December 26, 2025 • 31 mins
Black-eyed peas, a traditional New Year’s food in the American South, are an important staple all year long around the world. In this classic episode, Anney and Lauren dig into the history of this hardy legume – plus the science of minimizing beans’ musical properties.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Annie Reiss and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have a classic episode for you about black eyed peas.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Yes, and once again, I do think I know the
answer to this question. But was there any particular reason
this classic was on your mind? Lauren?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah? Yeah. So as we record this, we are running
up against the end of twenty twenty five, people are
perhaps preparing for some kind of New Year's Eve and
or Day celebration. And some of those people you included,
I believe, Annie, yes, are including black eyed peas on
(00:52):
that New Year's Day menu. Yes, I am.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
And when you mentioned you were bringing this classic back,
I told you that. Just today I bought all of
the ingredients for my New Year's Day soup, which does
include black eyed peas. Oh you're excited.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Oh I'm excited for you. Oh I still I still
need to. I haven't done like a really good New
Year's Day meal in a couple of years, and I
need to. I need to work on that, and I
need to, Like, I'm really curious about your souper recipe.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
It's really good and it's really easy. If anybody's like
worried about me. It's all canned stuff. Like if you're like,
it's well, you don't know when we're recording this, it's
currently it's December twenty second.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, it's all canned items. Okay, so it's very simple.
That's great. Good for you. That's so nice on yourself
because I know, I know you're cooking a lot for
Christmas for your family.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So it's kind of how this originated because we used
to do a much bigger when I would spend it
with my family, it was a much bigger deal. And
then when I moved to an apartment by myself, I
was like, you know what, I'm going to make this
easy on myself.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, simplify right, Well, we do in this in this episode.
It originally published on January first of twenty twenty. What
an interesting time that was. So we do. We do
say a lot in this. If you're listening to it
on literally the day it comes out, it's going to
(02:25):
be a tiny bit jarring because we're like, it's a
new year. It's it's the first day of a new year.
Welcome to the new year. But I thought that was
just fine. You know, Hey, I don't know about y'all,
But I'm sort of ready to see twenty twenty five
out the door. I try not to be that way
about most years, but this one, I'm like, yeah, I
don't know. Maybe let's let's let's get some let's get
(02:46):
some freshness in here. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And I also think that for a lot of us,
you know, the new year, you keep signing the old
year for a long time.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You don't know what year it is. Oh no, especially,
let's all just be honest with each like the like
last week. In the first week, I don't know, I
don't know what it is to be anything.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
It could be, it could be over on the other show,
I have stuff when never told you. Poor Samantha, to
my cost, she said it was two thousand and six.
Oh no, and she corrected herself and said twenty twenty seven.
And then she corrected herself again and said nineteen ninety four.
(03:31):
So it's not going well.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You know, we don't know, we don't know when anything is.
I thought heck, I thought I was bad.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
But this is why I like traditions, actually, because they
helped me be like, Okay, I know what time of
year it is. This is when I make my black
eyed pea soup. This is it?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh, that's great. Well, okay, without any further ado, let's
let past Annie and Lauren from whatever time they were
doing this take it away.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Hello, and welcome to save Her production of iHeartRadio and
Stuff Media.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I'm Annie Res and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and welcome to
the New Year. Yes, welcome and welcome to the show.
Today we're talking about black eyed peas, not the band.
Not the band too much.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Probably obviously not well. But in case anyone thought we
made some weird.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
New Year's resolution, sharp turn. No, I like that.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
We're entering the new decade with black eyed peas.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Me too. Yeah, it's a Southern tradition to eat black
eyed peas on New Year's Day. Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
A while back, we did an episode around the traditional
Southern New Year's meal, which is generally some type of pork, greens,
black eyed peas, and corn bread, and these all represent
basically luck and money.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Sure coming here, and there's a.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Chance I'm eating this right now as you listen.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I've already got it all ready to go. I just
have to cook it. Ah.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I love black eyed peas, but this is literally the
only time of year I eat them really.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And it kind of bumps me out. I don't know,
I should eat them more. I should eat them more.
They're available. I know they're not available like fresh. It's
true times a year.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I've actually only cooked them fresh once in my lifetime.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, how'd you feel about it? It was good.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I'm somebody who uh scoff set soaking things. Oh and
you're hav a so cool soak scuff or I'm a
soak scuffer that I didn't want to do it. I'm
lazy essentially, so the cans are easier, but they were
really good.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I just didn't like the soaking part.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Uh well, brings back memories of the the butter beans,
and I don't like thinking about that. If anyone doesn't
know about my butter bean drama, that's okay, But I've
got some built up memories.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's all that blanching. It's hard, it's hard, and it hurts.
It hurts.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I probably just wasn't doing it correctly, but that's okay,
But okay. The black eyed peace in this Southern traditional
New Year's meal is supposed to represent luck, or that's
what it was in my family. I hear most other
people think it's like coins coins, Yeah, because it's got
the little right.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Coin shape. I suppose. I don't think that beans are
in any way shaped like coins, but that's that's a
you'd have to be squinting pretty hard.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I feel like I've played at least one video game
where you pay for things with coins.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
With coins with beans with beans. Yeah. No, apparently the
saying is peace for pennies, greens for dollars, and corn
bread for gold.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yes, and we bought into it when we were children.
This is how my.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Mom I was all about it.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But my brothers don't like either collars, which is what
we normally had, or black eyed peace.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
But they ate them because they believed in the luck,
or at least they didn't want to risk it.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
It wasn't true, But okay, I guess that brings us
to our question.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Black eyed peas. What are they?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
It turns out they go buy a lot of different
names for one, mixing it up all.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I'm coming in with some angry response.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Because as we were doing the research for this, I
saw cow peas, crowder peas, southern peas, field peas, or
long beans, asparagus beans or yard long beans.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Too many names. Pick a lane. Yeah, well, no matter
what you call them, black eyed peas are they're not
peas exactly. They do share the same family, the legome family,
But black eyed peas are a species of bean, and
I have it here, and I couldn't find a pronunciation.
(07:57):
I'm gonna try vigna ngui coulata. Yeah, sure, let's call
it that. Let's do it. Yeah, that's that. That is
the exact species. And to be even more exact, they
are a subspecies that has particular markings. When mature and dried,
this bean is a small white to cream colored thing
(08:18):
with a inky black, brown or purple ring seemingly just
stamped right at the top or like if you think
of a bean as sort of like a blunt heart
shape sort of thing, yeah, it's like right at the
apex of the heart. Oh yeah, so much nicer than
saying kidney shade. Is why we do that, right? Yeah?
