Heirloom Cowpea Varieties

Cowpeas require a long, warm growing season. See why this heirloom vegetable is a southern favorite and read about a quick easy way to serve it.

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by Flickr/GreenHouse17

Heirloom Vegetable Gardening by William Woys Weaver is the culmination of some thirty years of first-hand knowledge of growing, tasting and cooking with heirloom vegetables.  A staunch supporter of organic gardening techniques, Will Weaver has grown every one of the featured 280 varieties of vegetables, and he walks the novice gardener through the basics of planting, growing and seed saving. Sprinkled throughout the gardening advice are old-fashioned recipes — such as Parsnip Cake, Artichoke Pie and Pepper Wine — that highlight the flavor of these vegetables. The following excerpt on cowpea varieties was taken from chapter 15, “Cowpeas.”

To locate mail order companies that carry these heirloom cowpea varieties, use our Custom Seed and Plant Finder. Check out our collection of articles on growing and harvesting heirloom vegetables in Gardening With Heirloom Vegetables.


A Brief History of Cowpeas

Cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) are not generally considered among the vegetables fit for the kitchen garden, yet in recent times the heirloom varieties have taken their place beside okra and sweet potatoes, and many of the other vegetables that distinguish the American garden from its European counterparts. Because cowpeas require considerable space, they have always been treated as field crops. On the other hand, they are no more troublesome in this respect than sweet potatoes, and the bush varieties can be raised like bush beans. If there is a drawback, it is only that cowpeas cannot be grown in much of the country due to their need for a long, warm growing season. For this reason their culture is most closely associated with the South.

  • Published on Jul 30, 2013
Tagged with: cowpea, garden, heirloom
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