Carlings,does anyone know what they were?

Mr Google says

'Carlings are fried dried brown field peas. What all the cultivars have in common is that, like chickpeas, they hold their shape well when cooked. They have a nutty taste and are close to chickpeas in consistency.'

They sound like Preston brown peas you buy cooked and sold on a cart in Preston. They can also be seen sold uncooked in some of the shops there.

Those are parched peas Redhead, sold as pigeon peas in some shops.

If you asked MrJ he’d tell you they’re his cans of beer in the fridge!

I was about to say Jax I thought this was a thread about lager!

Great minds Kate.

Blossoming thanks I rather liked parched peas when our daughter was at uni there.

My mother used to say, "tid, mid, miserae, carling, palm and paice egg day," to remember the order of the Sundays running up to Easter.
We always ate carling on the Sunday before Palm Sunday.
Here is a link to an article about how the tradition originated.

Last year I had great difficulty finding dried carlings, even using the alternative names badger peas or pigeon peas.

No not Carlings Black label we used them in peashooters and did they sting especially on your face or the back of your legs.
Thanks Minimoon you've reminded me of the beginning of the Rhyme we used to say.
They were fed to pigeons and were a brown colour.

I think they were called Carlins? Black peas,boiled and served on Carlin Sunday in The North East.
They were/are popular in places like Bury in the NW and sold at Market stalls.

Grown in Suffolk, on sale at our local wholefood co-op; and can be bought on-line.
hodmedods.co.uk/collections/peas

I use them instead of chickpeas

Black peas were eaten on bonfire night in my home. We had them with salt and vinegar.
I think they were actually Carlin peas.
I have some in my pantry so they are available still if you look for them.

In the Black Country we used to have something called Graughty / Groarty / ? Pudding on bonfire night.
The last time I ate it must have been in the 70s.
It was a very thick pea based stew I think, but also a bit like pearl barley.
I’m off to Google…

Aha. It’s groaty pudding - made with groats (no idea what groats are)
It’s cooked for 16 hours!
The images an the net show it as brown, but I remember it being cream coloured , and I definitely don’t remember it having beef in it.

Children used to eat them as an alternative to sweets in the days of sweet rationing.
I didn't like them but loved licorice root, another alternative. I think you can still buy that.