(08:39):
Related beans can come in other colors, red to brown,
to black, to speckled, multicolored to just cream without the spot,
and are sometimes called by some of those same names.
Too many humans get it together, Come on. The beans
grow in these long, skinny, lumpy pods, and in some
places the pods are eaten while they're still green, and
(08:59):
the beans immature, like like snap beans. Yeah. Sometimes the
mature but still tender beans are shelled and cooked up fresh,
and sometimes the beans are dried, which means they need
to be soaked to rehydrate before cooking. It's gonna be okay.
The leaves are also edible, similar to spinach. Oh really yeah? Yeah,
(09:21):
And that dark ring is around the area that's like
the bean's belly button. It marks where it was attached
to the inside of the pod. Oh huh.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Apparently in France they were originally called molget, the French
word for none, because the black spot reminded some of
how Nun's dressed.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Oh. I don't really see it, but okay, yeah, maybe
like the hat, like the little headware wimple combo. Maybe
I'm not sure. Anyway, I like it. The beans will
dry out naturally on the vine. They are self preserving.
Once dried. They are really sturdy. They can last at
least two hundred years in this state and still be
(10:00):
planted and sprouted afterward. Two hundred years. I know at
least research is ongoing. They're just waiting it out. I'm
not sure. Oh, Wow. But yeah, this was evolutionarily useful
because if the weather's too dry for new plants to grow,
the beans, which are you know, like the fruit seed
combo of the plant could just hang out and wait
(10:21):
until rain came again. Dang. Yeah, that's impressive. The cowpee
family is a warm climate crop grown mostly in tropical
to subtropical regions because it will not tolerate frost, but
it is really hearty. It's resistant to drought and pests.
They're also good to plant alongside other crops. They're shade
resistant and can crowd out weeds crowder. Yeah. Yeah. They
(10:43):
only take about two to two and a half months
to each maturity, so if you are in a warm climate,
you can get a good crop pretty late in the year.
Oh nice, perhaps harvesting them somewhere in December, yeah, strange.
And although commercial operations may harvest them mechanically, they're pretty
easy to show by hand. They're just all around like
a really agreeable plant. I like it. Yeah, me too.
(11:05):
And beans in general are a valuable crop because they
a have like a lot of protein for vegetation and
b grow with symbiotic bacteria in their roots. So like
the plant and bacteria team up to pull nitrogen from
the air. The plant takes in the air that has
the nitrogen that it can't use, but the bacteria will
(11:26):
fix it in the soil where the plants can soak
it up through their roots. Oh. It's a whole process,
it is, and most plants can't do this, so anything
the beans don't get to use gets left in the
soil after the crop is harvested and can be used
by the next crop it gets planted. There. Oh wow, yeah,
very impressive. Uh huh. What about the nutrition? Uh yeah, yeah,
(11:48):
that protein thing. They're up to twenty five percent protein
by weight. Wow. They're low and fat, high in fiber,
have a punch of carbs, and contain just an absolute
heck ton of minerals a smattering of vitamins like I'm
in folate. They will definitely fill you up and keep
you going pretty well, especially if you pair them with
a little bit more fat and veg like the traditional
(12:09):
New Year's exactly. Wow. Oh, and a side note about
why beans are in fact the musical fruit.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Finally, get to the bottom of this, I've been wondering
since it's elementary school.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
All right, So some of those carbs. They contain are
our sugars that we humans, like all other mammals, do
not have the enzymes to break down in our digestive system.
But the bacteria in our guts, sure do, you have
those enzymes. So the sugars pass into our guts, the
bacteria there eat them and excrete, carbon dioxide, methane and
a few other gases, and we pass those gases. So
(12:48):
the moral of the story is a everybody farts and
b discard the slime around canned beans and the soaking
water for dried beans, and maybe like the cooking water
for dried beans too. You want to be like super
careful because the sugars will wash out, uh huh if
you discard the soaking water. Yeah. Ah, you never know
(13:09):
what you're gonna learn podcasting just in time too.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yep, you're welcome, thank you, thank you. Well, let's look
at some numbers. Yeah, Nigeria is the world's top producer
of black eyed peas. They are also the world's top
consumer and importer of the crop. In twenty sixteen, the
United States Agency for International Development found that the average
Nigerian consumes eighteen kilograms of black eyed peas. The average
(13:34):
Ghania nine kilograms and one point eight kilograms per person
in quote tu Bois. Of the annual five point four
million tons of black eyed peas produced, ninety six percent
come from Africa, with Nigeria making up sixty one percent
of that number and fifty eight percent globally.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Woof. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Black eyed peas are popular dishes in Africa, particularly West Africa, India, Meanmar, Brazil,
the Caribbean, and the southern United States. They feed U're
prominently in things like hopin John more on that later.
And in Brazil, peeled and mashed black eyed peas than
ferminated overnight and fried and palm oil are a popular
street food. Nigeria is pretty much the same thing. In Africa,
(14:13):
they are part of the daily diets of millions of people.
They might be boiled and eaten with rice and or
fried tomatoes and onions and plantains. Sometimes they are ground
up into flour later made into porridge. Some places in
Sub Saharan Africa label this crop maricle peas or poor
man's meat, due to their ability to weather tough conditions
and their nutritional profile.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, I've read that in Sub Saharan Africa as a
whole they are the primary source of protein in people's diets. Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Because of its significance in the diets of so many,
the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture is experimenting with varieties
of black eyed peas that produce higher yields or are
resistant to pest as of now Ia boasts the world's
largest and most diverse bank of black eyed peas, two
unique samples, eighty eight countries.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Ah, that's so cool, I love it. Yeah. England's Royal
Botanical Gardens Queue has a science arm that also works
on seed collection, and the black eyed pea is one
of twenty nine crops that they have deemed a potential
savior of our future food security. They thus also have
a collection of not just cultivated varietals of black eyed peas,
but also their cousins that grow in the wild. See.
