Oregon-based plant breeder and author Carol Deppe has spent decades developing varieties for flavor, vigor, productivity and organic adaptation, and has inspired countless plant breeders, farmers and home gardeners to do likewise. That work is embodied in this distinctive Southern pea, a soil-rejuvenating crop bred for earliness in the field and creaminess on the plate.
Southern peas, also known as cowpeas, originated in West Africa and are foundational to African diaspora foodways in the American South and beyond. Carol recalls eating green shelly Southern peas while living in Georgia as a teenager. The memory of their flavor inspired her to plant a trial of several Southern pea varieties at her home in Corvallis, OR, hoping to find at least one that would mature in maritime Oregon’s cool summers and cold nights. Only a single plant from one line—a Lady pea—was early enough to produce dry seed.
“There was one completely dry plant with pods full of dried beans, happy as can be,” Carol recalls. The special plant, the result of a natural mutation in the field, was also much more determinate than the rest, with a more compact, bushier plant habit.
Lady peas date back to the early 1800s, noteworthy for their small, cream-colored peas, delicate skins and fine-grained texture. Whereas many cowpea varieties were valued for forage or cover crops due to their nitrogen-fixing abilities, Lady peas were specifically prized for their culinary excellence.
Deppe saved seed from the single Lady pea plant and grew it out, selecting for earliness, bush type and vigor in her climate and organic growing conditions. After eight years of selection, she arrived at a uniform variety that had the same outstanding flavor as the original Lady pea parent but would also produce abundantly in her region. She named it Fast Lady Northern Southern Pea, a nod to its earliness and northern adaptation—though it thrives in hot climates, too.
Fast Lady is delicious fresh or dried. Immature green pods release shelly peas that are sweet and succulent, with a delightful pop. (You can also sauté the whole young pods and young leaves.) The cooked dry beans are memorably creamy and delicate. Like other Southern peas, Fast Lady cooks quickly and evenly without soaking.
The Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) is dedicated to maintaining fair and open access to plant genetic resources worldwide in order to ensure the availability of germplasm to farmers, gardeners, breeders, and communities of this and future generations.
SUGGESTED READING
Dr. Jessica B. Harris has written extensively on the foodways of the African Diaspora, including the culinary history, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America.
