cornfield or black eye peas.
(from Housekeeping in Old Virginia, by Marion Cabell Tyree, 1878)
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Ingredients:
fresh black eye peas (if dried, pre-soak overnight)
salt
butter, or slice of fat meat
Instructions:
Shell early in the morning, throw into water till an hour before dinner, when put into boiling water, covering close while cooking. Add a little salt, just before taking from the fire. Drain and serve with a large spoonful fresh butter, or put in a pan with a slice of fat meat, and simmer a few minutes. Dried peas must be soaked overnight, and cooked twice as long as fresh. - Mrs. S. T.
Photo by Bubba73, CC-4.0
It is a commonly held belief that the Southern tradition of eating Blackeyed Peas to celebrate New Year’s stemmed from Yankee General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea, during which they pillaged the Confederates' food supplies. Stories say peas and salted pork were said to have been left untouched, because of the belief that they were animal food unfit for human consumption. Southerners considered themselves lucky to be left with some supplies to help them survive the winter, and black-eyed peas evolved into a representation of good luck. One challenge to this legend is that General Sherman brought backup supplies with him including three days of animal feed and would have been unlikely to have left even animal feed untouched. Nevertheless, the Yankees brutally burned and destroyed houses, farms, fields and anything that would potentially serve the Confederate war effort and, as Gen. Sherman sadistically said, “Make Georgia howl!”
Last edited by a moderator: