Boiled Peanuts

[menton1]

Last time I visited SC and Georgia I was introduced to boiled peanuts. Sold on pushcarts and in little groceries, they are the stuff dreams are made of. They were hot, unique, and the shells were nice and soggy. The nuts, though, have a unique flavor that is sooo much better than roasted peanuts.

They gave me a recipe, but of course, it failed miserably, and I;m left with just a memory of those boiled peanuts.

I'd love to hear some boiled peanut stories and if anybody makes them for shipping (Do they ship well?) Thanks!

[Varmint]

Ask and you shall receive: http://www.boiledpeanuts.com/.

If you get some raw peanuts, boiling them is a snap. Just make sure your water is salty enough! I consider them American edamame.

Cold boiled peanuts can be quite nasty, but when they're warm and fresh -- YUM.

Oh, you pronounce it "BAWLED" peanuts.

Have fun.

[dscott]

I love the freshly cooked versions. Anyone every tried the canned ones?

[tryska]

mmmm..boiled peanuts.

also - in addition to pronouncing it "bawled", you must peel them with your teeth and suck all the juices out, not try to shell them with your fingers.

[Rhea_S]

Boiled peanuts = brain food according to my mom. She used to cook them for me whenever I had cram study sessions. They were the best part about studying and I couldn't study without them. Then, in my second year of university, we found out that my cholesterol was too high and a dietitician said peanuts were out. No more boiled peanuts and I almost failed 2nd year organic chemistry.

[PopsicleToze]

These are absolutely my favorite thing in the world! The first time I had roasted chestnuts in NYC, they reminded me of boiled peanuts. You have to have raw peanuts. They look soft -- right out of the ground. If you just get the raw 'unroasted' ones, they won't cook. I buy them by the sack at the farmers markets here and use my largest stockpot!

This is the recipe we use --

Boiled Peanuts

Boiled peanuts are one of my favorite treats. Did you know that there was a time when community “peanut boilings” were nearly as common as barbecues and fish-fries in the Deep South? True. MoMo makes us boiled peanuts all of the time, and they are delicious. I hope you enjoy these as well.

3 pounds raw peanuts in shells

1 gallon water

½ cup salt

2 tablespoons sugar

Rinse peanuts very thoroughly in several changes of water making sure they are clean. Pour water into 6-quart stockpot, and stir in salt and sugar. Add peanuts; cover lightly, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil peanuts 2 to 4 hours, depending on size of nuts. After 2 hours cooking time, check peanuts periodically for doneness. Add additional boiling water, if needed, but do not add extra salt. When peanuts are done, remove from heat and allow to cool in cooking water to absorb salt, 45 minutes to 1 hour or longer, depending on taste. Drain peanuts, but do not rinse or refrigerate. [2002]

[tryska]

okay here's a question i have....

the boiled peanuts i eat seem to be mature, ones that come in the netbags.

the raw peanuts i see in the farmers market are soft, tender, and little baby peanuts with dirt still on them.

i've fad the "new penauts" boiled, and it tastes nothing like the mature peanut boiled.

am i missing soemthing? are the mature penauts in net bags considered raw as well?

[therese]

You can make boiled peanuts from any raw, in-shell peanuts. But they are traditionally made in the early fall, when the peanut crop has just come in. So if you buy your boiled peanuts from somebody who actually grows them (or has easy access to them) you'll likely get the new version, at least in the early fall. The mature raw peanuts give a much more uniform final product, whereas as the new peanuts will include all sorts of little mutant forms that will have been culled from packaged fully mature ones. I like both, and the really baby ones will have a thick sort of spongy shell that's not particularly well-separated from the nut itself. They seem to have a "greener" flavor as well.

By the way, if you can't cook boiled peanuts you can't cook, period.

And the idea of eating canned boiled peanuts is simply beyond, well, beyond something. If you are that desperate let me know and I will come to your house and cook them for you, okay?

Here's my recipe:

Get peanuts, water, salt, and a slow cooker (you can do it on the stovetop but you have to keep adding water as it boils off; you can leave it overnight in the slow cooker). No sugar.

Put the peanuts in the slow cooker and add enough water to cover (the peanuts will float, so the water won't really cover them, but you know what I mean). Add salt until the water tastes salty. I have no idea how much salt this is; depends on how much water you add, I guess.

