Black Eyed Peas

If there is anything you should know about your Two Chums, it would be that we love a celebration and we are very fond of traditions.  When it comes to celebrating the New Year, one of the oldest traditions we know of involves Black Eyed Peas…the food, not the musical group.  All over the south it is customary that the first food eaten on New Years day is black eyed peas.  They have been a symbol of good luck and prosperity since the Civil War.  When the union troops marched through the south they stripped the fields of any crops they thought edible.  They thought the field beans, black eyed peas, were just fodder for the field animals.  Little did they know that these little black eyed peas would be what would sustain people and become a symbol for good luck.

But southerners were not the only people to eat black eyed peas.  Jews were instructed in the Talmud to eat black eyed peas during Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, as a symbol of prosperity.  Jewish immigrants brought black eyed peas to Georgia in the 1730’s.  During the Civil War other southerners began eating them when food of any kind was scarce.  Soon the African American people added cooked greens, ham hocks and corn bread to the menu and the tradition was born.  While the roots of this little bean began with the Jews and was furthered by African American slaves, today is an all American southern tradition.  So this New Year’s make yourself some black eyed peas and you can be a part of this All American tradition too.  We’ll just bet you’ll be singing “Tonight’s gonna be a good, good night” 🙂

Happy New Year, and may good luck, prosperity, love, joy and abundant living be yours for all of the coming year!

Black Eyed Peas

olive oil
1 large ham hock
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
3 cloves chopped garlic
1 pound black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 quart chicken stock or water
Bay leaf
1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
Salt, black pepper, and cayenne

Soak black eyed peas overnight. Drain excess water, rinse.  Heat oil in a pan and brown ham hock on all sides.  Add onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic and cook until soft.  Add black eyed peas, chicken stock  or water, bay leaf and thyme and salt and pepper and a sprinkle of cayenne.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes – 1 hour until beans are creamy and tender.    If the liquid evaporates, add more stock or water.  Adjust seasoning and enjoy with some cooked greens and corn bread.  Happy  New Year!