Cowpeas & Butterbeans

One of the crops that thrive in our hot, humid climate is southern cowpeas.  I like to plant purple hull peas, blackeyed peas, and ozark razorback peas.  These produce prolifically and we eat a lot of peas and rice with sausage at our house, so we keep up a nice inventory of these in the pantry.  I want to show you another item that we like - Blackeyed Butterbeans.  These are a relatively new item we've rotated in and grown to like.  It has the markings of a blackeyed pea, but is a butter bean.  It vines up on a trellis.  Here is a pod that I just picked.

The blackeyed peas and purple hull peas are all done, but I still have a row of Ozark Razorback peas left to pick.  These peas are mottled with red and white markings.  They're a little smaller than purple hulls or blackeyed peas, but they sure taste great.  Here is a pod I'm about to shell right now:

Shelling peas is a job I don't mind at all.  You don't have to think about it.  You can shell peas while you are rocking on the front porch or watching TV.  It's rewarding to see your bowl fill!  Once we get them shelled, we eat them, freeze them, or put them on the dehydrator and let them dry.  Here is a half of a quart of Blackeyed butterbeans all dried and ready for long-term storage in the pantry.

And here is a half gallon of Ozark Razorback peas that will go in the pantry as well.

When we're ready, we'll soak the peas overnight and then cook them the next day with some onions and tasso and smoked sausage.  Tricia will make a skillet of cornbread with some jalapenos diced in there.  Then she'll put some rice cooking.  Mmmmmmmmm.....