BOILED PEANUTS

Man I cannot get enough of them! My family is fortunate to have southern relatives who will send us the green peanuts by the pounds so that we can boil them up fresh and hot!
At Myrtle Beach at the local baseball stadium home of the Pelicans , there is a man with a large cauldron boiling away those tender salty gems. What a combo baseball boiled peanuts and a cold beer!
Won't be long before that box arrives at our door , better get some extra salt and maybe some beer.
Sold at roadside and at flea markets / some flavor them with cajun seasonings or spice them up with hot peppers. I like them on the salty side and boiled a little extra so that you can even eat the shell.

The first time I tried boiled peanuts would have been sometime in the early 80's. At the time, I thought they were awful. However, over the years I developed a real taste for them, and now I'll always stop at a roadside stand that has a sign (usually hand-painted ) that says they sell Hot Boiled Peanuts. Seems like the more "rustic" the stand, the better the peanuts!

The best signs simply say, "Boil Peanut", crudely lettered on a large piece of cardboard.

quote:

Originally posted by Bushie

The first time I tried boiled peanuts would have been sometime in the early 80's. At the time, I thought they were awful. However, over the years I developed a real taste for them, and now I'll always stop at roadside stand that has a sign (usually hand-painted ) that says they sell Hot Boiled Peanuts. Seems like the more "rustic" the stand, the better the peanuts!

The best thing I can say about boiled peanuts is they are goood will your evening libation and they are messy. Locally in the Gatlinburg/Sevierville/Pigeon Forge area, they are sold with Tabasco, Garlic, Onion and some other spices which are really good, which react well with the evening libation.

I buy them frequently and enjoy.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Sundancer, knowing how you love to cook, I suspect you might have tried boiling some yourself. Yes? If you have, please share your method.

Hode, since you obviously cook them at home, can you share some tips?

Finally, WHERE CAN I ORDER RAW PEANUTS I've got a turkey fryer sitting out back that's just waiting to get filled with water and green peanuts (and some hot and savory spices).

quote:

Originally posted by Bushie

Sundancer, knowing how you love to cook, I suspect you might have tried boiling some yourself. Yes? If you have, please share your method.

Hode, since you obviously cook them at home, can you share some tips?

Finally, WHERE CAN I ORDER RAW PEANUTS I've got a turkey fryer sitting out back that's just waiting to get filled with water and green peanuts (and some hot and savory spices).

Bushie: everytime I have bought them in Knoxville, it has been at the farmers market. I don't like to buy a lot because the only use I get from them is for boiling. The recipe for boiling them is a little like cross country skiing. You can become instantaneously mediocre. My way is very simple I add water, enough seasoning that after a while, it will soak through the outer layer of the peanut. I like to add onions, hot sauce of your choice (I use Choala) and I use onion salt. If you do not, they are a little bland.

Makes for a tasty mess. Goes great with your favorite libation.

A lot of people cook with peanuts.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Thanks, Sundancer! I found some websites where I can order raw peanuts in the shell (I've never seem them in stores here), so I'm doing that today. One more question please :

How long do you boil them, and do you soak them before heating the water? (Ok, that's two questions.)

quote:

Originally posted by Bushie

Thanks, Sundancer! I found some websites where I can order raw peanuts in the shell (I've never seem them in stores here), so I'm doing that today. One more question please :

How long do you boil them, and do you soak them before heating the water? (Ok, that's two questions.)

You can overboil them and they get mushie. I boil them for about a hour. I taste them several times during the process. I can't help it.

I do not soak them first.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I heard about them before I saw a sign for them and thought they were "bald peanuts."

Down in the south, we call them "Biled peanuts"

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Dearfolk,
My favorite mispeling ever is "BOLIED P=NUT'S" - I saw it on a sign somewhere down by Sandersville, Georgia, if my addled mind serves me correctly.
Someone I know used to say that the worse the spellings on the signs were, the better the peanuts. I would have tested his theorem, but it was well past closing time. I drove on in the inky Georgia night, disappointedly gooberless. Some things may be better left unknown.
Nuttily, Ort. Carlton in Athens, Georgia.

OUR FIRST TASTE OF BOILED PEANUTS WAS AT A ROADSIDE STAND IN THE PANHANDLE OF FLORIDA. MY HUSBAND EMBARASSED ME BY PEELING THE NUTS AND LOOKING LIKE A TOTAL YANKEE. HE'D SINCE LEARNED HOW TO EAT 'EM.

I love Bald Peanuts !!!

I am fortunate enough to live in SC and peanut fields abound !! In fact I own some rural land and there are usually peanuts planted near my property each year. The farmers will let us go out and pick some peanuts directly out of the field.

Boil'em with a goodly portion of salt !!!

Tanfanrn: I'm a poor Yankee who's been peeling and eating boil peanut for years. No one ever told me I had the wrong technique.
Please instruct me, so I can show off to my friends my newfound hip cultural awareness.

Dearfolk,
At least don't none of y'all do the elephant thing and eat 'em shell and all. If they're soft enough, I used to could do that. Trouble is, my nose started turnin' grey and gettin' longer (not from lyin'). The doctor fixed me up with some of that anti-elephant stuff an' now I am who I am (trumpeting loudly).
Ponderously Pachydermic (For A Nonce), Exaggerated-Southern-Accent Ort.
P. S. It was too great a temptation. I just had to get way silly for a minute. (That, too, is who I am!)

