Cowpea Sheller

Several of you were interested in the Mr. Pea sheller I mentioned in my “Pea Pickin’” post. I promised to let you know how well it works, so here it is. I got it to shell my Ozark Razorback cowpeas (also called Southern peas). They are a small cowpea that I hope will be a good source of protein for my goats and chickens.

l have to say it is heavier duty than I expected and that I was pleased with the gauge of the metal. So many products are getting flimsier and flimsier, that it almost isn’t worth buying anything new anymore. Mr. Pea Sheller however, will serve me well I think. As you can see, it can be attached to any table or flat surface.

The rollers are plastic, as is the handle.

The ad said to be sure to use fresh, fully ripe (English) peas, but I read somewhere that it could be used for dried beans as well. I used crispy dry cowpea pods and they shelled easily.

Once the pods are caught between the rollers, I could continue to feed in more pods.The peas spit out on the same side that the pods are fed into. The empty pods fall out the back.

Mr. Pea Sheller can also be used with a small, handheld mixer. In fact, I used that as an excuse to buy one, thinking I could use it for that, and for whipping cream and making meringues. These are the only two reasons I still miss my Kitchen Aid mixer. Everything else I’ve gotten used to doing by hand.  Unfortunately the little hand mixer I got didn’t fit the Mr. Pea! That was a tad disappointing because I was wondering how much time I could save by using it, although I also imagined cowpeas flying every which-a-way from the mixer’s speed.

Turning the crank by hand is somewhat slow, but it is definitely quicker than shelling them by hand. I think it took me an hour and a half to shell a little over four pounds of cowpeas. I harvested close to 2, 33 gallon trash cans full of pods, so this made only a small dent in that. I’ll be curious as to how long they last.

My intention for growing the cowpeas was primarily for feeding our chickens and goats. I finally got the goats to eat the whole pods, which will make feeding them easier and give them more roughage. The chickens so far, have ignored the whole pods, but gobble down the shelled peas. I also cooked some up for Dan and me. They were good, tasting similar to black-eyed peas.

Next year I’m going to try planting these with the corn. I’ll plant earlier too, so I can harvest more. They are quite prolific and will produce until frost kills them. And no matter what, I’m just pleased to be growing even a small part of our own feed.