How to eat cowpeas
 

I put this question in the MMMM Questions thread but didn't get an answer. Trying again here.

I got 21 Pea and Red Rippers from the MMMM Bean Swap. I think they will love the heat and humidity here. My question is, are the pods edible like Chinese long beans, or are they too tough or not palatable? Would they be work in a stir fry or should I save them for soups and stews. Also, if anyone has a favorite recipe for cowpeas, I would appreciate your sharing. We didn't eat these growing up. I don't know the best way to prepare them. My mom only cooked snap beans with ham and boiled potatoes. All the other veggies we had came from a can.:roll:

When I see cow peas, I am thinking about black-eye peas. I just buy the cans at the supermarket, too much trouble to rinse, soak and cook fresh. I do not think the pods would be edible, but I could be wrong.

1 can drained with a pat of butter heated up, and eat ... a very healthy, balanced food!

[QUOTE=MuddyToes;617836]I put this question in the MMMM Questions thread but didn't get an answer. Trying again here.

I got 21 Pea and Red Rippers from the MMMM Bean Swap. I think they will love the heat and humidity here. My question is, are the pods edible like Chinese long beans, or are they too tough or not palatable? Would they be work in a stir fry or should I save them for soups and stews. Also, if anyone has a favorite recipe for cowpeas, I would appreciate your sharing. We didn't eat these growing up. I don't know the best way to prepare them. My mom only cooked snap beans with ham and boiled potatoes. All the other veggies we had came from a can.:roll:[/QUOTE]

Mostly as shelly beans or dried mature beans. You can, and I also do this, is pick some of the thin ones and snap them into the fresh shelly beans. The very young pods are pretty tender. As the pod ages and the "peas" get bigger, the pod toughens up to where you don't want to eat it- but the chickens and hogs like them.

Red Rippers make good gravy as they cook. I just cook most cowpeas with either smoked ham hock, fat back or a ham bone, garlic and onion, s& p to taste.

I sometimes will make an odd dish that has okra, tomatoes and whatever vegetables I have laying about, all cooked together, take the side meat off any bones or dice the fat back, cook until thickened and serve over rice - sort of a b a s ta rdized gumbo.

That, with some corn bread or biscuits will load you up for an afternoon's work, or in my case, a nap!

Cowpeas as in Black Eyed Peas - the hulls are edible, but you use them as snaps. I pick them when they are still small and tender. The way I cook a bag of Black eyed peas is by checking that there is not chunks of dirt or tiny rock. Rinse them in cold water, and cook them as you would cook pinto beans. They usually take about an hour depending on how high the burner is set. About half way through cooking them, add the snaps cut into bite size pieces, and then bacon if you like it.

Growing Black Eyed Peas in a small garden - just grow them for the snaps - they freeze very well. Otherwise, it takes a LOT of Black Eyed pea plants to make a pound of dried shelled peas, and it turns into a chore shelling them. Just buy them in the bag - they cost around a dollar.

If you got some in the swap called, "Sugar Snap" you eat them shell and all.

Here's a link to Peas [URL]http://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/peas/[/URL]

Another for Cowpeas [URL]http://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/cowpeas/[/URL]

lol, I was typing as Imp was.

Thanks Imp and Salt. Bacon, corn bread and gravy sounds like heaven. I suspect they will grow well here. The yardlong beans are in the same family and I got a decent harvest from those.

I quit growing beans after 1 season, way to much trouble for very little reward. I just buy them ready to heat up and add a few things like fatback or a hambone.

Growing up, Pink Eye Purple Hull Cowpeas WERE peas to me. Both of my Grannys grew large pea patches and we shelled em on the porch and cooked em up or put em up.

But, with the availability of large bags of fresh shelled peas at my local produce stand in late summer and fall, as others have said, it's just too much trouble to grow them out. Takes a lot of productive garden real estate.

Mature purple hulls are still one of my very favorite foods. I just put a quart of peas in with water and bring them to a boil and lower to a simmer. Let them go 45 minutes or so and they will produce a tasty pot liquor. I rarely add the same things twice. Almost always bacon fat, salt and pepper and often butter, cayenne pepper sauce or flakes and whatever other seasoning strikes my fancy. Spooned over fresh sliced cornbread with a sliced mater and they are an essential comfort food for me.