Cook them until they are done. This will vary a lot depending on how mature the peanuts are, etc. They are done you find that the shell has been soaked and there's salty water inside and the peanuts are soft. How soft? No crunchiness left, but not falling apart (though some people like them fallling apart).

If you find that they are too salty you can pour off the salty water and replace with fresh; the salt will equilibrate pretty rapidly with a bit more cooking.

If you have undersalted them you will hopefully have figured it out before they're fully cooked and corrected the water.

Undersalted boiled peanuts are completely useless. Do not attempt boiled peanuts unless you are willing to eat salt.

I store them undrained in the slow cooker in the fridge, scooping them out for microwave heating as necessary.

[tryska]

so therese - those bags they have of mature in-shell peanuts in netbags at say harry's....are those considered raw? (to be honest i've never really looked at them)

Edited March 2, 2004 by tryska (log)

[therese]

Yes, if they say they are raw (and they will, plus they won't say anything about being roasted or salted or whatever). They're moisture content will be relatively low, though, so you'll need to cook them longer.

And in Atlanta, at least, you don't have to go somewhere fancy to find raw peanuts, as grocery stores stock them routinely.

[Mayhaw Man]

The guy that runs the vegetable stand in my little town has them all the town. They are boiled in a spicy mixture instead of just salt (although there is still plenty of that) and man are they good. He boils them in salt, crab boil, and a pretty healthy dose of Tabasco Mash. I go there a couple of times a week and get stuff and he usually throws in a baggie full as lagniappe. Nice guy that tomato man.

[therese]

Oh, yeah. Old Bay is our preferred crab boil, and an easy addition to boiled peanuts though I don't usually do it that way. For a big party I'd do both, plain and spicy.

[FoodZealot]

I don't know how it came to be popular, but boiled peanuts are a favorite snack in Hawaii, too. My grandfather grew his own peanuts, and we sometimes threw a few star anise into the pot as well. I've seen them in a few Asian markets in LA, but it's not very common.

[Dignan]

I don't really have anything to add as far as making proper boiled peanuts, except that I believe that salt water is the only proper medium and disapprove of added spice, etc.

One of my earliest memories is squabbling with my uncle over access to a small wet brown bag of boiled peanuts on a drive from Atlanta to Ellijay GA. He was trying to drive the car we were in, but I had to stand and reach over the back of the front seat from the rear seat in order to get to the bag, so it evened out (forgive me, this was before car seats and most seat belts).

I've boiled raw dried peanuts for 5 hours before getting them close to properly edible. I had to add agua to the pot many times. I've heard that a pressure cooker can be employed but haven't tried it. My mother mails green peanuts to me during the season so that I can have them during football.

I've also found this a topic that polarizes folks, but not in a predictable way. I've promised dear friends with whom I had shared many favorable culinary experiences that they are going to love boiled peanuts, and have been sorely disappointed by their reactions. The taste definately changes (from the roasted peanut flavor that most folks are familiar with), but it's usually the texture that sets most people against them, and that happens almost immediately and I think before the taste can be enjoyed.

[Varmint]

I can say with a high level of confidence that I'm probably the only person who was served boiled peanuts at Gramercy Tavern. For the canned variety, they weren't too bad.

[Mayhaw Man]

My mother mails green peanuts to me during the season so that I can have them during football.

Welcome to egullet Dignan.

I don't know much about you but I think your Mama must be o.k.!

Mine just sent me a fresh bottle of Mexican Vanilla today. She's pretty much o.k. as well.

I still like 'em spicy though.

[Jon Tseng]

In China they sometimes have cold boiled peanuts (shelled, but still in the thin skins you get inside) as an appetiser before the meal

most enjoyable

J

[Rushina]

Ummm

This thread has brought ack many, many good memories. I grew up having these. My mom used to make them as a treat when we got back from school. I think I will go suss out some. Thank ou menton.

Rushina

[therese]

Dignan, try the slow cooker/crockpot approach. No (or minimal) refilling of water, and you can let them go overnight or all day without having to worry about them.

