Boiled Peanuts, YUM! I love them and I guess everyone in our family does. That's funny giving that Holly doesn't eat nuts, weirdo......did I say that? Mama who's a transplanted Yankee loves them too, but I guess after over 50 years in the South she's as much Southern as Yankee. Did you just feel that jolt? That was the cousins up North cringing, breaking into convulsions. Hum next time they are down wonder if I could convince them to try these little gems.........OK maybe NOT! Anyway, these are a fall favorite. With the annual fall party coming up they are a must have for the list, so I thought I'd do a little post about how I put these together. Nothing fancy by any means and how they are made are definitely by taste of the cook.
First you start with Green Peanuts any amount you wish, but lets play with about 2-3 pounds.
Wash them throughly and then, yes, wash them again. We usually cook these on an outdoor cooker, but I've cooked a many of them inside on the stove. Cover the peanuts with enough water so that they have plenty of water to swim in, if they wish.
With this amount of peanuts I put about 1 1/2 cups of table salt. Now some say more and no doubt some will say less, but too much salt makes them unbearable to eat when they are cool and too little salt makes them bland, YUCK, YUCK I say!! So this is the equation that works for me, but do them by your taste. Boil these babies for a LONG time, several hours. Depending on the freshness of your peanuts will depend on how many hours you will cook these, but it will most definitely take more than 2 hours to cook. After about 1 1/2 hours I start pulling one out and tasting to check for doneness and saltiness. Boiled peanuts should be soft, not crunchy.
Tips: If your peanuts are too salty pour off the water, cover with fresh water and boil for a few minutes. If peanuts are not salty enough you can add slightly more salt to the water and let the peanuts stand in the water to absorb the salt.
Interesting history found says that this method of eating peanuts came about during the Civil War. In search of new things to make as coffee, southern solders boiled these. Soon finding that you could eat them with much enjoyment. Popularity grew from there, but prior to this these were grown purely for livestock food. Hum....... so thankful for that little discovery and even more thankful that drinking the water after boiling them didn't last. Can you say mud soup???
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