Split Pea and Ham Sit-Down
Dehydrated split pea soup with freeze-dried ham. Long simmer at home, ten minutes in camp.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Car camping
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried green split peas | 1 cup dry per batch | cooked and dehydrated at home, not carried raw |
|---|---|---|
| Carrots | 2, peeled and diced | cooked into the batch before drying |
| Potatoes | 2 medium, cubed | leave some skin on |
| Onion | 1, diced | |
| Chicken bouillon | 2 tsp | replaces the broth |
| Freeze-dried or shelf-stable diced ham | 2 oz | stands in for ham hocks |
| Dried celery flakes | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried basil | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried marjoram | 1/4 tsp | |
| Lemon pepper seasoning | 1/2 tsp | |
| Bay leaf | 1 | used at home, pulled before drying |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | added in camp |
Method
- At home: simmer the peas, carrots, potatoes, onion, bouillon, herbs, and bay leaf in water until the peas collapse. Pull the bay leaf.
- Spread the soup thin on dehydrator trays and dry at 135°F until it cracks. Break it into flakes.
- Portion about 3 oz of flakes per serving with the ham and lemon pepper.
- In camp: bring 600 ml of water to a boil, dump the bag in, and stir hard so nothing clumps.
- Cut the heat, lid it, and wait ten minutes. Stir once at five.
- Pour in the oil and stir. Add water by the splash if it sets up thicker than you want.
Split peas need an hour of real heat to break down, which is not a thing you do on a canister at 9,000 feet. So the cooking happens at home and the drying does the rest. Peas rehydrate well because they were already pureed to mush before they hit the trays — there is no cell structure left to soften.
Ham hocks and broth do not travel, so bouillon and diced shelf-stable ham carry the same job at a fraction of the weight. The oil goes in at camp, not before drying, because fat in a dehydrated meal turns rancid faster than anything else in the bag.
Packing
One quart bag per serving: pea flakes, ham, seasoning. Oil rides in a dropper bottle. Squeeze the air out or the flakes take twice the volume.
Variations
- Skip the ham and use vegetable bouillon for a meatless version.
- A handful of instant potato flakes thickens a batch that came out soupy.
- Crumbled bacon bits or a smoked paprika pinch gets some of the ham hock smoke back.
https://mealswithmaria.site/crockpot-split-pea-soup