Peanuts in soda

[FistFullaRoux]

I've dropped a bag of salted, roasted peanuts into a bottle of Coke a couple of times, but I won't go out of my way to do it again. This is supposed to be a southern thing, but not many people do it anymore.

It has to be a bottle, and you have to (obviously) drink some of the contents before the mass of peanuts will fit. It won't work with diet drinks, though.

Any comments? Anyone else done it? Want to try it? Are trying it right now?

[picaman]

Used to do it when I was a kid in north Florida (late '60s), but as I remember, the rule was that you had to use the small (6 1/2 oz.?) Coke. Big bottles of RC were off-limits

As I remember, I didn't like it much and didn't get the point, but I did it anyway because older kids and grownups did.

Jamie

[Katherine]

I've dropped a bag of salted, roasted peanuts into a bottle of Coke a couple of times, but I won't go out of my way to do it again. This is supposed to be a southern thing, but not many people do it anymore.

It has to be a bottle, and you have to (obviously) drink some of the contents before the mass of peanuts will fit. It won't work with diet drinks, though.

Any comments? Anyone else done it? Want to try it? Are trying it right now?

Don't want to try it, but it makes me consider eating peanut butter directly from the jar while drinking Coke.

[Cusina]

Funny, I just read about this practice in "The Secret Life of Bees". Had never heard of it before. I guess it isn't just fiction.

Do you "drink" the peanuts at the end or just leave them in the bottle?

[Huevos del Toro]

Did it in the 50's in the Pacific Northwest. Bottled Coke. For me it was the contrast of sweet/salty as well as a textural thing. I still occasionally do it, probably as much for the nostalgia as anything. This was during the times my father would let me drink some of his Coke out of the bottle so he could load some bourbon back in.

[Mabelline]

Nope. Tilt the bottle up, stop it with your tongue, peanuts will dribble down into neck, and with practice you will not choke yourself. As a kid, not liking any colas, I drank them in ginger ale or the oldtimey Squirt, which had a taste.

[Lone Star]

They have to be Spanish peanuts!

[Mudpuppie]

They have to be Spanish peanuts!

No, no, no. That's all wrong. They have to be Tom's or Lantz peanuts, sold from the vending machine next to the bottled coke dispenser -- preferably in an old hardware or auto parts store.

[Annie Girl]

I agree with Picaman - needs to be small size soda. I don't know why a diet coke wouldn't work, other than the sheer contradiction of lo-cal and peanuts. Also agree with Mudpuppie, who says needs to be Tom's or Lanz. However, you don't have to buy them from a vending machine. Preferably, you buy them from the corner grocery (where Dewey or Hazel would write down you purchase in a little book of receipts and hopefully your parents would pay it later that month) on your way walking home from school (1 1/2 miles in the snow.....). Sorry, sorry, getting carried away with nostalgia. This was in Texas so didn't get that much snow. But, sad to admit, to this day I crave the contrast of the sweet coke with the salty peanuts (admit it, there is a lot of that in the best food today) and the texture of crunching the peanuts as you sip the cokes.

Peanut butter is a whole 'nother subject. Best eaten crunchy on saltines. Or take a jar into your office and have it for breakfast with graham crackers!

[Annie Girl]

I agree with Picaman - needs to be small size soda. I don't know why a diet coke wouldn't work, other than the sheer contradiction of lo-cal and peanuts. Also agree with Mudpuppie, who says needs to be Tom's or Lanz. However, you don't have to buy them from a vending machine. Preferably, you buy them from the corner grocery (where Dewey or Hazel would write down you purchase in a little book of receipts and hopefully your parents would pay it later that month) on your way walking home from school (1 1/2 miles in the snow.....). Sorry, sorry, getting carried away with nostalgia. This was in Texas so didn't get that much snow. But, sad to admit, to this day I crave the contrast of the sweet coke with the salty peanuts (admit it, there is a lot of that in the best food today) and the texture of crunching the peanuts as you sip the cokes.

Peanut butter is a whole 'nother subject. Best eaten crunchy on saltines. Or take a jar into your office and have it for breakfast with graham crackers!

[picaman]

Preferably, you buy them from the corner grocery (where Dewey or Hazel would write down you purchase in a little book of receipts and hopefully your parents would pay it later that month)

My family ran this grocery store! Were you a customer?

They have to be Tom's or Lantz peanuts

Forgot about that detail--you are correct, sir!

Jamie

[Annie Girl]

My family ran this grocery store! Were you a customer?

