Oh I had the amazing meal for New Years..our family tradition..Ranch Style(brand name) in the can black eyed peas...thick pork chops with 1 Pkg Liptons onion mix, 1 can of golden mushroom soup, and 3/4 can of water all put in the crock pot...brown the pork chops a little before putting in crock pot...fried cabbage..and mashed potatoes...and homemade coconut pie...have enough leftovers for today...all was so good...oh forgot the hot biscuits..

Thanks for the real story. I'm from NH and don't know anything about black eyed peas. It isn't something we eat there.

thanks, ditter, enjoyed this thread about the mighty black eye pea! every year begins with black eye pea & cornbread dinner for us. got a kick out of lovestoquilt's mother in laws throwing one pea a month for good luck!

I was born in Georgia. My Mom died at age 91 a few years ago. We always had black-eyed peas, collards or turnips, ham of some kind, and cornbread for New Years Day. She said the black-eyed peas represented coin money, collards/turnips were paper money, and ham to be thankful to have meat to eat. She grew up in the depression era and her mother died when she was 8 years old.
For New Year's Day I cooked black-eyed peas (local fresh-frozen from Publix), collards out of my husband's garden and roasted a chicken. The peas and collards were cooked with smoked ham bones. It is a tradition I remember since I can remember! MMMMMMMM, Good.

I also learned to cook the pork and sauerkraut while we were stationed in Germany in the 60's and cook it occasionally at different times. Sear and brown the pork tenderloin or what ever type you choose. I use two jars of regular kraut and 1 jar of Barvarian type. Rinse it good because the kraut contains a lot of salt. Put the kraut in the crock pot cover with water, add the carmelized pork and cook all day, 5-6 hours. The pork just falls apart. Make a thickening out of flour or cornstarch to thicken the kraut and pork. Make mashed potatoes to serve with it. MMMMMMMM, good!
My family loves it. :)

Thanks for this info! I grew up eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day, but no other time because I think they taste like dirt (much to my mother's dismay!). Now I know why we eat them - and it makes perfect sense since my family hales from the Carolinas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri.

Making me hungry!

Yesterday, and for many years in the past, we have been enjoying "Hoppin Johns" and greens at the home of a friend who was originally from the south. Her recipe included the black-eyed peas, rice and ham and was served with collard greens. I must admit that this year they were her best ever and I had second helpings. I love the tradition and the food which tastes great to a gal from the San Francisco Bay Area who loves her grits as well.

We have our Black-eyed peas for New Years. (and through out the year)
We served Black-eyed peas, ham, corn bread and green beans.

I cooked up the dried beans with garlic, onion and ham Hock. We love Black-eyed peas in our home!

That is good to know. New Year's Day was for watching football in our house so when my mom would fix it we had the black eyed peas and cornbread on New Year's Eve which wasn't every year. She also served it with fried salt pork. (My family was from Kansas.) My husband's family was from WA State so they never are either one. One year my husband and I were spending New Year's with his aunt (from Missouri) and she made the traditional meal - I was so thrilled, until I ate her black eyed peas - which she failed to season, and the cornbread was so dry it was hard to swallow. I thought every older woman could cook like my mother - boy was I wrong.

I'm from Texas and have always eaten black eyed peas on the New Year. I grow a small garden each summer and make sure i plant peas to last through the next year. I shell them and put them in the freezer and serve them whenever we want them and always on on the 1st.