Or is it “black eyed peas”? I planted black eyes along with the remaining purple hull seed I had left as a cover crop while I am in Montana. Peas enrich the soil with nitrogen because they are a legume. They also keep the weeds down. My daughter has been picking them and shelling and eating them. They were always her favorite vegetable growing up. We cook them by sauteing some bacon with onions and then boiling the peas for 1/2 hour or so. Always include some “snaps”, immature peas that are cooked like green beans. You will have to raise your own to get snaps because they are never in commercial produce whether shelled or unshellled.
Cowpeas are hard to find in Houston now even though they were a basic staple of the regions for years. We ate them all summer on the ranch where I grew up. They are a very nutritious vegetable. I spent my summer days on the front porch shelling peas with my mother, sister, grandmother and great aunt and uncle. Shelling peas is a very relaxing and satisfying thing to do. You can see exactly what you have accomplished. My Minnesota wife never could understand why I can shell peas so fast, but I had a lot of practice.
It is hard to find peas now. Central Market carries shelled peas at astronomical prices and Caninos in the Airline Farmers market has them, but sitting around shelling peas seems to by a lost art in these rush-rush days.