A question about a recipe: Split Pea Soup for a Winter's Day

You can also use a stainless mesh infuser for the purpose.

It's a bunch of herbs that are either tied together with string or placed in a cheese cloth and then tied up in string. It infuses the soup with flavor but then can be easily removed before serving the soup so you don't have loose sprigs floating in the soup, I would use a cheesecloth to gather the herbs and peppercorns. Wrap it into a little bundle and tie it with string. You can find cheesecloth in your supermarket in the baking section