(15:22):
You didn't think that the black eyed pea was going
to be a good start to the decade, but look
at this. It is.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
It is when it comes to their place as a
representation of luck in the Southern New Year's meal or coins,
what have you. Most food historians thing has to do
with humility, as one saying goes eat poor on New
Year's and eat fat the rest of the year. Or
it could be as simple as they kind of look
at coins. Like we said, that's what I always assume personally,
and I guess having money is lucky. It's fortunate, for sure,
(15:53):
sure sword related. Some think it's because when cooked, the
volume of black eyed peas substantially increases, making it hopefully
representation of wealth and abundance increasing.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
One of one of my favorite food blogs, Botanist in
the Kitchen, wrote about black eyed peas quote, just like optimism,
beans are cheap enough that anyone can have them. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I know. As we mentioned in our New Year's Traditions episode,
there are even more specific traditions around black eyed peas.
One goes that you have to eat them before noon
on New Year's Day to benefit from the look oh money.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Twelve oh one. Like it was like Gremlins, I can't
eat an afternoon. That's probably where the plot of Gremlins
came from, now that I think about it.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Another goes that you have to count out three hundred
and sixty five or three hundred and sixty six of
black eyed peas one for each day of the coming year.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
No thank you. That sounds like a lot more counting
than I generally care to do. I did used to
really like counting.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, when I was a kid, I like to count,
and I want a lot of contests that.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Way, like guess how many? Yeah, I'm really good at those.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Maybe I should count, Okay, maybe I will. I've seen
black eyed bees referred to as poor Man's caviaar in
the South or Texas caviar and thinking about it too.
Most of these lucky Southern foods are ones that do
grow during tough winter months aka around New Year's and
as we've said before, pre refrigeration, people frequently slaughtered their
(17:23):
pigs before winter and salted the pork to make it
through the season.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So it kind of just makes sense.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yes, delicious sense, delicious delicious sense. And there's a pun there,
there's a pun. But anyway, let's move on from bad
puns and talk about some history.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yes, but first let's take a quick break for a
word from a sponsor, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. Black eyed peas most
likely originated in Africa or possibly Asia. Probably Africa, it's
still debated because their taxonomic name suggest they are from Asia,
but records seem to indicate they were growing in the
wild in Africa prior to their existence in Asia.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
As always, we know that the names of things can
always be trusted. Oh absolutely yes. But yeah, different people
at different times have thought Asia Africa mysteries history.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
They were domesticated in West Africa at least five thousand
years ago, and they've been cultivated since prehistoric times in
tropical Asia and especially in what is now India. Ancient
China grew them too.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
They are related to the mung be.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
One of our interviewees from New Orleans, doctor Jessica B. Harris,
wrote an article over at The New York Times about
the history of black eyed peas that was super helpful
for all of this. Totally go check it out if
you're interested. She also has a lot of books, how
we highly recommend about all kinds of this stuff, all
kinds of stuff that we're talking about. Ancient Greeks and
Romans preferred the black eyed pea to the chickpea, apparently
(18:58):
apparently interestingly, black eyed peas have been considered a lucky
food to eat on New Year's for a long time,
at least as far back as five hundred CE, when
the Talmud mentioned the eating of black eyed peas for Russhishana,
the Jewish New Year. Some historians believe that Sephardic Jews
brought this tradition with them when they immigrated to the
United States, and records put the first wave of Sephardik
(19:21):
Jews in Georgia by the seventeen thirties. This is around
the same time records of black eyed peas suggest that
they were plentiful in that area, enough so people started
calling them field peas. The name cowpeas also popped.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Up around this time.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Allegedly they got their name because of their association as animal.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Feed, particularly for cows. There you go, but that's one version.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
These names cow pee and field pea could have originated
much earlier, with the common practice in Africa of planting
the peas along the border of fields to help manage
the weed population fortify the soil, and the stems and
leaves gave cow something to snack on.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, the leaves and pods are considered like a really
good livestock snack. Sounds good. I don't know why I
have the leaves.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I love eating leaves, which is a weird thing to say,
but I love that every time we find out, Oh,
you could actually eat the leaves of this.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, I know, right, yeah, all right. Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
And also some account suggest that Egyptian pharaohs ate black
eyed peas to grant them humility.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Okay, so yeah, who knows.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
The black eyed pea arrived to the New World from
West Africa as part of the slave trade, perhaps arriving
to the West Indies first and then migrating through the
American South. The first written records put the black eyed
pea in the Americas by sixteen seventy four. One historian wrote,
quoted from doctor Harris's article, everywhere African slaves arrived in
substantial numbers. Cowpis followed. Prior to the Revolutionary War. They
(20:51):
became one of South Carolina's biggest cash crops, and while
they were at first relegated as a food for the
enslaved or white people or as animal feed, they did
start to make their way into the diets of middle
and upper class Americans. Mary Randolph's eighteen twenty four version
of The Virginia Housewife featured a recipe of fried field
pea patties. Yeah, as with most Southern foods, several accounts
(21:17):
of the traditional Southern New Year's meal. Posit that it
spread during the Civil War after Union soldiers plundered Confederate
food supplies but left behind the pork and the peas,
believing that they were animal feed, or, in the case
of the pork, salted pork, they might not have really
cared to have it. In popular retellings of this version
of events, Confederate soldiers felt lucky to have access to
(21:39):
these foods when provisions were scarce, especially during the winter.
Yet another story posits that black eyed peas represent the
emancipation of enslaved African Americans. The first New Year's after
the Civil War ended was the date they were officially
granted freedom. Some records suggest that some men even put
black eyed peas in their wallets prosperity.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, keep the money next to the money, of course, sure,
Why didn't I think of that?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
The Creole people added black eyed peas, rice and pickled
pork to make a dish called jumbalayah oh congree congree,
meaning black eyed peas.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Thomas Jefferson planted the peas at Monticello. I feel like
he planted every night.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Didn't plant gosh, that is a question for a future
episode when it comes to Hop and John, sometimes called
happy John specifically, and this is an American Southern dish
of black eyed peas, rice, off in pork or a hambone,
and definitely seasoning. Although there are a lot of versions
of it if you aren't familiar, historians agree that its
(22:41):
roots go back to West African dishes composed of rice
and black eyed peas. Dishes similar to hop and John
are made in parts of Africa to this day. Records
show the dish was a staple among enslave people in
the southern US, particularly in the Gola country of South Carolina.
