Black Eyed Peas (Stovetop) Recipe - The Cookie Rookie® (2024)

FAQs

What does baking soda do for black-eyed peas? ›

Your Beans Will Cook Faster

Well, creating an alkaline (or basic) environment by adding a small amount (about 1 teaspoon per cup of dry beans) of baking soda to your soaking/cooking water can actually help your beans cook faster.

Today, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas for the New Year has evolved, as many traditions do, into a number of variations – but most hold the theme of luck and prosperity that harkens back to the Civil War days when people felt lucky to have black-eyed peas to eat and help them survive the cold, harsh winter ...

During the harsh winter, the Confederate soldiers survived on the remaining black-eyed peas, promoting this humble and nourishing legume into a symbol of fortune and prosperity in the American South.

You'll need at least six hours to rehydrate the black-eyed peas. Place them in a large bowl and add three cups of water for every one cup of peas. Cover, place in the refrigerator, and let the beans soak for six hours or overnight. Cook your beans low and slow, ideally in a slow cooker.

Either technique is known to expedite the bean-cooking process, so it's practically a no-brainer to use baking soda in your next batch of beans. But before you pick up the measuring spoons, pause for a moment. A little bit of baking soda goes a long way, but if you use too much, it can ruin the taste of your beans.

We did several tests, but our favorite method was to use 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per pound of old beans and to soak the beans for 4 hours. After the soaking stage, we rinsed the beans and added 1/4 teaspoon of fresh baking soda per cup of beans.

Black-eyed peas are highly nutritious and associated with many impressive health benefits. In particular, they may help support weight loss, improve heart health, and promote digestive health. They're also versatile, delicious, and easy to incorporate into a number of recipes as part of a healthy diet.

There's evidence that Jewish people ate black-eyed peas as a part of the holiday Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, for hundreds of years.

The Black-eyed pea originates from West Africa and has been cultivated in China and India since prehistoric times. It was grown in Virginia since the 17th century by African slaves who were brought to America along with the indigenous plants from their homelands. The crop would also eventually prove popular in Texas.

Whether or not you want to soak your black-eyed peas is totally up to you! To be honest I rarely soak my beans, usually because I don't remember to do it in advance. If you're cooking dried beans in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, they cook up incredibly quickly whether you soak them or not.

Can you overcook black-eyed peas? ›

Drain them the next day and bring them to a boil in cold water, then reduce the heat so the water barely simmers: dried black-eyed peas can overcook, and a rolling boil could cause them to break apart. Taste the peas often to check their doneness: They should be creamy but retain their shape.

If you're lucky enough to have black-eyed peas or purple hull peas growing in your garden or can find them at a local Southern farmers market, you can quickly freeze fresh or cooked peas to enjoy year-round.

The addition of baking soda to soaking water decreases bean-cooking time by about three quarters. Just as acid slows the breakdown of cell walls, bases such as baking soda accelerate it. Just a pinch will do: Too much can spoil the taste of your beans or cause them to go mushy.

A teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda can be added to the peas whilst soaking or cooking (to speed up the softening process), but you can still achieve that perfect creamy texture with nothing but water - unless your water is especially hard.

There is evidence that adding baking soda reduces some nutrients, particularly vitamin B. Baking soda also can make the beans taste saltier or even soapy, so they should be rinsed very well if you use it. Adding baking soda also may affect the texture, making the cooked beans mushy instead of tender.

The bicarb makes the water alkaline, which in turn makes the hemicellulose and pectin in the plant cell walls more soluble in water. This makes the veg softer. It also makes some of the compounds in the chlorophyll, the stuff that makes leaves green, leach out.