Boiled Peanuts

In August of 2010 when we made several trips to and from Florida to Maryland, Mark and I saw a can of boiled peanuts in a convenience store where we had stopped for gas and bathrooms.  It was probably in South Carolina, but it could have been Georgia.  I had never had them, so I got the can.  It even had a pop top, so we didn't need a can opener.

Once we got back on I-95, Mark opened the can.  Boy, were we surprised!  First of all, it was full of liquid.  We hadn't seen that coming.  He tried to use the lid to drain the liquid out the window.  NOT A GOOD IDEA at 75 mph!  The liquid flew back and landed all over the window off the back seat.  What a mess!  Then we saw the nasty looking peanuts inside the can, in the shells, soft and squishy, very messy.  We had no paper towels or tissues or anything to help with them, so he immediately put the can and its entire contents (minus the liquid splattered on the window) in our little plastic trash bag.

End of story?  I don't think so!

We later began to see that boiled peanuts are EVERYWHERE in the south.  In fact, in South Carolina they are considered a real delicacy, maybe even a state food!  I noticed you could get them hot out of a cauldron at most rest areas.  I couldn't imagine why. How are you going to eat something hot and liquidy when you are about to go back on I-95?

Once we moved to Florida, we continued to see them along the side of the road on the way to Walt Disney World.  People actually stop and get them!  Along with oranges and gator jerky!  Tourists, gotta love' em.

So imagine my surprise when about nine months ago, Mark brought home a sealed bag of boiled peanuts from the grocery store.  It had instructions for microwaving them to make them piping hot before eating.  We put it in the pantry and looked at it every time we opened the door.  One or two times I said that when we had company we should break them out and share them, but we never did. 

Last night, at long last, we microwaved our bag of boiled peanuts!  Wow!  That is the LAST time Mark and I ever plan to eat those things.  The bag was huge, so we ate about half of it between the two of us and the rest went right in the trash, even though it said they could be refrigerated and reheated, or even frozen and reheated.  We figured why bother?  Neither of us liked them that much.

They did prove one thing.  Peanuts ARE legumes, not nuts.  A boiled peanut is very much like eating a navy bean or a pinto bean. It has the soft texture of a thoroughly cooked bean and a very bean-like taste; there is nothing even remotely nutty about it.  If you shelled them, put them in a bowl, and served them to someone with a spoon and a blindfold, they would think they were eating a bowl of beans.

They are also incredibly salty. We read online that they are boiled in large quantities of heavily salted water for four or more hours.  The salt had permeated every molecule of the legume.  The taste wasn't that bad.  I liked them more than Mark did, but eating them is a salty, tedious, messy proposition.  Remember, they are IN the shell and you don't eat the shell.  Yes, you have to pick up a hot, squishy peanut and open it.  Then the soggy legume inside doesn't just drop out like a roasted peanut.  Well, occasionally one did, but mostly we had to pick it out, sometimes in pieces.  My hands were a MESS!  Sometimes the shell was empty.  Sometimes the legume inside just looked too nasty to consider putting in your mouth.  We probably ate about two-thirds of them and one-third just were no good. 

Anyway, last night we got an education about boiled peanuts. I'm not sure why they are so popular, but then I don't like avocados, salad dressing, beer, or ketchup either and people think that's weird.  Maybe I am weird.  Maybe you need to be raised in the south to appreciate them.  Still, I'm glad we tried them and that that this time we weren't moving at 75 mph on I-95.