Rice and black eyed peas were both cash crops in
that area. Still, others posit the dish might be Islamic
(23:02):
in origin, since Cynicalese and Nigerian Muslims have a similar
dish swapping out the pork for jerked beef. Recipes for
the dish started appearing in early twentieth century American cookbooks.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Didn't we and to.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Think about it, didn't we have some hopin John when
we were in Asheville.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yes, yes, it was part of the very first meal
that we had when we got up there at the
Sierra Nevada brewery. That's right. Yeah, And it was a
very very fancy hopin' John dish. It was the best
nineteen dollars I've ever spent on Hopin' John. It was good.
It was really good.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Huh, Because I was about to say, I can't remember
the last time I had it, but that was it,
all right?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Speculation abounds about the origin of the name. One points
to the old expression hopin' John used to invite guests
over for a meal. Yet another describes a hilarious and
probably not real tradition where children would hop around the
table once before digging into this dish.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh that sounds like a thing I would have done.
And when I was a kid, if someone had told
me this is lucky do it? I would have been like,
this is an excuse to Greek some havoc in this kitchen, Okay,
because when.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I read it, I thought, why, But you're right, maybe
kids are kids, like any any reason to hop around,
I suppose. In his nineteen eighty one book Rice and Beans,
The Itinerary of a Recipe, John Thorne theorized that the
name hopping John was a corruption from the French poiu
pigeon pigeon peas. Pigeon pas didn't really take off in
(24:32):
the southern United States, but they did in the Caribbean,
so the term might have resulted from some confusion.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It seems like a big leap. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
I can hear the johnjeon Jean, Sure, yeah, who knows.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah. If we do it, we can get mysteries histories
all the time.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
From a nineteen thirteen Chicago Tribune article called Secret of
Hopping John out recipe told for.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
The Dixie dish. The Secret of Hopping John is out,
and they do put the G at the end. They do.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
The composition of this famous Southern dish, about which successive
generations of the cooks of Dixie have thrown a veil
of mystery has been disclosed by an investigation conducted by
the Department of Agriculture, and is given to the world
in Farmer's Bulletin number five oh nine.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Issued today, not five o nine five oh nine gosh.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
This is the recipe guaranteed by the government for the
production of the true Hopping John. Soak one quart of
dried cowpies overnight and water enough to cover. Cook until
they are tender, adding more water if necessary. Cook a
pint of rice and.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Three pints of water.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Mix the two season with two tablespoons of butter and
two teaspoonfuls of salt. A little beef pork may be
added to the water in which the peas are cooked.
Then the bulletin proceeds to sing the virtues of cowpies
in general, which the government opines ought to be better.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
There no north of the Mason and Dixon's line.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
That is.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
That's wonderful. It's so funny, especially because yes, they definitely
call it hopping John.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yes, this mysterious Southern dish.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Oh. And in the first few decades of the twentieth century,
black eyed peas and their cousins were the most popular
legome for livestock feed in the United States. That all
started changing with the introduction of soybeans. And I think
the flip happened in the nineteen thirties where soybeans took over,
and then later with a pest that started blighting southern
(26:40):
pea crops. This weavil that just weeks havoc on black
eyed peas. So production here in the States is much
smaller now than it was at the beginning of the
twentieth century, and mostly for human consumption, and it's still
troubled by this weavil. I read that a lot of
Georgia growers are really having problems, weavil problems. Did we
see a giant statue of a weavil? We did? It
(27:01):
was real weird but kind of wonderful, but kind of wonderful. Yeah,
that was on our field trip to Dothan, Alabama. Future
episode about peanuts.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Yes, yes, all right, but now we got to talk
about a very important event we do in Los Angeles
in nineteen ninety five, one will i Am Apple d'app
or perhaps it's apld ap with thoughts in between. We're
a little behind the We're a little two, we are
(27:30):
we Are. Jamie Gomez aka Taboo and Kim Hill formed
a little group called Black Eyed Pods what YEP later renamed.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
The Black Eyed Peas. Oh.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
If you're wondering why they chose that name, will i
Am once said that black eyed peas are food for
the soul, while also citing their red hot chili peppers
as an influence and saying he wanted to name the
band after a food like them, aw black eyed peas.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
The beans enjoyed a in the sun when the UNS
of Food and Agriculture Organization named twenty sixteen the International
Year of Pulses, which is another word for dried beans
like black eyed peas. Okay's like a guy like pulses. Yeah, good,
pulses are great. Yeah, and I enjoy having work. Yes, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
As of twenty nineteen, scientists that U see Riverside decoded
the genome of the black eyed pea in hopes of
feeding the world's growing population, especially as the effects of
climate change become more apparent. Understanding the black eyed peas
toughness could help toughen up other crops as well. It's
one of only a handful of other crops to be
completely sequenced and.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Do they contain about thirty seven thousand genes. So it's
impressive work. That is impressive work. And yeah, the research continues.
Farmers and scientists are looking at different varieties of black
eyed peas to find winning traits, you know, a particular
resistance to drought or tolerance to pests, diseases and competing weeds.
In general, research of this type has been done with
(29:02):
this bean than other sustenance crops like corn or rice
or wheat or potatoes. Basically because black eyed peas are
less finicky. But yeah, as with any crop, developing varieties
that are even hardier and more productive would help farmers out,
which helps everybody out there. You go. It's exciting stuff,
it is. I'm feeling inspired me too. This was I
(29:25):
had no idea what we were in for when we
started doing this research, and it turned out to be
more more delightful than I thought.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
I feel like that happens with everything we do, and
that's one of my favorite things of the job.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Me too. There's always some weird fact about bacteria arts
that I'm just like, well, this has made it all
worthwhile everything.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
This is a good way to start the year. It is,
and we hope that some of you at the very
least found this as entergati as we did. But maybe
you're having some black eyed peas or maybe you're convinced
to go get them now. Yeah, yesh, But we do
have a little bit more for you.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
We do. But first we've got one more quick break for.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
A word from our sponsor, and that brings us to
the end of this classic episode. We hope that you
enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed rerunning it. And
(30:27):
we hope that whatever you're doing, that you're whether you're
celebrating what you're celebrating, no matter what, you're having a
wonderful time, and you're making delicious food and you're sharing
it with people.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yes, oh yes, I mean all the time, but especially yes,
absolutely happy, happy you, happy.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
You, happy you, And please let us know about the
recipes that you like to make around this time to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
We would so love to hear.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
From you, and thank you so much for supporting us
and for listening. We really appreciate love you you guys.
