it failed to gain the housewifes total support, in that it did not live up to some producers'claims that the dehydrated pea reconstituted immediately by immersion in boiling water, without soa an instant cooked pea was not realised The brand leaders in frozen foods were producing a frozen pea which fully cooked after three minutes simmering and, in claiming a better cooking performance for the dehydrated pea, some credibility was lost. Current Packs on the domestic market now recommend 15 minutes simmering to completely rehydrate and tenderise dehydrated peas, and this is nearer to reality but popularity appears to have wa Enormous efforts have been made by the growers and processors to achieve parity with the frozen pea, by selecting cultivars particularly suited to the dehydrator but, with conventional hot-air drying, it is a difficult task. Both the freezer and the dehydrator set the same quality standard at the farm gate, in that both call for a pea with a tenderometer reading of 90- 100 on the scale, with round-the-clock vining to ensure a continuous flow of ultra-fresh peas into the plant. However, tenderometer readings can only be guide to qua the farm gate and the factory gate can only monitor a fraction of the bulk. Tenderness and maturity can vary from row to row and field to field, and can even be inconsistent in a single pod where peas at the end of the pod will vary in maturity from those in the middle. An amalgam will therefore give a mean average tenderometer reading but, when the bulk goes into process, he freezing operation is far more flexible in dealing with small variations of maturity, whereas in dehydration even a microscopic deviation can give rise tocase hardening of the outer membrane of the pea and the denaturing of the protein, which will inhibit full reconstitution and induce wrinkling The only safeguard is to apply floatation quality graders in the factory but even this is occasionally over-ridden by an imbalance of drying temperatures in the drying cycle, as the latter have to be harmonised so very accurately to preserve the delicate texture of the freshly vined pea. There is less margin for error in temperature control at every stage of the drying cycle than with any other vegetable The vagaries of the British climate invariably pose some threat to the pea harvest, which at best only lasts six weeks, and sometimes as little as five. A hot season can be equally as disastrous as a wet one, in that progressive sowings over-ride one another and, in 24 hours, fields of peas an acceptable tenderometer reading can soar right over the top in that peric of time, making them unacceptable to the processor. Conversely, in a season of persistent rain, when heavy viners become bogged down and immobilised in flooded fields, thousands of tons of produce can be lost, and theit failed to gain the housewife’s total support, in that it did not live up to some producers’ claims that the dehydrated pea reconstituted immediately by immersion in boiling water, without soaking or cooking. The promise of an instant cooked pea was not realised. The brand leaders in frozen foods were producing a frozen pea which fully cooked after three minutes simmering and, in claiming a better cooking performance for the dehydrated pea, some credibility was lost. Cumnt packs on the domestic market now recommend 15 minutes simmering to completely rehydrate and tenderise dehydrated peas, and this is nearer to reality but popularity appears to have waned. Enormous efforts have been made by the growers and processors to achieve parity with the frozen pea, by selecting cultivars particularly suited to the dehydrator but, with conventional hot-air drying, it is a difficult task. Both the freezer and the dehydrator set the same quality standard at the farm gate, in that both call for a pea with a tenderometer reading of 90- 100 on the scale, with round-the-clock vining to ensure a continuous flow of ultra-fresh peas into the plant. However, tenderometer readings can only be a guide to quality, not an assurance, as a random check from each delivery at the farm gate and the factory gate can only monitor a fraction of the bulk. Tenderness and maturity can vary from row to row and field to field, and can even be inconsistent in a single pod where peas at the end of the pod will vary in maturity from those in the middle. An amalgam will therefore give a mean average tenderometer reading but, when the bulk goes into process, the freezing operation is far more flexible in dealing with small variations of maturity, whereas in dehydration even a microscopic deviation can give rise to ‘case hardening’ of the outer membrane of the pea and the denaturing of the protein, which will inhibit full reconstitution and induce wrinkling. The only safeguard is to apply floatation quality graders in the factory but even this is occasionally over-ridden by an imbalance of drying temperatures in the drying cycle, as the latter have to be harmonised so very accurately to preserve the delicate texture of the freshly vined pea. There is less margin for emr in temperature control at every stage of the drying cycle than with any other vegetable. The vagaries of the British climate invariably pose some threat to the pea harvest, which at best only lasts six weeks, and sometimes as little as five. A hot season can be equally as disastrous as a wet one, in that progressive sowings over-ride one another and, in 24 hours, fields of peas at an acceptable tenderometer reading can soar right over the top in that period of time, making them unacceptable to the processor. Conversely in a season of persistent rain, when heavy viners become bogged down and immobilised in flooded fields, thousands of tons of produce can be lost, and the IO