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The Promiscuous Pea project started off with Bonnetta Adeeb (director of Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance) asking Chris Smith about developing a diverse mix of southern peas like the Utopian Seed Project had done with collards and okra. The challenge was to create an African Pea Ultracross from a legume that didn’t readily cross-pollinate. So, the first step was to search for a promiscuous pea. In most things related to seeds, Chris always turns to Yanna Fishman, board member of Utopian Seed Project and an incredible seed keeper. Chris told Yanna he was looking for southern peas [aka African peas, fieldpeas, black-eyed peas, or cowpeas — though they are not just food for cows!] and when he next arrived at Yanna’s she had pulled out jars and jars of different varieties of southern peas. They were diverse and beautiful, but there was one jar pushed to the corner labelled, 'Sports'. Yanna explained that she plants all of her peas pretty close to each other and hand shells everything. When she gets peas that don't look like their parents, she puts them off to one side, and they all end up in the 'Sports' jar. It's quite likely the sports (a way to describe genetic mutations) were actually crosses, and this jar represented just the promiscuous peas I was looking for! In 2023, Utopian Seed Project planted two 50ft rows of Yanna's peas alongside one row of Joseph Lofthouse's landrace African peas. We also had plantings of 'Texas Green Emerald' and 'Rouge de Burkina Faso' planted in adjacent rows. This pea mix is grown with high hopes of ongoing intercrossing, but even without that, it is a beautiful and diverse collection of tasty peas!
Southern peas can be eaten young when the pods are green and tender. We like to slice them into half-inch lengths, lightly blanch, and serve with a little salt; or saute them up with cumin and tomatoes! As the peas fill the pods, they reach the shelling stage. The young peas pop out of the fibrous pods and are delicious and tender - the makings of summer pea salads and succotash. Finally, the pods mature to brown or darker purples, and the dried seeds can be stored for winter soups, pea hummus, or New Year’s Hoppin’ Johns.
