| Where: | Anywhere but particularly North East England |
| When: | Carlin Sunday |
| Time: | Any time |
Carlin Sunday is the fifth Sunday in Lent, also known as Passion Sunday and it was traditional particularly in North East England to eat Carlin peas on this day. These are variously known as Carlins,pigeon peas, grey peas and a plethora of other names and I bought mine on ebay. They are bought dried then soaked overnight and fried in butter – we ate ours with that other Northumbrian favourite, Pan Haggerty.
Helpful Hints
They increase in volume dramatically on soaking so you’ll probably have a bigger dishful than you anticipated. Scroll down the comments section below – you can get them from Whitby, Carlisle, Middlesbrough and branches of Morrisons!
In 2025 it falls on Sunday 6th April.
Are Carlin Peas and Chickpeas one and the same ?
Hi Keith!
No, chickpeas are different. Carlins are also known by lots of other names including black,grey, pigeon and bonfire peas – I got mine from a seller on ebay (they’re dried so don’t get damaged or stale in the post!). They’re not too exciting but are pleasant- worth trying.
Best wishes,
Averil
no they are not .. in the north of England you can buy black peas that you soak overnight and then boil .. often served on bonfire nights with vinegar..
I was always told when I was a child that after a long seige by the Scots the first ship to get to Newcastle had a cargo of carlins which were naturally welcome !!!
Yes, I was told the same. The people were evidently starving and were saved by the load of carlins!!
thank you! that’s what I’d heard too!
Carlin Peas are on sale at Whitby Wholefoods! So next time you’re in Whitby, pop down to the bottom of Flowergate & there tucked away at the top of St Ann’s Lane beside Mountain Warehouse you’ll find this friendly little shop. We’re so friendly that if you can’t get to Whitby but fancy some carlins, we’ll post them out to you. Call us on 01947 601608 (no answerphone so keep going until you talk to a human) or try Whitby Wholefoods on f/b.
Thanks for that Deb – people do struggle to find them so this should help.
Carlin’s are on sale in Carlisle market all year round
I used to have carlins every year when I was younger in the North East ( Sunderland)
Where can I buy them in this country ( UK) -I live in North Wales
Hi Ted,
You can get them on ebay (other selling sites are of course available!!)- I found them a year or two ago on there & got them in the post. If you don’t get a result for carlins when you search, try looking for pigeon peas.
Best of luck!
Averil
We have carlins every year still. They can be found in some health food shops especially in North East. Also shops such as Lewis & Cooper in Northallerton or Yarm sell them seasonally. Also as Averil says you can buy them online eg from Amazon. They can be known as Maple Peas or Brown Peas and I’ve also seen them referred to as Pigeon Peas. Just check that they are for culinary use !! They are very different to Chick Peas. They’re nuttier and have a different texture. We always had them with bacon – soak overnight then boil til getting soft (10-15 mins no more) drain and fry off in the bacon fat. This makes them really tasty (& a bit less healthy but use a splash of olive oil if particular!) and it gives them a nice texture. A tiny sprinkle of sea salt brings them out even more. Think that if cooked longer to a more of a mushy pea texture this renders them less interesting as all of their flavour & interesting textures are lost.
We always looked forward to Carlin Sunday!
Although I moved to London 45 years ago, I still visit Durham City as often as possible. There I can buy carlin peas in Durham City indoor market, where they sell nuts/dried bananas etc and liquorice wood sticks. Failing that, you can sometimes get them from a pet food shop. Although probably only the people in the North East pet shops will know them as carlin peas.
Bought my Carlins at Cranston’s butchers in north Cumbria. Cook them with a ham joint and eat on Carlin Sunday, otherwise known as the Sunday before Palm Sunday. Old saying:- Carlin, Palm and Pace egg day. Which are the 3 Sundays to Easter. I believe they were traditionally eaten to commerate the breaking of a siege when this was the first food available. Usually fed to hens or pigeons.
It should be paste egg day- we used to call the hard boilesd, dyed easter eggs we were given “paste” eggs.
It depends where you come from Anne – Pace Egging is rife in Yorkshire/Cumbria/Lancs!
Pace eggs is what we were given as children in Cumbria + my grandmother saved onion skins to dye the eggs wonderful swirls of orange yellow and brown. The word is derived from the Latin Pace meaning peace
Carlin’s. Eaten these for 55 years as all the kids had pea shooters at the same time.Once hit the MP for carlisle Ron Lewis in the neck with one when he was preaching on a soap box outside the market hall. He chased us down the street. Thick sliced ham cut up with scissors into about half inch squares will do, a dollop of salt bring to boil then long simmer. We’ve always eat them with vinegar on in Cumbria. My mother never fried them, they never lasted long enough as the men were always off with a bowl full as soon as they were ready.