You guys are the best part of our show.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Absolutely absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
If you would like to email as you can, our
email is Hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
We're also on social media. You can find us on
Instagram and the Blue Sky at saver pod and we
do hope to hear from you. Savor is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you
can visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our
superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
(31:38):
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Annie Reiss and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have a classic episode for you about black eyed peas.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Yes, and once again, I do think I know the
answer to this question. But was there any particular reason
this classic was on your mind? Lauren?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah? Yeah. So as we record this, we are running
up against the end of twenty twenty five, people are
perhaps preparing for some kind of New Year's Eve and
or Day celebration. And some of those people you included,
I believe, Annie, yes, are including black eyed peas on
(00:52):
that New Year's Day menu. Yes, I am.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
And when you mentioned you were bringing this classic back,
I told you that. Just today I bought all of
the ingredients for my New Year's Day soup, which does
include black eyed peas. Oh you're excited.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Oh I'm excited for you. Oh I still I still
need to. I haven't done like a really good New
Year's Day meal in a couple of years, and I
need to. I need to work on that, and I
need to, Like, I'm really curious about your souper recipe.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
It's really good and it's really easy. If anybody's like
worried about me. It's all canned stuff. Like if you're like,
it's well, you don't know when we're recording this, it's
currently it's December twenty second.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, it's all canned items. Okay, so it's very simple.
That's great. Good for you. That's so nice on yourself
because I know, I know you're cooking a lot for
Christmas for your family.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So it's kind of how this originated because we used
to do a much bigger when I would spend it
with my family, it was a much bigger deal. And
then when I moved to an apartment by myself, I
was like, you know what, I'm going to make this
easy on myself.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, simplify right, Well, we do in this in this episode.
It originally published on January first of twenty twenty. What
an interesting time that was. So we do. We do
say a lot in this. If you're listening to it
on literally the day it comes out, it's going to
(02:25):
be a tiny bit jarring because we're like, it's a
new year. It's it's the first day of a new year.
Welcome to the new year. But I thought that was
just fine. You know, Hey, I don't know about y'all,
But I'm sort of ready to see twenty twenty five
out the door. I try not to be that way
about most years, but this one, I'm like, yeah, I
don't know. Maybe let's let's let's get some let's get
(02:46):
some freshness in here. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And I also think that for a lot of us,
you know, the new year, you keep signing the old
year for a long time.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You don't know what year it is. Oh no, especially,
let's all just be honest with each like the like
last week. In the first week, I don't know, I
don't know what it is to be anything.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
It could be, it could be over on the other show,
I have stuff when never told you. Poor Samantha, to
my cost, she said it was two thousand and six.
Oh no, and she corrected herself and said twenty twenty seven.
And then she corrected herself again and said nineteen ninety four.
(03:31):
So it's not going well.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You know, we don't know, we don't know when anything is.
I thought heck, I thought I was bad.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
But this is why I like traditions, actually, because they
helped me be like, Okay, I know what time of
year it is. This is when I make my black
eyed pea soup. This is it?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh, that's great. Well, okay, without any further ado, let's
let past Annie and Lauren from whatever time they were
doing this take it away.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Hello, and welcome to save Her production of iHeartRadio and
Stuff Media.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I'm Annie Res and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and welcome to
the New Year. Yes, welcome and welcome to the show.
Today we're talking about black eyed peas, not the band.
Not the band too much.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Probably obviously not well. But in case anyone thought we
made some weird.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
New Year's resolution, sharp turn. No, I like that.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
We're entering the new decade with black eyed peas.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Me too. Yeah, it's a Southern tradition to eat black
eyed peas on New Year's Day. Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
A while back, we did an episode around the traditional
Southern New Year's meal, which is generally some type of pork, greens,
black eyed peas, and corn bread, and these all represent
basically luck and money.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Sure coming here, and there's a.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Chance I'm eating this right now as you listen.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I've already got it all ready to go. I just
have to cook it. Ah.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I love black eyed peas, but this is literally the
only time of year I eat them really.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And it kind of bumps me out. I don't know,
I should eat them more. I should eat them more.
They're available. I know they're not available like fresh. It's
true times a year.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I've actually only cooked them fresh once in my lifetime.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, how'd you feel about it? It was good.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I'm somebody who uh scoff set soaking things. Oh and
you're hav a so cool soak scuff or I'm a
soak scuffer that I didn't want to do it. I'm
lazy essentially, so the cans are easier, but they were
really good.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I just didn't like the soaking part.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Uh well, brings back memories of the the butter beans,
and I don't like thinking about that. If anyone doesn't
know about my butter bean drama, that's okay, But I've
got some built up memories.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's all that blanching. It's hard, it's hard, and it hurts.
It hurts.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I probably just wasn't doing it correctly, but that's okay,
But okay. The black eyed peace in this Southern traditional
New Year's meal is supposed to represent luck, or that's
what it was in my family. I hear most other
people think it's like coins coins, Yeah, because it's got
the little right.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Coin shape. I suppose. I don't think that beans are
in any way shaped like coins, but that's that's a
you'd have to be squinting pretty hard.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I feel like I've played at least one video game
where you pay for things with coins.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
With coins with beans with beans. Yeah. No, apparently the
saying is peace for pennies, greens for dollars, and corn
bread for gold.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yes, and we bought into it when we were children.
This is how my.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Mom I was all about it.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But my brothers don't like either collars, which is what
we normally had, or black eyed peace.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
But they ate them because they believed in the luck,
or at least they didn't want to risk it.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
It wasn't true, But okay, I guess that brings us
to our question.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Black eyed peas. What are they?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
It turns out they go buy a lot of different
names for one, mixing it up all.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I'm coming in with some angry response.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Because as we were doing the research for this, I
saw cow peas, crowder peas, southern peas, field peas, or
long beans, asparagus beans or yard long beans.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Too many names. Pick a lane. Yeah, well, no matter
what you call them, black eyed peas are they're not
peas exactly. They do share the same family, the legome family,
But black eyed peas are a species of bean, and
I have it here, and I couldn't find a pronunciation.
(07:57):
I'm gonna try vigna ngui coulata. Yeah, sure, let's call
it that. Let's do it. Yeah, that's that. That is
the exact species. And to be even more exact, they
are a subspecies that has particular markings. When mature and dried,
this bean is a small white to cream colored thing
(08:18):
with a inky black, brown or purple ring seemingly just
stamped right at the top or like if you think
of a bean as sort of like a blunt heart
shape sort of thing, yeah, it's like right at the
apex of the heart. Oh yeah, so much nicer than
saying kidney shade. Is why we do that, right? Yeah?
