The tender leaves are usually picked, crushed and fried and then boiled with meat or sesame or groundnut paste and eaten with ‘ugali/asida or kisra’. Sometimes the leaves are dried and ground into powder, which can be stored for later consumption in the dry season when fresh leaves are not available. Cooking before drying of cowpea leaves is a widespread method of preservation in many parts of Africa; boiled cowpea leaves are kneaded to a pulp and then squeezed into golf-ball size pallets that are dried and stored. The seeds may be boiled with maize or sorghum and eaten as “balila” or mixed with sesame or groundnut paste and eaten. In some communities, the boiled seeds mixed with sesame or groundnut paste is eaten with “ugali/asida”. The seed coat may be removed, after which they are boiled or fried and sesame or groundnut paste is added to make a sauce (pirinda), which can be eaten with “ugali/asida or kisra”.
Threshing
The pods of cowpea can be manually threshed by beating with a stick when harvested pods spread in the sun are well-dried. The seeds are breakable as such the threshing should be light,
just to break the pods. The pods can also be broken by fingers to remove the seeds, if the quantity is little.
Sorting
Seed quality is a determinant of good crop establishment, growth and development. Thus, care at all levels of operations; from harvesting, threshing and post-harvest handling to keep the seeds free of infection by pests and diseases is necessary. Sorting is crucial to remove defective and broken grains, stones, waste and infected seeds from healthy ones. It is in the interest of the seed dealers to get clean seed from seed farmers so that they get better pay.
Grading
The highly nutritious cowpea seed is grown for fresh, processed, and dried uses. Thus, healthy leaf and high quality seed is required for consumption and marketing. Grading can be done
by removing infested, diseased and broken seeds and leaves. Shriveled seeds are also eliminated.
Packaging
The seeds should be packaged in bags and placed into an electrical dryer or spread on a slab under the sun to ensure that the moisture content of the seed is reduced to the desired level of 12 % or less. Thus: cowpeas should be packed in suitable packages which must be clean, sound, and free from insect, fungal infestation and the packing material shall be of good grade and quality. Cowpeas can be packed in containers which will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional, technological and organoleptic qualities of the products. The containers, including packaging material, should be made of substances which are safe and suitable for their intended use. They shall not impart any toxic substance or undesirable odour or flavour to the product. Each package shall contain cowpeas of the same type and of the same grade designation. If cowpeas are presented in bags, the bags shall also be free of pests and contaminants. Each package shall be securely closed and sealed. For long period storage of cowpea, the Purdue Improved Crops Storage (PICS) bags should be introduced. The bag reduces loss of cowpea grain to insect infestation.
Storage
For seed, many farmers prefer storing the seed grain within the dry pod. The dried pods are tied in small bundles and hung over the cooking spot in the house/ kitchen so that whenever food is
being cooked the smoke from the fire would drive away invading insects. In some places, dried chillies are ground into powder
and sprinkled in a bag in which pods are kept. The hot chillies (piper nigrum) are reported by farmers to scare and repel away invading storage pests. Dried cowpea leaves as vegetable can also be stored in water proof containers to be eaten in the dry season when green vegetables are scarce.
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