you from? I think more of these old traditions should be known about and resurrected.

sodapop Fri 24-Mar-23 14:51:42

I've never heard of that either MiniMoon so many old traditions are gone now.
What are Carlins ?

Blossoming Fri 24-Mar-23 15:05:56

We still eat them in Lancashire, we call them parched peas here. I’ve also heard them called badger peas or pigeon peas.

www.lavenderandlovage.com/2016/03/carlins-black-badgers-parched-peas.html

62Granny Fri 24-Mar-23 15:08:14

I had never heard of them either, but link is enlightening:
www.lavenderandlovage.com/

Yammy Fri 24-Mar-23 15:18:54

We don't eat them now but did when we were little. We also used them in peashooters. I'm originally from Cumberland.
We had a jingle can't remember most of it but it ended Carlin, Palm and Pasche egg day. Perhaps it was the weekends in lent.

MiniMoon Fri 24-Mar-23 19:04:21

There are several stories surrounding the eating of carlins. The one my mother used to tell us was that during the siege of Newcastle in 1644, the people were on the verge of starvation. A boat arrived in port carrying a cargo of carlins (pigeon peas), which saved the people. This was the beginning of the tradition.

Maggiemaybe Fri 24-Mar-23 19:40:01

Well someone has to be the first to lower the tone and it might as well be me. Up in Durham we used to say Carlin Sunday, Farting Monday. grin

I can’t remember whether I liked them or not as a child, but suspect I would now - we eat a lot of pulses. I’m tempted to order some carlins from Amazon and try them on DH on Sunday. He’s a Yorkshire lad and had never heard of them.

BlueBelle Fri 24-Mar-23 19:43:26

Never heard of carlin (only in lager) so are they dried peas

MiniMoon Fri 24-Mar-23 19:47:37

I bought mine from Hodmedods. They have lots of interesting peas and beans, and much more.

Redhead56 Fri 24-Mar-23 22:53:16

My daughter lives in Lancashire I have had them there I liked them.

Callistemon21 Fri 24-Mar-23 23:08:31

Never heard of them or of Carlin Sunday.

Every day's a school day on Gransnet! 😀

Georgesgran Fri 24-Mar-23 23:51:20

Carlin Sunday is the 5th Sunday in Lent. The rhyme is ‘Tid, Mid, Miserai, Carlin, Palm and Paste-egg Day. We shall have a holiday, Bonny frocks for Easter Day.’
The relevance of eating Carlin peas in the North East goes back to 1644, when the Royalist Newcastle was under siege. The story says a ship carrying foodstuffs was wrecked just off South Shields and the Carlin peas washed ashore and salvaged by the locals.

Georgesgran Fri 24-Mar-23 23:58:22

Paste-eggs - comes from Pasca, Latin for Easter. In the North East (especially) eggs, hard boiled in onion skins to colour them, were rolled, in races, down various hills in the area.
I posted this before, but this is my first paste-egg. My DF dyed it and it’s 72 years old!

LadyHonoriaDedlock Sat 25-Mar-23 15:22:03

Carlin peas are the same as black peas. You can get hotpot with black peas on Preston market, or you could ten years ago.

CathRP Wed 13-Mar-24 16:14:16

I was searching on the web for info on Carlin Sunday -I'm interested in food history and seasonal food and traditions - and this came up (a year late). I come from Yorkshire and we don't celebrate Carlin Sunday, though I'd read the story of a French ship creeping up the Tyne with a cargo of Pigeon peas which saved the besieged population. I'm not sure whether the peas are named after the Sunday (between Mothering and Palm Sundays) or the other way around. When I was looking for food traditions to go with Bonfire Night/Hallowe'en/Diwali (they all cluster around the same time of year) I came across Parched Peas (presumably 'thirsty' peas) from Lancashire, so these peas have at least two traditions associated with them. I saw some a few weeks ago in Holland and Barretts, grown by Hodmedods.