(08:39):
Related beans can come in other colors, red to brown,
to black, to speckled, multicolored to just cream without the spot,
and are sometimes called by some of those same names.
Too many humans get it together, Come on. The beans
grow in these long, skinny, lumpy pods, and in some
places the pods are eaten while they're still green, and
(08:59):
the beans immature, like like snap beans. Yeah. Sometimes the
mature but still tender beans are shelled and cooked up fresh,
and sometimes the beans are dried, which means they need
to be soaked to rehydrate before cooking. It's gonna be okay.
The leaves are also edible, similar to spinach. Oh really yeah? Yeah,
(09:21):
And that dark ring is around the area that's like
the bean's belly button. It marks where it was attached
to the inside of the pod. Oh huh.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Apparently in France they were originally called molget, the French
word for none, because the black spot reminded some of
how Nun's dressed.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Oh. I don't really see it, but okay, yeah, maybe
like the hat, like the little headware wimple combo. Maybe
I'm not sure. Anyway, I like it. The beans will
dry out naturally on the vine. They are self preserving.
Once dried. They are really sturdy. They can last at
least two hundred years in this state and still be
(10:00):
planted and sprouted afterward. Two hundred years. I know at
least research is ongoing. They're just waiting it out. I'm
not sure. Oh, Wow. But yeah, this was evolutionarily useful
because if the weather's too dry for new plants to grow,
the beans, which are you know, like the fruit seed
combo of the plant could just hang out and wait
(10:21):
until rain came again. Dang. Yeah, that's impressive. The cowpee
family is a warm climate crop grown mostly in tropical
to subtropical regions because it will not tolerate frost, but
it is really hearty. It's resistant to drought and pests.
They're also good to plant alongside other crops. They're shade
resistant and can crowd out weeds crowder. Yeah. Yeah. They
(10:43):
only take about two to two and a half months
to each maturity, so if you are in a warm climate,
you can get a good crop pretty late in the year.
Oh nice, perhaps harvesting them somewhere in December, yeah, strange.
And although commercial operations may harvest them mechanically, they're pretty
easy to show by hand. They're just all around like
a really agreeable plant. I like it. Yeah, me too.
(11:05):
And beans in general are a valuable crop because they
a have like a lot of protein for vegetation and
b grow with symbiotic bacteria in their roots. So like
the plant and bacteria team up to pull nitrogen from
the air. The plant takes in the air that has
the nitrogen that it can't use, but the bacteria will
(11:26):
fix it in the soil where the plants can soak
it up through their roots. Oh. It's a whole process,
it is, and most plants can't do this, so anything
the beans don't get to use gets left in the
soil after the crop is harvested and can be used
by the next crop it gets planted. There. Oh wow, yeah,
very impressive. Uh huh. What about the nutrition? Uh yeah, yeah,
(11:48):
that protein thing. They're up to twenty five percent protein
by weight. Wow. They're low and fat, high in fiber,
have a punch of carbs, and contain just an absolute
heck ton of minerals a smattering of vitamins like I'm
in folate. They will definitely fill you up and keep
you going pretty well, especially if you pair them with
a little bit more fat and veg like the traditional
(12:09):
New Year's exactly. Wow. Oh, and a side note about
why beans are in fact the musical fruit.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Finally, get to the bottom of this, I've been wondering
since it's elementary school.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
All right, So some of those carbs. They contain are
our sugars that we humans, like all other mammals, do
not have the enzymes to break down in our digestive system.
But the bacteria in our guts, sure do, you have
those enzymes. So the sugars pass into our guts, the
bacteria there eat them and excrete, carbon dioxide, methane and
a few other gases, and we pass those gases. So
(12:48):
the moral of the story is a everybody farts and
b discard the slime around canned beans and the soaking
water for dried beans, and maybe like the cooking water
for dried beans too. You want to be like super
careful because the sugars will wash out, uh huh if
you discard the soaking water. Yeah. Ah, you never know
(13:09):
what you're gonna learn podcasting just in time too.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yep, you're welcome, thank you, thank you. Well, let's look
at some numbers. Yeah, Nigeria is the world's top producer
of black eyed peas. They are also the world's top
consumer and importer of the crop. In twenty sixteen, the
United States Agency for International Development found that the average
Nigerian consumes eighteen kilograms of black eyed peas. The average
(13:34):
Ghania nine kilograms and one point eight kilograms per person
in quote tu Bois. Of the annual five point four
million tons of black eyed peas produced, ninety six percent
come from Africa, with Nigeria making up sixty one percent
of that number and fifty eight percent globally.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Woof. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Black eyed peas are popular dishes in Africa, particularly West Africa, India, Meanmar, Brazil,
the Caribbean, and the southern United States. They feed U're
prominently in things like hopin John more on that later.
And in Brazil, peeled and mashed black eyed peas than
ferminated overnight and fried and palm oil are a popular
street food. Nigeria is pretty much the same thing. In Africa,
(14:13):
they are part of the daily diets of millions of people.
They might be boiled and eaten with rice and or
fried tomatoes and onions and plantains. Sometimes they are ground
up into flour later made into porridge. Some places in
Sub Saharan Africa label this crop maricle peas or poor
man's meat, due to their ability to weather tough conditions
and their nutritional profile.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, I've read that in Sub Saharan Africa as a
whole they are the primary source of protein in people's diets. Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Because of its significance in the diets of so many,
the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture is experimenting with varieties
of black eyed peas that produce higher yields or are
resistant to pest as of now Ia boasts the world's
largest and most diverse bank of black eyed peas, two
unique samples, eighty eight countries.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Ah, that's so cool, I love it. Yeah. England's Royal
Botanical Gardens Queue has a science arm that also works
on seed collection, and the black eyed pea is one
of twenty nine crops that they have deemed a potential
savior of our future food security. They thus also have
a collection of not just cultivated varietals of black eyed peas,
but also their cousins that grow in the wild. See.
