Cowpeas (vigna unguiculata) Southern Pea,Heirloom Caribbeangardenseed

Cowpeas (vigna unguiculata) Southern Pea,aka Field Peas,Stock Peas , Organically Grown 

Approximately 170 seeds Per oz
Produces well even when it is too hot and humid for snap beans.
Pods are held on a short vine and mature in about the same time as okra.
May be eaten whole when young or shelled for their seeds when mature.Vigorous vines 3 to 3 1/2 feet with runners.
Long narrow pods, filled with edible peas good either green or dried

Cowpea is one of the most ancient crops known to man. Its origin and subsequent domestication is associated with pearl millet and sorghum in Africa. It is now a broadly adapted and highly variable crop, cultivated around the world primarily for seed, but also as a vegetable (for leafy greens, green pods, fresh shelled green peas, and shelled dried peas), a cover crop and for fodder. Cowpea has a number of common names, including crowder pea, black-eyed pea and southern pea.

Origins , Africa where it’s still cultivated to this day. It sustains the people who live on the very edge of existence and it thrives in hot, dry conditions.Brought across the Atlantic to the Caribbean Basin, it was introduced to the Americas during this dark portion of our history. There are records of its use in Jamaica as early as 1675. It has documented use in Florida in 1700 and North Carolina in 1714.

Cowpeas were often known as a “poor man’s” food; the landed gentry of the Eastern seaboard preferred the English Pea,Pisum sativum and considered the cowpea simply that: peas grown to feed the cows. George Washington imported 40 bushels of what he called “pease” from Jamaica in 1797 to plant in his fields for forage, but no record exists that he actually sampled them himself.

Cowpeas consist of an average of 24% protein, are rich in the amino acids lysine and tryptophan and are most nutritious when eaten in combination with cereals.The Southern custom of serving peas with cornbread, rice or biscuits is a tradition that is actually healthy, although carbohydrate heavy. This makes them an ideal food for vegetarians and people who limit their meat intake. The young shoots and leaves can be cooked and eaten in a manner similar to asparagus, or they can be prepared as one would any green such as turnip greens and collards. The ancient Romans and the peoples of the Mediterranean Basin were familiar with them and ate cowpeas prepared in a number of different ways. The young pea pods were often prepared as one would snap beans. The dried leaves are still used today as a meat substitute in poorer

villages.

When the cowpea reached the southern United States, it was a perfect marriage of plant, climate, and economic conditions. Southern farmers embraced the pea enthusiastically and through the years many varieties were developed. Some becoming regional favorites, but little known elsewhere.

We specialize in heirloom Non Hybrid, Heirloom, Non GMO Seeds And Organic seeds .

SUCH AS

Tomato: Beefsteak
Cucumber: Armenian Yard-Long
Broccoli: Walt-ham
Spinach: Bloomingdale Long Standing
Pinto Beans
Jalapeno
Green Pepper
Squash: Summer Crookneck
Okra: Clemson Spineless
Cauliflower: Snowball
Blackened Peas Blackened Peas
Romaine: Cimmarron
Onion: Red Burgundy
Beans: Black Beans
Beans: Kidney Beans
Brussels Sprouts,
Eggplant: Black Beauty
Green Beans: Top Crop
Carrots: Imperator
Beets: Detroit Dark Red
,Red Cabbage: Red Acre Beans:
Lima Henderson
Green Cabbage: Golden Acre
Radish Cherry Belle
Turnip: Seven Top
Chives
and much more

Materials: garden,heirloom,Non GMO,ancient Heirloom,produce Very well,very susceptible to frost,Southern Pea,Field Peas,Stock Peas,Organically Grown 1,Heirloom Cowpeas,vigna unguiculata