I would be interested to hear about what you are able to make of the young peas. Hope it goes well if you grow them.

Cook but not to mush and make cold pea salad with them.
I see no extra trouble cooking dried peas of any kind.
They dont take forever like beans do.
My favorite is brown crowder peas.
These types are all varieties of cow peas.
The Chinese yard long bean is a cow pea not a bean.

Worth

[QUOTE=BigVanVader;617853]I quit growing beans after 1 season, way to much trouble for very little reward. I just buy them ready to heat up and add a few things like fatback or a hambone.[/QUOTE]

BVV, you're right. Unless you can grow them by the acre, I didn't think they were worth the space. I buy mine from Camellia Brand, from Louisiana. They offer free shipping with a $25 order. I love their Lady Cream peas and Crowders!:love:

Here's a link: [URL="http://www.camelliabrand.com/product-category/dried-beans-peas-lentils/"]http://www.camelliabrand.com/product-category/dried-beans-peas-lentils/[/URL]

I eat my peas with honey.
I've done it all my life.
Yes it does taste funny but
it keeps them on the knife.

For the cowpeas listed in the OP, I would agree with Imp's suggestion of shellies. Those are large peas, well suited to shelling when mature, but not yet dry.

21 Peas & Red Ripper are allegedly the same cultivar; I've only grown 21 Peas, so can't vouch for the comparison personally. Be prepared for very long, rampant vines, which can be trained onto a trellis. In my climate, the yield was nothing special; so I would have to agree with others who said the same. IMO still worth growing for the fresh shellies, but for dry beans, there are many other varieties with a better yield, and a smaller footprint.

21 Peas went right up a short trellis for me and were quite good as shellies!

We eat either fresh shelled or dried,just like other dried beans. Usually I make them very simply,boiled and maybe a little ham/onions and garlic,or chiles,or just plain with butter.
We like limas a bit better but I buy peas and limas at our local produce stand. They keep them frozen when not in season and must have a machine to shell them.
I will be growing some this year but probably more limas in my open spaces. They both do great and heat and humidity.

[QUOTE=Tracydr;618079]We like limas a bit better but I buy peas and limas at our local produce stand. They keep them frozen when not in season and must have a machine to shell them.
I will be growing some this year but probably more limas in my open spaces. They both do great and heat and humidity.[/QUOTE]
I have plans for a big variety of limas. They did well here last year, too.

I like all kinds of beans.

Thanks for the cooking tips.

[QUOTE=Worth1;617896]Cook but not to mush and make cold pea salad with them.
I see no extra trouble cooking dried peas of any kind.
They dont take forever like beans do.
My favorite is brown crowder peas.
These types are all varieties of cow peas.
The Chinese yard long bean is a cow pea not a bean.

Worth[/QUOTE]

Good idea. I made potato and pea sprout salad for dinner tonight with green peas. I will try it with cow peas this summer.

[QUOTE=PhilaGardener;618039]21 Peas went right up a short trellis for me and were quite good as shellies![/QUOTE]

Good to know. I will give them a trellis. If they get too unruly, I will pull them up.

[QUOTE=TC_Manhattan;617946]BVV, you're right. Unless you can grow them by the acre, I didn't think they were worth the space. I buy mine from Camellia Brand, from Louisiana. They offer free shipping with a $25 order. I love their Lady Cream peas and Crowders!:love:

Here's a link: [URL="http://www.camelliabrand.com/product-category/dried-beans-peas-lentils/"]http://www.camelliabrand.com/product-category/dried-beans-peas-lentils/[/URL][/QUOTE]

Thanks, Crowder's and BE peas are still my favs. Speckled butter beans are good to. I eat a lot of beans from my market, Take em home and like you eat with cornbread, tomtoes, and maybe fried taters. For me it doesn't get much better.

Is it just me or has the price of these things skyrocketed.
Over 3 dollars for a pound for crowder peas is unheard of.
Even at the store I cant find them dried and the beams I do see are expensive.
To me they are a source of protein and that is it.
When that protein is more expensive than pork something is wrong big time.
What once was a food of the poor has became a food of the rich.:lol:
Yes you can grow cow peas of all kinds but you have to row crop and work at it.
Not something for the small back yard garden for people that have to work all day at another job.
It is one heck of a lot of work.
We used to sit on the porch every day messing with beans and peas shelling them in the summer.
Then there was the canning and so on.
My cousins grow some sort of cow pea every year.
About 50 to 100 acres and they use a combine.

