Amish Peas
By Kevin Williams
Mmmm, some Amish cooks can make vegetables taste like candy. Â Carrots are one and, I found out, peas are another. Â I attended an Amish benefit supper several years ago and there were peas being served that were just out of this world wonderful.
An Amish woman named Betty Schrock was the one who prepared the peas that you see in the photo here and she was nice enough to take a few minutes to share her secret.  She said the key is to cook the fresh peas in a saucepan on low (add 1 /2 cup water for each pound of peas) just until they boil.  Then add sugar, salt, and pepper. She didn’t say how much of each, so you are going to have to play with the proportions, but I have a feeling  the sugar is the key to these peas amazing taste.  Then in a separate pan you bring butter and flour to a boil, remove from heat and add the peas and then bring the peas to a boil again.  Add 1 tablespoon of baking soda for each six pounds of peas to keep the nice green color intact.  Betty said the peas total time spent boiling is about 8 minutes.  Remove from the heat, drain and, wow, these are good.
I played around with proportions and added some below to the recipe card but this whole post is more of a formulation than a recipe, you may want to play around until you get it right. But you will be rewarded when you do!
- 1 pound fresh peas
- 1 /2 cup water
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- salt
- pepper
- 1 /2 stick butter
- 1 cup flour
- Cook the fresh peas in a saucepan on low (add 1 /2 cup water for each pound of peas) just until they boil.
- Then add sugar, salt, and pepper.
- in a separate pan you bring butter and flour to a boil, remove from heat and add the peas and then bring the peas to a boil again.
- Remove from the heat, drain and, wow, these are good.
- EasyRecipe
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Rita Nies
I wish that I would have known that you were going to be in Grabill as it would have been nice to meet you. I live in Leo which is just down the road from Grabill. Maybe some other time.
Rita Nies
Kevin
Rita, oh, I am sorry, I wish I would have known that to, would love to have met up with you...would have been nice to have company, that would have given me an excuse to eat at the Grabill Country Sales buffet, since it's never as fun to eat a meal alone!
Claudine
What kind of peas do you use in this recipe? Thank you.
Kevin
Hi, Claudine, just use regular, shelled fresh peas....or frozen shelled green peas...sugar snaps would do so well in this recipe
Kevin
Thank you for the kind words, Susee, and the answer to both your questions is "yes"....good luck with the peas, if you can't get the formulation right, they are awesome!
Kevin
lightly salted, Joe...sorry for not seeing this comment sooner!
D. Smith
I remember these from when I was growing up back in the 50's. We called them creamed peas. Even those of us who didn't like peas loved these. I don't think my Mom added sugar but maybe. I loved FRESH peas, I just never could stand canned peas. Ewww. My older sister would eat them right out of the can. What a difference in siblings, huh?
Kevin Williams
Sounds like my brother and I, I'll eat peas like candy, and he won't touch them!