The Carlin’s also have an adverse effect on the digestion hence “Carlin Sunday, farting Monday”!
Hahahaha that is exactly what my old mam used to say…and do !
Also come from the North East and used to say Carlin Sunday Pumping Monday the fa…ing word wasn’t known then
Jean
I had a heck of a time trying to get hold of carlins for my father last year. This year there seems to be an abundance! Countryproducts.co.uk does them online (UK grown and not expensive) as does hodmedods.co.uk (also UK grown, but listed as ‘black badgers’ and more expensive).
I live in Australia and would love to know where I can buy Carlings from over here
Hi Elly,
Try searching online for them using the Indian names- see Wikipedia entry for a long list of alternative names for them at http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_pea
Best of luck!
Averil
I was always told by my parents that in a time of food shortage in the North East, the first boat to sail into the River Tees and moor at Stockton-on-Tees carrying anything edible was a ship carrying a cargo of carlins. They were gratefully eaten and the tradition has carried on ever since, although the memory of the event is probably fading from common memory.
Would this be the Stephen Hodgson of Sir William Turner’s School late 60’s/ early 70’s ?
I just finished explaining to my American husband what Carlin Sunday is. We always used to have carlins when I was little. (I’m from Hartlepool). These posts bring back lots of wonderful memories. I have never seen carlins in the U.S. however, but would love to know if anyone knows if they are available.
Hi Janet,
We got ours through ebay – might be worth you trying as some of the traders might ship internationally and they won’t go off in the post!Hope you manage to get some,
Best wishes,
Averil
Pan Haggerty? Don’t you mean Panacklety – that’s what it was always called in Sunderland. Mince and onions in thick gravy covered with sliced tatties and baked int he oven although some people did use corned beef which was cheaper than mince. And please people…they are CARLIN peas not CARLING and definitely not chick peas.
Nope, Dave!
When I wrote Pan Haggerty I meant Pan Haggarty as that’s what it’s called in Northumberland 🙂
Averil
I’m from West Hartlepool, a kid in the 1950’s. Panackalty (I’ve never written it down before, it was always spoken.) was a standard supper dish at grandma’s. Always with corned beef, always delicious and certainly served with carlins on Carlin Sunday. Happy days.
Yes it’s scrummy isn’t it? Pan Haggerty doesn’t have the corned beef in – just potato, onion & cheese but it’s still tasty 🙂
Averil
Also from West Hartlepool growing up,in the 1950s but live in geneva/france. Was telling friends about carlins but they had never heard of them. Used to love them soaked in vinegar.
Brought back fond memories.
As a child I lived in Gateshead. we used to skip and sing a rhyme:- Carlin, Palm, Paste Egg Day. I cannot remember the rest of the rhyme.
That was the Sundays before Easter Monday. Paste Eggs were hard boiled coloured eggs as Chocolate Eggs were not available.
Can you add anything more to the little information I have.
One version of the rhyme begins “Tid, Mid, Miseray” then “Carlin, Palm and Pace/Paste Egg Egg Day, Every Sunday has a name, Tid, mid, come again” which gives a good rhythm for skipping to.I’ve read that it’s to help you remember the order that the Sundays fall on before Easter Monday – Carlin being the first one before Palm Sunday and then Easter/Pace Egg Day when you get your eggs. I haven’t come across any more words for the rhyme yet, and there might be different versions around.The spelling seems to depend on where you’re from – in Cumbria & Lancs it’s Pace Egg but other places it’s Paste. Are they the words you remember?
Can anyone tell me how to cook Carlins in a pressure cooker please? I bought them(parched/maple peas) in Booths in Windemere today along with a ham shank.
They normally take a couple of hours to cook by slow boiling (aka parching), so about 30 minutes in a pressure cooker should do it. It’s easy to tell if they’re ready, because they are no longer rock-hard. Just put the ham shank in with the carlins from the start, and serve them with plenty of vinegar and butter.
In my opinion, they taste better reheated the following day.
I had never heard of Carlin Sunday, as I’m from Manchester, but when I moved to North Yorkshire my husbands family introduced me to it (over 30 years ago) We’ve just had a big bowl full each covered in salt and vinegar, love them. Pan haggerty sounds a bit like another dish my hubby loves, but around here they call it panhaggy. It consists of thinly sliced onions, carrots, potato and bacon cooked in chicken stock. The only bit I really like on this dish is the top layer where the tatties are crunchy 🙂 Happy Carlin Sunday, fartin monday to all who still carry on the tradition 🙂 xxx
Thanks Julia (and you’re not alone, I like the crunchy bits best too!)
