The Southern use of peas.

Have you heard about "black-eyed peas," purple-hulled peas" ? These are commonly used in the South and you can buy them for about $20 a bushel in the shell. There are more names for these, but the intent of this post is to enlighten you, rather than to confuse you, so I will stick with these names. Local connoisseurs in Texas affirm that purple hulls taste better than the black eyes, but in truth, I can't tell the difference. Oh, and before I forget, these are not peas but beans. If you buy them fresh, you need to blanch them and freeze them. You can also buy them around here canned. These peas are high in protein content, so they are especially favored by vegetarians.

Principal uses:

1. Soups. Use them as in a lentil soup with a ham bone. You can use them as in the Indian soup Shambar (which uses yellow lentils). Cook the peas till they start to fall apart then add a mixture of vegetables and your favorite curry spices (the Shambar uses black mustard seed fried in oil). I am going to try to use them in a vegetarian chili by using the Mexican spices.

2. Salads. You can add boiled peas of the consistency of boiled beans, shallots, tomatoes and green peppers and a salad dressing. I varied this by using a can of purple-hulled peas, one tomato chopped and a mix of a half onion and pepper chopped and fried, then diluted with a cup of chicken broth and 1 tbsp starch cooked until it thickened.

Further research. Look for the festival in Arkansas and their entries.

Black peas are similar to the purple-hulled peas and are used in England for the Fall campfire celebration. They soak the dry peas overnight, boil the peas until they fall apart (1 hr?) then add the traditional English spices (vinegar, salt and pepper). You can flavor it with beef drippings.