Crowder Peas

Crowder peas with the juice soaking on hot homemade cornbread is just about the best thing you can ever eat. Seriously, it is satisfying and is pretty good for you. Peas are a lean protein and you don't really need meat because they are very filling. You can have a complete meal with just crowder peas, cornbread and slaw. For color and a kick, I add a little rotel or homemade salsa. If you have crowder peas in the freezor, you can put this meal together in an easy 25 minutes.

When I was a little girl, I thought Mama Crowder and Granddaddy invented Crowder Peas. Crowder peas are in the same family as black-eyed peas but are alot bigger, don't have a big black eye and I think they taste better. They usually have one side that is kind of flat because there are so many peas in one pod. I have read that that is really how they got the name crowder - because they are crowded into the pea pod. I still always think of Mama Crowder and Granddaddy and so crowder peas feel like part of the family.

Mama and Daddy like to plant Hercules Crowder peas, but for some reason the seeds for these have become scarce. This year they planted Colossus Crowder peas which are as close to Hercules as they could find. They planted peas twice this year so they had a big crop early in the summer and have another crop coming in now. They planted this second crop about the same time we froze corn in early July. Mama and Daddy have frozen all they want so Wednesday morning I got a call from Dad that if I wanted to freeze some peas, he had a bucket for me. I have been a helper at their house in years past, but have never frozen peas at my house. I liked the idea of having my own peas in my own freezor. So I met Mom and Dad at Wendy's in Shelby for lunch and to pickup the peas. Daddy loves to eat lunch at Wendy's. Mom wasn't so keen on it at first, but she likes it now too. They always want to sit at a table on the sunny window side and they like to visit with the other lunchtime regulars. Daddy especially loves to calculate how they can eat a satisfying lunch for about $2.50. Together. From the dollar menu with senior drink. Daddy can make a game out of just about anything.

So, we met at Wendy's and as I was leaving with my huge bucket of crowder peas, I realized I wasn't really sure what to do with them. They must have realized this too because on my way home, Daddy called my cell and said he and Mom could come by to help shell if I wanted them to. Thank heavens. Shelling can be tedious work, but I was more concerned about not really knowing how to freeze peas to Hunt specification. As my friend Gardner pointed out, we don't really hold peas to the same royalty as corn, but we probably should because they are alot better for us.

Mom and Dad arrived at my house and we spread newspaper out on the kitchen counter and dumped the peas onto the paper. We each had a bowl to put the shelled peas into and we each had a place to put our empty shells. Mom and Dad look the peas while they are shelling so they don't put bad ones into their bowls. Daddy says that Mama doesn't like any little ugly ones. These were beautiful peas, but did have a couple of worms. Daddy tried to tease Mama that he always put a worm or two in for seasoning, but Mama didn't bite. When the shelling was done, we all three had a pretty good bowl full of pretty peas, but of course Daddy pointed out he had the most. He looked the peas again before I was to wash them two times. I was instructed to put two big pots of water on to boil and to fill up both sides of my sink with cold water. While the pots were coming to a boil, I put the peas in one side of the sink and looked 'em one more time to make sure they are all pretty peas.

At this point, Mama and Daddy needed to leave, so here are the instructions I was given. Daddy said, "Just put them in the boiling water to blanche like corn. Not sure how long, but they turn a color that we like - kinda grey. You can tell. Cool them in one side of the sink to knock the real hot off, then cool in the other side with ice. They chill pretty fast. Not a big deal. Then bag and freeze. Looks like you might have about 8 pint packs when you're done."

I'm trying not to panic as they walk toward the door, when Mama says, "it's better if you don't try to put too many in each bag." And Daddy says, "do you have a strainer? That works pretty good." The door closed behind them.

So, there were what looked like thousands of peas in my sink and I needed to get them to the stove where the water was boiling. Good thing Dad mentioned the strainer, because it would take forever to corral all those peas any other way.

Checking for the grey color was interesting. I am familiar with how they are supposed to look, but had no idea how long it took. I can't say exactly how long it is because I forgot to check the time that I put them in until they had blanched for a while, but it is definitely longer than 20 minutes.

When the magic grey color is reached, pour the peas into a colander and then into the cold sink water. Transfer them to the other side of the sink with the ice water. You can do this with your hands at first and then you will definitely want the strainer. They do chill really fast so this is a quick process.

Use a slotted spoon to put into the bags and, no surprise, Mama was right. Don't put too many in there or it is hard to close the bag without mashing the peas.

I wasn't surprised when the yield was exactly eight pint bags. Just like Daddy said.

So, crowder peas are in the freezor and one day this winter it will be so easy to drop the peas into some boiling water with salt and wesson oil for seasoning. Crowder Peas, slaw and a cake of cornbread are food for the soul.