Beer, cheap

No time. Just enough to share this recipe for pea beer.

BEER, CHEAP. "No production of this country abounds so much with saccharine matter as the shells of green peas. A strong decoction of them so much resembles, in odour and taste, an infusion of malt (termed wort) as to deceive a brewer. This decoction, rendered slightly hitter with the wood sage, and afterwards fermented with yeast, affords a very excellent beverage. The method employed is as follows:

"Fill a boiler with the green shells of peas, pour on water till it rises half an inch above the shells, and simmer for three hours. Strain off the liquor, and add a strong decoction of the wood sage, or the hop, so as to render it pleasantly bitter; then ferment in the usual manner. The wood sage is the best substitute for hops, and being free from any anodyne property is entitled to a preference. By boiling afresh quantity of shells in the decoction before it becomes cold, it may be so thoroughly impregnated with saccharine matter as to afford a liquor, when fermented, as strong as ale."
"A Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts" by Arnold James Cooley, 1845, page 141.

I had heard of peas being used in one of the Baltic states as an adjunct. I never realised they had brewed an even more extreme version in Britain. Another one for the daring homebrewer.