White Cowpeas

White cowpeas are the volume type across East Africa: a cream to white seed with a small, pale hilum and no pronounced dark ring. They are grown widely across the drier districts of Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and neighbouring countries, where the crop's tolerance of heat and low rainfall makes it more dependable than most alternatives.

Because the seed coat is pale, this is a type where appearance is assessed closely. Weather staining picked up in the field, discolouration that develops in storage and heat damage all show clearly against a white background, and a lot that would pass without comment as a coloured pulse can be marked down as a white cowpea on the same defect percentage. Colour sorting is the effective tool, and it is normal on any contract where the product reaches a consumer through a transparent pack.

The parameter that determines whether a lot performs, though, is insect damage. Cowpeas are among the most bruchid-susceptible pulses traded, and infestation that begins in the field continues in the bag. Because damaged seed keeps its dimensions and loses only density, screening does not remove it — gravity separation does. Just as importantly, storage conditions and treatment between harvest and shipment determine how much damage there is to remove in the first place.

White cowpeas are distinct from black-eyed beans, which are white cowpeas carrying a pronounced dark ring around the hilum and which trade as their own product at their own price. An enquiry should say which is required, and where appearance matters it should be settled against a sample rather than a name.