I've eaten this meal every year on New Year's Day for 63 years and I've never heard of 'Hopping John'.
Your thoughts?
Ping to Mr. Expert on this subject. ;-)
I've never heard of 'Hopping John' either.
My thoughts?
Where are the collard greens and hamhocks?
My wife is from South Carolina and it's tradition in her family to have Hoppin' John for dinner New Year's Day.
When I was little we would eat black eyed peas on New Years
my mom would put a dime or a quarter in the pot ...if you got the money in your bowl that meant you would be rich the whole year
rabbit rabbit rabbit
Foodie Ping!
The tradition is that eating Hoppin' John on New Year's Day will bring you "coin money" -- eating collard greens with ham hock will bring you "folding money" in the New Year.
You don't have collard greens with that???
The recipe for Hoppin' John is right on the bag of black-eyed peas here in Texas.
Does anyone have the recipe for what they call 'Texas Caviar?' It's a bean and spice mix that you eat with tortilla chips.
Beans, onion, celery...that's all I remember!
Thanks!
I suspect this is an old custom that probably originated with the Cherokees, and passed on the the early white settlers in the region.
Check back on similar terms that might exist in the Cherokee language, and you may discover the origin of the term.
I think the cabbage "thing" comes from the Irish. Anyone know if that's true?
The recipe for hopping john is on the back of most bags of black-eyed peas. I am cooking them now for dinner. We have always had black-eyed peas on New Years Day, they bring luck throughout the year.
mmmm okra. I don't have that tradition. Wish I did. I will fix pork roast, black eyed peas with onions and mushrooms (it's different every year but hubby bought fresh mushrooms so in they go) and spinach since I really don't care for collards but some kind of greens are required. I'm trying to cut back on the carbs but will probably do either hot water cornbread or a more traditional cornbread in my old cast iron muffin tin. We just had some shrimp and crab for lunch. So blessed.
Well somewhere, sometime back someone in your family sure nuff knew bout hopping john.
Just opened my can of blackeyed peas. Living in CA, I miss the restaurants Black Eyed Pea around Texas - they probably still give a free cup of blackeyed peas if you go there on New Year's Day.
Somebody who specializes in doing research on Southern cuisine did a historical study on this a few years ago. The dish appears to have originated in South Carolina.
There are a thousand versions. Mine is onions, crumbled bacon, and garlic sauteed together in a bit of bacon grease, then steeped in rice with chicken broth; add the black-eyed peas and top with tomatoes. You have to add Tabasco, of course. Fried okra and corn bread are what God intended us to eat with Hoppin' John so I'm there with ya, Blam. I dunno about the milk, though.
But if you don't eat this on New Year's Day you'll have bad luck the rest of the year. I think that's the problem with a lot of people, they forget to eat Hoppin' John on New Years Day and then they're surprised their luck stinks.