[JennotJenn]

I don't like peanuts (yeah, heathen, I know), but I love me some boiled peanuts. I like 'em like I like my pintos---soft and so salty they make your mouth hurt if you eat too many. I like them cold, too. MIL says that green peanuts are the best for boiling, but we've done it with regular raw peanuts as well. Doesn't work quite as good, takes a little longer, but satifsies when you have a hankering for boiled peanuts sometime other than September (when we tend to see the green ones in NC).

[tryska]

i actually stopped by Publix last night and picked up a bag of cajun style boiled peanuts in the produce aisle. i will eat them cold for dinner tonight, perhaps with a vanilla coke.

Edited March 3, 2004 by tryska (log)

[therese]

Vanilla Coke?

A beer is what they call for, tryska, a beer. Or a nice cider, hard or soft.

[tryska]

*lol* maybe i'll try cider this time therese. beer makes me bloated. for some reason i got on this cajun penauts and vanilla coke kick a couple of years ago. it kinda cuts the spiciness, but it does set my teeth on edge. i'll give cider a shot.

[mudbug]

i actually stopped by Publix last night and picked up a bag of cajun style boiled peanuts in the produce aisle.  i will eat them cold for dinner tonight, perhaps with a vanilla coke.

Crab boil! Now that sounds awsome! I'll have to try that.

Boiled peanuts are farily common throughout Asian countries.

Here's something interesting... peanuts are not really "nuts", they are actually in the legume family.

I've promised dear friends with whom I had shared many favorable culinary experiences that they are going to love boiled peanuts, and have been sorely disappointed by their reactions. The taste definately changes (from the roasted peanut flavor that most folks are familiar with), but it's usually the texture that sets most people against them,

Dignan,

I don't know how you talk them up but you need to explain that they are not at all like the dry, crunchy peanut they are used to, but as mentioned above, similar to eating blanched soybeans. Don't know if there are other beans you can harvest fresh which end up with the same texture you can compare them to but you need to get their expectations away from the usual and prepare them for something completely different.

[alacarte]

Ask and you shall receive: http://www.boiledpeanuts.com/.

If you get some raw peanuts, boiling them is a snap.  Just make sure your water is salty enough!  I consider them American edamame. 

Cold boiled peanuts can be quite nasty, but when they're warm and fresh -- YUM.

Oh, you pronounce it "BAWLED" peanuts.

Have fun.

I had the opportunity to interview Matt Lee (of the "Boiledpeanuts.com" website Varmint mentions and a food/travel writer, both with his brother Ted Lee).

He said that he started making boiled peanuts while living in NY in 1994. He'd literally make a batch in the bathtub of his apartment on Ludlow Street. Here's a snippet from the interview, as to why he thought he'd make boiled peanuts a popular NY city bar snack:

I thought this was a good idea because in Charleston, although they are not a bar snack, they are a very popular, universally known and understood snack. They are a regional delicacy, and where you find them is by the road or you cook them yourself at home. That’s what we did. And you take them out on your weekend excursion, on the boat, in the country, on a road trip. Anywhere you can just throw the wet shells overboard is an appropriate setting for boiled peanuts. They are wonderful, and they taste totally different from roasted peanuts, and what people expect of peanuts if they’ve never had them raw and boiled.  I thought isn’t this just a great opportunity, they don’t have them here.... 

...So I hit the streets. At first I found the raw peanuts, which was a bit of a struggle, and then I ended up getting them at the Hunt’s Terminal in the Bronx at a fruit and vegetable clearninghouse, and boiled them in our tub in our apartment on Ludlow Street, and hit the streets. And  found no success, with one exception. Most bars  and restaurant owners who were not Southern had no interest in bringing into their establishments wet, slimy, drippy, boiled peanuts. The exception was Alexander Smalls at Café Beulah, who is from Orangeburg, South Carolina, so he understood them.  He found it sort of quaint, I guess, that we were hitting the streets and trying to sell them.

Cafe Beulah is no longer with us in NY, but the boiled peanuts catalog lives on. In fact, it's celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

The Lee Bros. are publishing a cookbook sometime this spring -- Matt mentioned plans to promote the book by hooking up some custom built barbeque and peanut-boiling rig behind a patched-up VW bus and touring the U.S., giving Americans nationwide a dose of boiled peanuts. I think he was kidding, but who knows!