A possibly daft question about mushy peas.

[Dilbertian]

All recipes call for dried marrowfat peas. I can only find dried small peas. Does it matter? Peas are peas, aren't they?

No, they're different. Marrowfat peas are allowed to grow to full size and then harvested after they have naturally dried out.

Yep need to be marrowfat.
Bigga do boxes of dried marrowfat peas which also include little bicarb ‘tablets’ that keep the peas green but also add to ‘wind issues’ so if you do use, rinse well after soaking.

Could I follow a mushy peas recipe with the dried peas I have? Would it need to be tweaked? It would still be edible, even if not the same as mushy peas, wouldn't it?

You will probably need to adjust the soaking & cooking times, cross-check the packet timings with the recipe.

<whispers> the tinned mushy peas sold for pennies in Lidl are the best ever...

Edible yes but won't taste like mushy peas, I'd be fairly pea'd off if I got ordinary peas mushed up masquerading as mushy peas with my fish and chips.😁

I would just buy mushy peas. They cost nothing; 25p a can at Asda.