Best wishes,
Averil
The rhyme, “Tid, Mid, Miseay, Carlin, Palm, and Pace egg day” names the Sundays in lent.
Tid – Second Sunday in Lent when the Te Deum Laudamus hymn was sung,
Mid – The third Sunday when the Mi Deus Hymn was sung.
Miseray – the fourth Lenten Sunday, was when the Miserere Mei Psalm was chanted.
Carlin – Passion Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, adopted as Carlin Sunday.
Palm – Palm Sunday, the sixth and final Sunday of lent.
Pace Egg – A corruption of “Pasch” from the Latin and Greek root for “Easter”.
a useful page that explains the northern tradition of carlins is heritageandhistory.com
Carlin peas are sold in Carlisle indoor
market.We travel their every year from
Newcastle for them.
My Late Father grew up in Gateshead.
He told me they ate carlins every year on carlin Sunday.
He also told me that Carlin Sunday was followed by Farting Monday, then skittering Tuesday!
I only ever tasted carlins served in pubs in North Cumbria (Cumberland) in the 1950’s
Pasche eggs are from the word “paschal ” which represents Jesus the pascal lamb or the lamb that was sacrificed.
Holland and Barrett sell them in most parts of England, I think they are called Pigeon Peas though.
I remember around age 6 visiting my Great Uncle in Chopwell & the whole family went for a walk in the woods. I, of course, was running around & came back to the family with a handful saying ‘ Mam Mam, look carlins ‘ Well,I hadn’t learned about rabbits & their droppings then. Long time ago(70 years) but it’s still a family joke
So good to see the 6 names for the Sunday’s in lent. I remember them from 60 years ago.
We lived in a pub and served Carling as a bar snack on Carlin Sunday. We must have been posh as we served them with butter and rum.
When I was a kid we used to buy them at the corner shop for our peashooters
Yes me and my sister sal did too in Loftus North Yorkshire. Remember taking bucket with peas soaking in water so left overs could be cooked later. Looked forward to Mischief night as well before Halloween. ..Kids today don’t know what they are missing!!!!
I had heard a story relating to said Carlin Peas. Apparently a boat sank just offshore and the locals savage large amounts of peas and they had to be eaten quickly. Carlin sunday, Pea day monday, Wash day tuesday.
Any truth in this ?
Haven’t heard that before Steve but that doesn’t mean it’s not true- does anyone else know?
Best wishes,
Averil
Morrisons stock them. I even got some in London.
We stock Carlin peas in each of our three ‘For Goodness Sake’ health stores located in Middlesbrough (13 Newport Rd, TS1 1LE) , Coulby Newham (Parkway Centre, TS8 OTJ) & Guisborough (28 Westgate TS14 6BA).
Happy Carlin Sunday everyone from all of us at For Goodness Sake.
Hi all. I loved reading all about Carlin and Carlin Sunday. I live in South Africa and have been battling for 3 years to get some Carlins. A friend of mine managed to buy s cupfull in Greece and is now mailing it to me. Congratulations on your wonderfull way of communication. Love from SA
Hope you enjoy them!
you can get them at the Hayloft in Barnard castle – along with lotsa other good stuff….
For no apparent reason the rhyme. “Carlin, Palm and Paste egg day” remembered from my childhood in the 50s, came into my mind this morning. I googled it and was delighted to read all of the comments and reminiscences, made me feel quite emotional for the old days. I was brought up in Dunston near Gateshead and as the saying went “we had nowt but we were happy” and that was true for me. I well remember Carlins and the Paste eggs that our Nanna painted with us. Happy days, fond memories. Thank you for that.
Hi again. Sorry, to complete the trio, I forgot to mention that we were given a palm cross at Sunday School on Palm Sunday 😊
Lovely to hear that the rhyme brought back some happy memories! Dunston isn’t that far from us- we’re just on the other side of the Tyne.
Averil
Lovely to hear that the rhyme brought back some happy memories! Dunston isn’t that far from us- we’re just on the other side of the Tyne.
Averil
I also remember that rhyme which my grandfather told me. We lived in Darlington, County Durham. When I was older I remember that on Carlin Sunday, certain pubs in the town would have bowls of carlins on the bar.
Tony
Always known the rhyme and the tale about the civil war siege of Newcastle in 1644 as I am a born and bred Geordie. Not so sure about the siege story now as Carlin Sunday is celebrated throughout the North-East and parts of Cumbria. As Sunderland was supporting the other side in the Civil War it seems unlikely that they would wish to commemorate an event which saved the lives of the people of the Toon.