(15:22):
You didn't think that the black eyed pea was going
to be a good start to the decade, but look
at this. It is.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
It is when it comes to their place as a
representation of luck in the Southern New Year's meal or coins,
what have you. Most food historians thing has to do
with humility, as one saying goes eat poor on New
Year's and eat fat the rest of the year. Or
it could be as simple as they kind of look
at coins. Like we said, that's what I always assume personally,
and I guess having money is lucky. It's fortunate, for sure,
(15:53):
sure sword related. Some think it's because when cooked, the
volume of black eyed peas substantially increases, making it hopefully
representation of wealth and abundance increasing.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
One of one of my favorite food blogs, Botanist in
the Kitchen, wrote about black eyed peas quote, just like optimism,
beans are cheap enough that anyone can have them. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I know. As we mentioned in our New Year's Traditions episode,
there are even more specific traditions around black eyed peas.
One goes that you have to eat them before noon
on New Year's Day to benefit from the look oh money.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Twelve oh one. Like it was like Gremlins, I can't
eat an afternoon. That's probably where the plot of Gremlins
came from, now that I think about it.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Another goes that you have to count out three hundred
and sixty five or three hundred and sixty six of
black eyed peas one for each day of the coming year.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
No thank you. That sounds like a lot more counting
than I generally care to do. I did used to
really like counting.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, when I was a kid, I like to count,
and I want a lot of contests that.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Way, like guess how many? Yeah, I'm really good at those.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Maybe I should count, Okay, maybe I will. I've seen
black eyed bees referred to as poor Man's caviaar in
the South or Texas caviar and thinking about it too.
Most of these lucky Southern foods are ones that do
grow during tough winter months aka around New Year's and
as we've said before, pre refrigeration, people frequently slaughtered their
(17:23):
pigs before winter and salted the pork to make it
through the season.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So it kind of just makes sense.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yes, delicious sense, delicious delicious sense. And there's a pun there,
there's a pun. But anyway, let's move on from bad
puns and talk about some history.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yes, but first let's take a quick break for a
word from a sponsor, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. Black eyed peas most
likely originated in Africa or possibly Asia. Probably Africa, it's
still debated because their taxonomic name suggest they are from Asia,
but records seem to indicate they were growing in the
wild in Africa prior to their existence in Asia.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
As always, we know that the names of things can
always be trusted. Oh absolutely yes. But yeah, different people
at different times have thought Asia Africa mysteries history.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
They were domesticated in West Africa at least five thousand
years ago, and they've been cultivated since prehistoric times in
tropical Asia and especially in what is now India. Ancient
China grew them too.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
They are related to the mung be.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
One of our interviewees from New Orleans, doctor Jessica B. Harris,
wrote an article over at The New York Times about
the history of black eyed peas that was super helpful
for all of this. Totally go check it out if
you're interested. She also has a lot of books, how
we highly recommend about all kinds of this stuff, all
kinds of stuff that we're talking about. Ancient Greeks and
Romans preferred the black eyed pea to the chickpea, apparently
(18:58):
apparently interestingly, black eyed peas have been considered a lucky
food to eat on New Year's for a long time,
at least as far back as five hundred CE, when
the Talmud mentioned the eating of black eyed peas for Russhishana,
the Jewish New Year. Some historians believe that Sephardic Jews
brought this tradition with them when they immigrated to the
United States, and records put the first wave of Sephardik
(19:21):
Jews in Georgia by the seventeen thirties. This is around
the same time records of black eyed peas suggest that
they were plentiful in that area, enough so people started
calling them field peas. The name cowpeas also popped.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Up around this time.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Allegedly they got their name because of their association as animal.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Feed, particularly for cows. There you go, but that's one version.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
These names cow pee and field pea could have originated
much earlier, with the common practice in Africa of planting
the peas along the border of fields to help manage
the weed population fortify the soil, and the stems and
leaves gave cow something to snack on.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, the leaves and pods are considered like a really
good livestock snack. Sounds good. I don't know why I
have the leaves.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I love eating leaves, which is a weird thing to say,
but I love that every time we find out, Oh,
you could actually eat the leaves of this.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, I know, right, yeah, all right. Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
And also some account suggest that Egyptian pharaohs ate black
eyed peas to grant them humility.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Okay, so yeah, who knows.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
The black eyed pea arrived to the New World from
West Africa as part of the slave trade, perhaps arriving
to the West Indies first and then migrating through the
American South. The first written records put the black eyed
pea in the Americas by sixteen seventy four. One historian wrote,
quoted from doctor Harris's article, everywhere African slaves arrived in
substantial numbers. Cowpis followed. Prior to the Revolutionary War. They
(20:51):
became one of South Carolina's biggest cash crops, and while
they were at first relegated as a food for the
enslaved or white people or as animal feed, they did
start to make their way into the diets of middle
and upper class Americans. Mary Randolph's eighteen twenty four version
of The Virginia Housewife featured a recipe of fried field
pea patties. Yeah, as with most Southern foods, several accounts
(21:17):
of the traditional Southern New Year's meal. Posit that it
spread during the Civil War after Union soldiers plundered Confederate
food supplies but left behind the pork and the peas,
believing that they were animal feed, or, in the case
of the pork, salted pork, they might not have really
cared to have it. In popular retellings of this version
of events, Confederate soldiers felt lucky to have access to
(21:39):
these foods when provisions were scarce, especially during the winter.
Yet another story posits that black eyed peas represent the
emancipation of enslaved African Americans. The first New Year's after
the Civil War ended was the date they were officially
granted freedom. Some records suggest that some men even put
black eyed peas in their wallets prosperity.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, keep the money next to the money, of course, sure,
Why didn't I think of that?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
The Creole people added black eyed peas, rice and pickled
pork to make a dish called jumbalayah oh congree congree,
meaning black eyed peas.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Thomas Jefferson planted the peas at Monticello. I feel like
he planted every night.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Didn't plant gosh, that is a question for a future
episode when it comes to Hop and John, sometimes called
happy John specifically, and this is an American Southern dish
of black eyed peas, rice, off in pork or a hambone,
and definitely seasoning. Although there are a lot of versions
of it if you aren't familiar, historians agree that its
(22:41):
roots go back to West African dishes composed of rice
and black eyed peas. Dishes similar to hop and John
are made in parts of Africa to this day. Records
show the dish was a staple among enslave people in
the southern US, particularly in the Gola country of South Carolina.
Rice and black eyed peas were both cash crops in
that area. Still, others posit the dish might be Islamic
(23:02):
in origin, since Cynicalese and Nigerian Muslims have a similar
dish swapping out the pork for jerked beef. Recipes for
the dish started appearing in early twentieth century American cookbooks.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Didn't we and to.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Think about it, didn't we have some hopin John when
we were in Asheville.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yes, yes, it was part of the very first meal
that we had when we got up there at the
Sierra Nevada brewery. That's right. Yeah, And it was a
very very fancy hopin' John dish. It was the best
nineteen dollars I've ever spent on Hopin' John. It was good.