You ARE yanking my chain aren't you? Yes, I was a customer. What town was the store in that you are talking about?

[tryska]

are these shelled peanuts or unshelled? i've always wondered.

the closest i get is a bag of boiled cajun peanuts washed down with a vanilla coke. i've made dinner of that quite a few times.

[Varmint]

I had a fantastic dessert at Durham's Magnolia Grill a year and a half ago that was a take on this classic Southern tradition: Cocoa Cola Cake with Salty Peanut Ice Cream and Peanut Butter Sauce. You got the cola and peanut flavors combining to create something new, original, but somehow quite familiar. I'm not sure if our own phlawless came up with this idea, but it was a great dish regardless.

[Mudpuppie]

are these shelled peanuts or unshelled? i've always wondered.

Un-.

Not sure the shells would fit through the bottleneck.

[foodE]

I've never tried this, but I read about it in a Stephen King book years ago, "IT", I think. It has stuck in my head all this time because I think I would like its salty/sweet/fizzy taste.

[Mayhaw Man]

WHen I was a kid I used to see people putting Tom's Peanuts into Dr. Pepper.

I always thought it a bit strange, but my brother still does it if he finds both items on the shelves at a zippy mart. Then again, HE is a bit strange.

[picaman]

My family ran this grocery store! Were you a customer?

You ARE yanking my chain aren't you?

Yes I am

What town was the store in that you are talking about?

It was a mom-and-pop grocery in a small town in north central Florida.

Jamie

[Lan4Dawg]

for years it was the only way to drink a Coke & it had to be a Coke in the small bottles & those cellophane wrapped salted peanuts hanging on a rack near the cash register. Only a communist would try to put peanuts in another soft drink.

Then you played the "bottle game". You looked at the base of the bottle and whoever had the farthest city engraved got their next Coke on everyone else. Kids would get into fights over whether Kansas City was farther away than Dallas & have to get maps at the library to determine who got the free Coke.

[john b]

Sipping on a Dr Pepper at lunch today, a coworker tells me that in the south it is common to put peanuts in Dr. Pepper. True? What do you do, let the peanuts soak and then eat them?

[jgm]

Cough, cough...

From the dusty crevasses of my mind comes a memory of doing this, probably in my teenage years. I think that's what we did... just let 'em soak, and chow down at the end. I don't remember any stories attached with this, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some; stories like the one everyone believed about combining Pepsi and aspirin, which would supposedly make you drunk (hope springs eternal in the heart of a 14-year-old).

Man. I never would have remembered this if you hadn't brought it up. Makes me wonder what else is rolling around inside my brain that hasn't surfaced in quite awhile.

Wheeze. . .

[Mayhaw Man]

Cough, cough...

From the dusty crevasses of my mind comes a memory of doing this, probably in my teenage years.  I think that's what we did... just let 'em soak, and chow down at the end.  I don't remember any stories attached with this, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some; stories like the one everyone believed about combining Pepsi and aspirin, which would supposedly make you drunk (hope springs eternal in the heart of a 14-year-old). 

Man.  I never would have remembered this if you hadn't brought it up.    Makes me wonder what else is rolling around inside my brain that hasn't surfaced in quite awhile.

Wheeze. . .        

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It's true. I have done it as recently as last summer. Used to do it almost everyday at lunch during school. What's not to like-salt, sugar, cold liquid? Hell, it's good. YOu get a delicious drink and a snack when you are done.

But to do it right, well, Tom's or Lance are the official nuts for dunking in Dr Pepper (if course, we used to do this with Delaware Punch, as well)

And while we are at it, Tom's Snacks of Columbus, GA makes the superior Peanut Butter Cheese Cracker. Period. Don't even try to make the argument that your little snack cracker is somehow superior to this delicious taste treat.

[xdrixn]

my dad used to do enjoy dr pepper that way, he's almost 57.

[Mayhaw Man]

my dad used to do enjoy dr pepper that way, he's almost 57.

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You're saying that I'm old? Or just that I, and millions of my Southern Brethren have superior tastes similar to those of your obviously well raised dad?

[annecros]

Actually, mine went into a "co-cola." Not a Dr. Pepper. Yep, dump the salted nuts in, drink it down, and then eat the nuts.

And yes, Tom's is the only peanut to use in this particular recipe. I would not endorse any other variety. And, thier cheese crackers are in fact superior to all others.

My most treasured possession is a Tom's glass jar, that used to sit on the general store's shelf full of Tom's treats.