Hi Glad,

Welcome to the club. I also am a Northerner with an interest in Southern veggies and Southern cooking. I can recommend the book, Butter Beans to Blackberries by Ronni Lundy as one source of information. The book has a chapter on crowder peas as well as lots of other useful information such as how to make real corn bread, which is far superior to any I had proviously.

A popular way to serve crowder peas (which is one term for a vegetable which has many names, usually just called peas in the South) is to cook them with water and a piece of ham or pork fat, then serve over portions of cornbread with pot likker and cha cha. Probably some hot sauce too, unless the cha cha is hot. Cha cha (or chow chow outside the South) is a relish made from cabbage and assorted vegetables at the end of the season. Maybe someone here on Harvest forum has a favorite recipe. It seems each family has their own.

Hoppin' John is another popular dish made from crowders. A web search will give you many recipes.

I would urge you to freeze as many shellies as possible. They are the best stage for eating and not so readily available as dried peas.

A labor saving way to harvest them is to pull up all the vines when they have mostly shellies and some snaps. Take them somewhere comfortable and pick them off the vines. Freeze the snaps and shellies together and cook them together.

I am not familiar with the Sugar Crowder variety you have. Where did you get it? Is it a family heirloom?

Jim

Hi Jim,
Thanks for your reply! The variety, Sugar Crowder, is a gift from a pal who knew i collect some heirlooms. He is from VA, but received it from family friends while visiting Alabama 4 years ago. It had been grown by the same family for some generations. Might you be interested in this prolific legume?? Email me off list, if so - and i will send you some.
I am even thinking of doing something very non-southern with it - baking some dry, and turning into Wasabi Crowder Peas - a dry snack that we love from Japanese cuisine!
Glad

Most all veggies headed to the freezer should be blanched. Without it, they tend to have odd flavors.

Thanks, KS Rogers! the only vegie i haven't blanched to freeze has been corn on the cob - frozen with the leaves still on. A corn farmer passed that along as flavor enhancement tip.
Glad

Here is an attractive looking recipe which will work for any cow pea (aka crowder, Southern pea, field pea, etc.). I'm growing pink eye purple hulls this year and will definitely make some of this. I may subsitute thinly sliced fennel bulb for the arugula, since I'm growing that too.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Purple Hull Pea Salad

Here is a good thread on purple hull peas, much of which applies to any cow pea.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Purple Hull Peas

I am not growing Sugar Crowders, but I grew Sugar Snaps and a few varieties of snow peas (Dwarf Grey Sugar, Mammoth, Oregon Giant). Last evening I pulled all the plants and picked the pods off them from the lawn, as Ken suggested, but I thought of it before he mentioned it (thank goodness!). I got two pecks from my trellised vines - they filled up my big garden hod - I was amazed!

I'll have to shell some of the snow peas, because they went to seed, but those peas are surprisingly delicious, very sweet and almost buttery flavored. Now I will need to blanch them all, thank you for that tip. The ones I froze last year and didn't blanch were quite tough, but the flavor was OK because I used the Food Saver sealer.

Our cold, wet July was an excellent month for peas in Maine - let's hope that August is nice and warm, so the tomatoes, squash and cucumbers come on strong.