Freezing and canning purple hull peas

Purple hull peas are coming in! I grew up on purple hull peas. They're my favorite!

Purple hull peas are a Southern pea and they're similar to black-eyed peas. In my opinion, though, they have a much better taste than black-eyed peas.

It's easy to freeze purple hull peas. Just shell them, put the peas in freezer bags, and toss 'em in the freezer!

But when you're ready to eat the peas, you still have to cook them. Purple hull peas can take a while to cook, to get them tender... upwards of an hour. Grandmother always cooked her peas with either some bacon or salt pork. I cook mine in water and chicken stock.

Because fresh and frozen peas take a good bit of time to cook, I really prefer canning them over freezing. Canning cooks the peas beforehand, so when you're ready to eat them, all you have to do is heat them up, or just cook them for a few minutes instead of an hour or so. I usually cook my canned purple hull peas for about 20 minutes, to get them to just the right texture.

Canning purple hull peas isn't difficult, but because they're a low-acid food, it will require a pressure canner.

You can use either the hot pack method (where you heat the peas before putting them into jars) or raw pack method (where you put raw, uncooked peas into the jars). I prefer hot pack because you will get more peas per jar and reduce wasted space.

CANNING PURPLE HULL PEAS

Prepare pressure canner for processing.
Wash and rinse pint or quart jars, lids and rings. Keep jars and lids hot. DO NOT BOIL LIDS.

Hot Pack Method:
Shell and wash peas. In a large pot, cover peas with boiling water; boil 3 minutes.
Pack hot peas into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace for pints, 1 1⁄2 inch for quarts. If desired, add 1⁄2 teaspoon salt per jar. Fill jar with boiling cooking liquid, leaving 1-inch headspace.

Raw Pack Method:
Raw Shell and wash peas. Loosely pack peas into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace for pints, 1 1⁄2 inches for quarts. Do not shake the peas or press down. If desired, add 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt per jar. Fill jar with boiling water, leaving 1-inch headspace.

Processing:
Dial gauge canner: Process at 11 pounds of pressure (or adjusted for altitute)

• Pints: 40 minutes
• Quarts: 50 minutes

Weighted gauge canner: Process at 10 pounds of pressure (or adjusted for altitude)

• Pints: 40 minutes
• Quarts: 50 minutes

Click here for a general guide on pressure canning vegetables and adjusting processing times for altitude.

Now, don't forget to save those hulls for making purple hull jelly! You can freeze the hulls until you have enough saved up for a batch of jelly. I know it sounds weird, but it really is good!