New Year's Luck

Black Eyed Peas

Black eyed peas, eaten on New Year's Day, are supposed to bring good luck and prosperity in the coming year.  I've known this tradition existed, but am not a huge fan of black eyed peas, so I've never cooked them up, and most years I'm so focused on getting the football food ready for the day, that I forget about this tradition until late in the day - too late to whip some up.  But, I am a sucker for tradition tied to a good story, so this year I planned ahead to start off the New Year with a pot of black eyed peas.

According to Wikipedia (the deepest source I could muster up the energy to locate on an early New Year's morning) black eyed peas were grown in the southern region of the United States as early as the 18th century.  They are still a mainstay in southern cuisine today.  George Washington Carver (an American scientist born into slavery and most known for his work with peanuts) encouraged the planting of black eyed peas because they add nitrogen to the soil.  Black eyed peas are rich in calcium, folate, and Vitamin A.

The tradition of eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day, in order to bring prosperity throughout the New Year, dates back thousands of year, in world history, to the Babylonian Jews.  Jews arrived in Georgia in the 1730s and brought this tradition with them, and it seems to have been adopted into American culture around the Civil War period.  Some sources state these "field peas" were the only thing left untouched by Sherman's March to the Sea because they were thought to be only suitable for animal fodder.  This reference to the Civil War is enough to hook this history teacher into trying out the dish.

So, I bought a 16 oz bag of "blackeye peas" at the store yesterday, for $1.59, and followed the directions on the back of the package.  I soaked them in a big pot of cold water, overnight (8 cups to be exact).  Then this morning, I poured the beans and water into a colander and rinsed them with cold water.  I noticed some of the skins coming off, so I picked those out of the beans.  I'm not really sure if you're supposed to remove the skins or not?  You lose the "black eye" of the bean when you lose the skin...

So, I stopped shucking all of the skins, fearful I'd end up with a pot of white beans.  I poured the beans into my trusty crock pot, and covered them with 8 cups of fresh tap water. 

Then I cut up some of the left over ham from last night and added that into the pot.  I chose the fattier, uglier pieces on purpose, thinking the fat would add more flavor and that my family would not want these pieces on a sandwich later.

I'm not sure if I added enough ham to flavor the beans or not....I also added some salt and pepper, but intentionally kept the salt light, thinking the ham will add some salt to the pot as well. 

I'll post the picture of the finished product and let you all know how it tasted.  Until then, I have football food to prepare and a Christmas tree to take down.

Not enough ham...next time I'll take Ashley's advice and add a whole ham hock to the pot.  Not enough salt either, so they came out rather bland.  But, adding a little tabasco, as suggested by several recipes doctored them up good and tasty.  Happy New Year my friends.