Purple Hull Peas

It’s warmed up again, after a cool-ish week. The daytime temperatures are typically in the 80s at this time of year (that’s around 30 Centigrade). Just as well, since the Texas State Fair started yesterday – it runs through October 18^th. I’ve been before, so I probably won’t be going this year – even though the highlight will be deep fried butter … They try to come up with some innovative new deep fried snack each year – when I went it was deep fried Twinkies!

This morning I went to the Dallas Farmers’ Market to pick up fresh fruits and vegetables. I’ve been on the lookout for fresh purple hull peas since I first encountered them on my way back from New Orleans – and there they were. I bought two pints for $7. They’re just one of a variety of peas grown in Texas, which also include Texas cream peas and black-eyed peas (sometimes called “Texas caviar”). In case you’re not aware, what we typically call “beans” are called “peas” throughout the Caribbean and the southern states of America. We don’t get them (at least, not fresh) in England. Last time I cooked them, it was on the stovetop, but now I have only a microwave and a crockpot. A microwave is not suitable for the long slow cooking that’s required for peas, so I experimented, and it turned out amazingly well.

Here’s the recipe:

There don’t seem to be enough ingredients to make this very appetizing, but the peas soak up the flavour of the salt pork, and it’s actually delicious.

I’m not sure how I’d reproduce this in England, but it would be worth trying with any small, white dried beans that have been pre-soaked.