CROWDER PEAS

Although one of my readers wrote that I have too many food-themed articles, I must share this. 

Another reader e-mailed and asked if I'd heard of crowder beans because she'd bought a can at the store and had never heard of them. I told her that I used them in my 15-bean casserole. The 15-Bean Casserole started with a recipe called Calico Beans; that recipe called for 5 cans of different beans. I thought, "If five beans are good, six would be better!" Because we do make 15-Bean Soup, we started calling the Calico Beans the 15-Bean Casserole, but I usually use just 7 or 8 cans, depending on what might look interesting or unusual in the canned bean section at the store. Each time we make the Bean Casserole, we use different beans. All permutations have been good.

CALICO BEANS

1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound bacon
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon mustard
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 large onion, chopped
1 can each:
pork 'n' beans
lima beans
kidney beans
black beans
garbanzo beans
crowder beans or black-eyed peas
cannellini beans

Crowder beans are rightly called "crowder peas" or "cow peas", rather than "crowder beans". They are similar to black-eyed peas. 

(CLICK HEREto see attached article Peas, please.)


In her e-mail, she wrote: "It is our job on earth to learn about every bean we can!"