Purple Hull Soup

Purple Hull Peas are one meal that really hits home with my husband and I. It was a staple meal that my mother cooked quite often and was a great meal that lasts for days.

Over Christmas my mother brought up some bags of frozen purple hulls from my parent's garden.

Purple hull's are similar to Black Eyed Peas, but have double the flavor. Plus, there is something magical that happens when you combine smoked ham hocks and purple hulls.

Be sure to soak the peas for about an hour or so if you are using dry beans. If you don’t have any ham hocks on hand throw in some salted pork or bacon stripes. But you have to use bacon grease….it’s one of the important ingredients to making purple hulls “oh so good!”

My Mother’s Purple Hull Peas
4 cups shelled purple hull peas
1 - large hunk of smoked ham hocks or some bacon stripes
2 cloves of minced garlic or garlic powder
1 onion chopped
Throw in some dried parsley flakes
Enough bacon grease to cover the bottom of the pot
Salt, to taste
Black or White Pepper, to taste

Sauté the onions until they are lightly browned from the bacon grease. Add the hocks and cover with water and boil for about an hour. Cut away all the meat and return the meat back to the pot. (If using bacon add when you add the peas.)

Add the peas and cover with water, cover. Bring to a boil then reduce to medium-high heat, simmer for about 40 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add parsley, garlic and stir. Cook uncovered. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 2 hours.

Note: You will probably have to add water occasionally to the pot during the cooking process. Peas are done when they are soft and tender. I like to mash some up around the sides of the pans to thicken the mixture up a bit.