Cowpeas are good in tuna noodle caserole. They are a bit coarser than a regular sweet pea. Be sure to line them up on your butter knife if you eat them by themselves:twisted:

I stopped eating tuna due to ethical, environmental and health reasons.
Even I have my limitations. :lol:

Worth

Grocery store prices are the reason I started gardening 2 years ago. And yes, Worth, I am appalled at the price of fresh produce, including legumes, at the store. I can get dried pintos and black beans pretty inexpensively because we have a substantial Hispanic population that the local supermarkets cater to. But I like fresh produce during the warmer months and farm stand prices are crazy expensive here. I saw a small package of fresh unshelled Lima beans at the farm stand last summer tagged at a few dollars. Once shelled, it would barely have been a portion for one person. The cowpeas might be more trouble than they are worth, but I'm experimenting with all kinds of crops. I have found a couple things that are very happy here and I want to see what else I can do. At the moment, I am a stay-at-home mom, gardening to supplement my dh's income with food on the table. So I have the time. I wouldn't bother or have the time/energy if I was at work all day. I am amazed at the people on this board that do both. But then again, everyone's situation is different.

Muddy, that's my dream-a stay-home Mom with a garden!

Thanks for reminding me how blessed I am, Deborah!

Yeah I don't want to discourage anyone. I know a couple in their 70s and they grow a huge garden every year including several types of beans. All comes down to preference and free time.

[quote=Worth1]Yes you can grow cow peas of all kinds but you have to row crop and work at it.
Not something for the small back yard garden for people that have to work all day at another job.
It is one heck of a lot of work.[/quote]

This is why they're $3/lb.:P
Folks don't buy these for sustenance. They couldn't afford to do so.
We buy these as a novelty, for a once-in-a while treat.:D

BTW, Dixie speckled butter pea limas and Jackson Wonders [i]are[/i] worth growing. I can get a decent yield from a small garden bed and they are really tasty, too.;)

[QUOTE=Worth1;618230]Is it just me or has the price of these things skyrocketed.
Over 3 dollars for a pound for crowder peas is unheard of.
Even at the store I cant find them dried and the beams I do see are expensive.
To me they are a source of protein and that is it.
When that protein is more expensive than pork something is wrong big time.
What once was a food of the poor has became a food of the rich.:lol:
Yes you can grow cow peas of all kinds but you have to row crop and work at it.
Not something for the small back yard garden for people that have to work all day at another job.
It is one heck of a lot of work.
We used to sit on the porch every day messing with beans and peas shelling them in the summer.
Then there was the canning and so on.
My cousins grow some sort of cow pea every year.
About 50 to 100 acres and they use a combine.[/QUOTE]
Camellia gets a premium price on their products because folks associate them with quality. I catch sales on Kroger brand dried beans for around $1 a lb pretty often and they have a large number of canned beans you can get for 50 cents a can from time to time. Cowpeas are not so common though.

I grow cow peas every year in a 4' X 24' raised bed. I plant rows 6 to 8 inches apart and space the peas 4 inches apart in the row. Using this method, I usually pick a 5 gallon bucket of peas and maybe up to 7 gallons about every 2 weeks. I usually get 3 pickings per planting. I am going to try to post some pictures of growing them last year in another post.

[QUOTE=whistech;618497]I grow cow peas every year in a 4' X 24' raised bed. I plant rows 6 to 8 inches apart and space the peas 4 inches apart in the row. Using this method, I usually pick a 5 gallon bucket of peas and maybe up to 7 gallons about every 2 weeks. I usually get 3 pickings per planting. I am going to try to post some pictures of growing them last year in another post.[/QUOTE]

That sounds do-able!
Do you find better yields with different varieties?
Which varieties do you grow to get that much?

When I see this thread, my first thought is, "How to eat cowpeas" - "With a spoon."

Other than the occasional thrashing I guess I was blessed growing up.
We ate like kings.
Giant tow sacks of pecans and peanuts.
Fruit and vegetables of all kinds.
Home grown meat of every kind wild fish and game.
Many years later it still baffles me at the prices in the store.

Worth