Peas, If You Please

The cowpeas we have planted are producing in big quantities right now.  Each day I'm picking a gallon.  We have four different varieties planted and I'll show you three of them today.  We've talked about it before, but shelling peas is such a therapeutic activity.  You sit down with a bowl and start shelling, removing the peas from the pods.  The pods go in a big bowl to be composted later and the peas go into another.

These, off course, are blackeyed peas.

These are an heirloom we've grown to like.  They are called Ozark Razorback peas.  They are smaller and more round than blackeyes.

Finally, here is another heirloom variety I picked up at a seed swap.  They are called whippoorwill peas.  They are smaller than blackeyes and Ozark Razorbacks. 

Each year I save some of the seeds to keep for next years' crop.  The Ozark Razorbacks and Whippoorwill peas germinated from some really old seed I had.  

We don't separate the peas.  "Variety is the spice of life, That gives it all its flavor." is a quote from a poem by William Cowper in 1785.  It holds true today.  We shell all the peas into one bowl.  Aren't the different colors and sizes pretty?

In addition to freezing a bunch of these in bags, we eat a bunch of these, too!  They are nutritious and full of flavor, like the poem says.  We put them in a big pot with some water and cut up some smoked sausage along with peppers and onions.

Once a pot of rice is cooked and these peas are served over rice...  Mmmmmm.  One thing that kicks it up an extra notch is to serve the peas over some homemade cornbread with a good many dashes of hot sauce on top.  Comfort food at its finest.  My wife tells me I'm easy to please in that regard because fresh shelled peas over rice is a favorite dish of mine - especially in the winter.