It was really good.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Huh, Because I was about to say, I can't remember
the last time I had it, but that was it,
all right?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Speculation abounds about the origin of the name. One points
to the old expression hopin' John used to invite guests
over for a meal. Yet another describes a hilarious and
probably not real tradition where children would hop around the
table once before digging into this dish.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh that sounds like a thing I would have done.
And when I was a kid, if someone had told
me this is lucky do it? I would have been like,
this is an excuse to Greek some havoc in this kitchen, Okay,
because when.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I read it, I thought, why, But you're right, maybe
kids are kids, like any any reason to hop around,
I suppose. In his nineteen eighty one book Rice and Beans,
The Itinerary of a Recipe, John Thorne theorized that the
name hopping John was a corruption from the French poiu
pigeon pigeon peas. Pigeon pas didn't really take off in
(24:32):
the southern United States, but they did in the Caribbean,
so the term might have resulted from some confusion.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It seems like a big leap. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
I can hear the johnjeon Jean, Sure, yeah, who knows.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah. If we do it, we can get mysteries histories
all the time.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
From a nineteen thirteen Chicago Tribune article called Secret of
Hopping John out recipe told for.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
The Dixie dish. The Secret of Hopping John is out,
and they do put the G at the end. They do.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
The composition of this famous Southern dish, about which successive
generations of the cooks of Dixie have thrown a veil
of mystery has been disclosed by an investigation conducted by
the Department of Agriculture, and is given to the world
in Farmer's Bulletin number five oh nine.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Issued today, not five o nine five oh nine gosh.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
This is the recipe guaranteed by the government for the
production of the true Hopping John. Soak one quart of
dried cowpies overnight and water enough to cover. Cook until
they are tender, adding more water if necessary. Cook a
pint of rice and.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Three pints of water.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Mix the two season with two tablespoons of butter and
two teaspoonfuls of salt. A little beef pork may be
added to the water in which the peas are cooked.
Then the bulletin proceeds to sing the virtues of cowpies
in general, which the government opines ought to be better.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
There no north of the Mason and Dixon's line.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
That is.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
That's wonderful. It's so funny, especially because yes, they definitely
call it hopping John.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yes, this mysterious Southern dish.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Oh. And in the first few decades of the twentieth century,
black eyed peas and their cousins were the most popular
legome for livestock feed in the United States. That all
started changing with the introduction of soybeans. And I think
the flip happened in the nineteen thirties where soybeans took over,
and then later with a pest that started blighting southern
(26:40):
pea crops. This weavil that just weeks havoc on black
eyed peas. So production here in the States is much
smaller now than it was at the beginning of the
twentieth century, and mostly for human consumption, and it's still
troubled by this weavil. I read that a lot of
Georgia growers are really having problems, weavil problems. Did we
see a giant statue of a weavil? We did? It
(27:01):
was real weird but kind of wonderful, but kind of wonderful. Yeah,
that was on our field trip to Dothan, Alabama. Future
episode about peanuts.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Yes, yes, all right, but now we got to talk
about a very important event we do in Los Angeles
in nineteen ninety five, one will i Am Apple d'app
or perhaps it's apld ap with thoughts in between. We're
a little behind the We're a little two, we are
(27:30):
we Are. Jamie Gomez aka Taboo and Kim Hill formed
a little group called Black Eyed Pods what YEP later renamed.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
The Black Eyed Peas. Oh.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
If you're wondering why they chose that name, will i
Am once said that black eyed peas are food for
the soul, while also citing their red hot chili peppers
as an influence and saying he wanted to name the
band after a food like them, aw black eyed peas.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
The beans enjoyed a in the sun when the UNS
of Food and Agriculture Organization named twenty sixteen the International
Year of Pulses, which is another word for dried beans
like black eyed peas. Okay's like a guy like pulses. Yeah, good,
pulses are great. Yeah, and I enjoy having work. Yes, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
As of twenty nineteen, scientists that U see Riverside decoded
the genome of the black eyed pea in hopes of
feeding the world's growing population, especially as the effects of
climate change become more apparent. Understanding the black eyed peas
toughness could help toughen up other crops as well. It's
one of only a handful of other crops to be
completely sequenced and.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Do they contain about thirty seven thousand genes. So it's
impressive work. That is impressive work. And yeah, the research continues.
Farmers and scientists are looking at different varieties of black
eyed peas to find winning traits, you know, a particular
resistance to drought or tolerance to pests, diseases and competing weeds.
In general, research of this type has been done with
(29:02):
this bean than other sustenance crops like corn or rice
or wheat or potatoes. Basically because black eyed peas are
less finicky. But yeah, as with any crop, developing varieties
that are even hardier and more productive would help farmers out,
which helps everybody out there. You go. It's exciting stuff,
it is. I'm feeling inspired me too. This was I
(29:25):
had no idea what we were in for when we
started doing this research, and it turned out to be
more more delightful than I thought.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
I feel like that happens with everything we do, and
that's one of my favorite things of the job.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Me too. There's always some weird fact about bacteria arts
that I'm just like, well, this has made it all
worthwhile everything.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
This is a good way to start the year. It is,
and we hope that some of you at the very
least found this as entergati as we did. But maybe
you're having some black eyed peas or maybe you're convinced
to go get them now. Yeah, yesh, But we do
have a little bit more for you.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
We do. But first we've got one more quick break for.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
A word from our sponsor, and that brings us to
the end of this classic episode. We hope that you
enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed rerunning it. And
(30:27):
we hope that whatever you're doing, that you're whether you're
celebrating what you're celebrating, no matter what, you're having a
wonderful time, and you're making delicious food and you're sharing
it with people.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yes, oh yes, I mean all the time, but especially yes,
absolutely happy, happy you, happy.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
You, happy you, And please let us know about the
recipes that you like to make around this time to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
We would so love to hear.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
From you, and thank you so much for supporting us
and for listening. We really appreciate love you you guys.
You guys are the best part of our show.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Absolutely absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
If you would like to email as you can, our
email is Hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
We're also on social media. You can find us on
Instagram and the Blue Sky at saver pod and we
do hope to hear from you. Savor is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you
can visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our
superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
(31:38):
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
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