Boiled peanuts are like most any other food, it is the spice that makes them good. If you boiled peanuts by them selves with no spices, they would be like beans boiled without fatback and onions. tasteless. You gotta add salt, and the spices of your choice. You do that and they are pretty darn good.

Unfortunately if you try to undress them in the car while you drive, it gets messy.

I suggest doing it in a place where a mess does not bother you along with your favoratie libation.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I used five pounds of raw peanuts in a large boiler and I added an entire 6 ounce bottle of Tabasco, 2 minced onions, 6 minced garlic cloves, 1 cup of salt, 1/2 cup of sugar to smooth it out and let it boil for 2 hours.

I looked forward to 5:00PM

I let them cool down and took them to the deck where the mess would not be an issue.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Thank You !
That's the Best Post on this topic in a while
I'll try this , well a pounds worth this w/e !

quote:

Originally posted by scbuzz

I love Bald Peanuts !!!


Boil'em with a goodly portion of salt !!!

I likes em also. Do bald peenuts go bad? I kept the last batches i bought for 1 week in the fridge and they got a little ripe.

quote:

Originally posted by cletus

quote:

Originally posted by scbuzz

I love Bald Peanuts !!!


Boil'em with a goodly portion of salt !!!

I likes em also. Do bald peenuts go bad? I kept the last batches i bought for 1 week in the fridge and they got a little ripe.

You are something else. Why don't you take your talents and go to egullet.com.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

what is egullet.com?

For those of you who boil your own, so to speak, it is important to select slightly immature peanuts. The reason for this is during the last week or so before they are "ready to pick", the peanut rapidly expands within the shell. If you have ever had boiled peanuts that you have to dig out of the shell then you know what I mean. The correct "Southern" way to eat boiled peanuts is to slurp them from the shell.

Adjudicator: Thanks, I've been waiting with baited breath to learn just how bad this Yankee's technique is when it comes to eating boil peanut. What you describe seems very close to what came to me naturally -slurp 'em out of the shell- something like slurping oysters from the shell. Is there, perchance, any proper way to approach and split the shell?

My Yankee upbringing can't allow me to eat any boiled p-nuts. To me they're just like eating a can of navy beans with your fingers and just as messy. My southern belle of a wife doesn't like 'em either. We eat the roasted kind and douse w/ beer.

I am not sure that boiled peanuts are an acquired taste or not. The fact is that many of us in the south were raised on them and developed a taste for them. Perhaps they are like grits. Many of my northern friends think they are horrendous and they are sold most no where in the north and in the south, they are everywhere.

I like to get the boiled peanuts hot and right out of the boiling medium which can be many different flavors such as with hot sauce, garlic, onions or other spicy ingredients.

A previous poster indicated that he compared them to navy beans and he may be right as they too are served with hot sauce, garlic and onions.

Just another wonderful taste with natures bountiful garden. That is the reason there is chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Sundance: This Yankee acquired a taste for boiled peanuts when a transplanted Yankee friend, resident of "real cracker Florida" out in the piney woods northeast of Ocala, put them on the table along with a very large pitcher of Martinis and a sack of Cedar Key oysters - pure heaven!

Bald Peanut Report:

Last weekend, I found a big bag of raw peanuts at the Dilorio Farm Market in Hempstead, TX (an AWESOME market to visit if you haven't been there). Last night, I made my very first batch of boiled peanuts. They turned out GREAT!!

I ended up just doing them on the stove due to storms in the area. Using the advice from Sundancer (thanks, Paul!!), I put salt, Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, and Harley's Texas BBQ rub in the water; quite a bit of each. I brought the water to a boil, then added the peanuts. I cooked them on a medium boil (with the lid on the pot) for about an hour and 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times. Then, I just turned the stove off and let them cool.

They were the best I've ever eaten. Most all I've ever bought at roadstands have been somewhat mushy, and maybe that's the way they're supposed to be. These were done, but still had plenty of "bite" left. I don't know if it's right to describe boiled peanuts as "al dente", but that's how they were. The flavor of the spices made it into the peanuts, but it was not overpowering.

To me, they were absolutely perfect. I ate three bowls before I made myself stop.

If only Cletus were here to savor this moment with me...

When you travel this way and you stop off to see the Mayor, grab some of his BBQ and bring some of your goobers.

Can't wait

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

When you travel this way and you stop off to see the Mayor, grab some of his BBQ and bring some of your goobers.

Can't wait

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Isn't Mr. Mayor just about the biggest "goober" we know?? Perhaps I'll strap him on top of the TrailBlazer...

Peanut harvest is coming up and the new green ones will be available.

I like to boil them but I also like to soak them in salt, my favorite hot sauce which happens to be Cholula and some other spices and roast them in the oven.

An unfortunate by product is the gas given off plus the hot sauce may run everyone out of the house.

The result is a better product than what you get at some of the houses that give you peanut in the shell to toss on the floor.

Great with evening libation

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN