287536 Sun Aug 26 11:03:05 -0700 2001 31 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1547198 Just got some large raw peanuts in the shell, and can't seem to find the recipe for the southern style boiled peanuts. Anyone remember seeing it in one of the posts? Anyone have a recipe they'd like to share? Thanks! Sun Aug 26 11:03:05 -0700 2001 0 HLing 1 1547199 All I do is get a large pot of water boiling with about 3/4 cup of salt, put about 2 pounds of peanuts in and let them boil for about 2 hours. It helps if you have green peanuts, which I believe have not been allowed to dry out. Good luck, Carter Sun Aug 26 11:44:05 -0700 2001 1547198 0 Carter B. 2 1547203 Yes, you want green ones for boiled peanuts. Sun Aug 26 15:17:31 -0700 2001 1547199 0 Dee Gustay 2 1547204 Could you clarify what "green" peanuts are? How will I know if mine are green? Sun Aug 26 17:29:06 -0700 2001 1547199 0 HLing 3 1547226 I believe that "green" in this case means raw (unroasted) peanuts. I don't know where you'd get them though. I've never seen them for sale in the NY metro area. Mon Aug 27 13:56:36 -0700 2001 1547204 0 LaurelM 4 1547231 I think I've seen them in Chinatown, but these I got in Sunnyside, Queens on 46th street in this large grocery store kitty corner from the Taco truck. These were raw peanuts in their shells, and are especially large. I don't think they have it all the time, unless I just wasn't paying attention prior to this time. I've had boiled peanuts in Taiwan, certainly. Also am not surprised that MK has had it in Vietnam. I just wondered why in the US, it's not as readily available as the roasted version. The boiled version, (can't wait to try the cajun way) is a simple and delicious snack. Mon Aug 27 15:58:33 -0700 2001 1547226 0 HLing 4 1547236 Food co-ops around Boston used to carry raw peanuts. Don't know about NY. You might try health food stores, Whole Foods-type places, etc. Mon Aug 27 16:50:29 -0700 2001 1547226 0 C. Fox 4 1547237 There is a difference between "raw" and "green" peanuts, even though both are, in fact, raw. "Green" peanuts are freshly pulled out of the ground. Growing up, we would usually pull up the peanuts and take them directly to the pot. MAYBE we'd put them in the fridge and cook them the next day. "Raw" peanuts may have been out of the ground a while and dried some, not ideal for boiled peanuts, at least Southern USA style. Mon Aug 27 17:21:08 -0700 2001 1547226 0 Dee Gustay 5 1547242 How lucky you can have peanuts just pulled out of the ground! Is there a visual difference one can see between "green" and not so green but raw peanuts? The ones I got had a sweet raw smell to it, the shells were moist, though I don't if it's from someone rinsing it, for whatever reason..... Mon Aug 27 19:07:47 -0700 2001 1547237 0 HLing 6 1547258 Hling, as I qualify for my AARP card this year after 25 years in NYC I'm having a hard time remembering details of what those green peanuts felt/looked like compared to others. But I did a search and found a site that gives you some info on green peanuts. You can even order them if you like. Link: http://www.hardyfarmspeanuts.com/pages/faqs.htm Tue Aug 28 08:20:37 -0700 2001 1547242 0 Dee Gustay 7 1547269 Thanks Dee Gustay for the link! Tue Aug 28 12:27:49 -0700 2001 1547258 0 HLing 1 1547200 If you've got at least 5 lbs, try this one: Ingredients 5 lbs peanuts in shell 1 cup salt enough water to cover peanuts Method wash peanuts thoroughly place peanuts in a large pot add salt and water boil covered for at least 3 hours (longer if you like them saltier and/or softer) variation: for a cajun flavor, add a package of crab boil and half a dozen sliced fresh jalapenos or cayennes Sun Aug 26 11:44:36 -0700 2001 1547198 0 foodpimp 2 1547205 Thanks all for the recipes. Would also like to know if boiled peanuts is an exclusively southern practice. The cajun version and peppers sounds like a killer! Sun Aug 26 17:58:59 -0700 2001 1547200 0 HLing 3 1547206 That's what I've always heard. In Florida you see them for sale that way on the side of the road, but I can't comment about elsewhere. Mon Aug 27 07:49:06 -0700 2001 1547205 0 ironmom 4 1547274 We got some boiled peanuts that were being sold out of a pickup truck in North Carolina. I was ready for a down-home taste treat. They were, however, spit-out awful. A bad batch? A bad producer? An acquired taste? I'll never try them again unless seriously convinced otherwise. Tue Aug 28 12:48:14 -0700 2001 1547206 0 Cliff 5 1547276 I've never had any of the roadside peanuts. Seemed like everybody I knew made their own and still do. So it could have been a bad batch. However, a friend of mine had some from a roadside vendor in Georgia and has teased me ever since about our (Southerners') yen for those "awful boiled peanuts." Your similar comment makes me think it just might be an acquired taste. The taste and texture, to my palate, are far enough away from roasted peanuts to suggest a different foodstuff altogether. Tue Aug 28 13:18:36 -0700 2001 1547274 0 Dee Gustay 6 1547295 My spouse & I had boiled peanuts once, from a seaside vendor in Florida, and didn't have any trouble whatsoever "acquiring the taste". They were delicious. We tried and failed to reproduce it at home (up North), with raw-but-not-green peanuts. Tue Aug 28 18:25:41 -0700 2001 1547276 0 C. Fox 7 1547303 A few posts down I gave HLing a link to a place that mail-orders green peanuts in season--about now. They ARE good, aren't they? I can't imagine one of our family reunions without this huge tub of boiled peanuts. Tue Aug 28 19:15:38 -0700 2001 1547295 0 Dee Gustay 8 1547513 Well, this debate plopped right out of the sky onto some amateur work we have done in Mississippi , Alabama & Florida. There are portions of the South--even peanut producing areas--that would not touch a boiled peanut. The usual hateful comment is "disgusting." There have always been little tendrils that snake down from Boiled Peanut Country (a swath through MS, AL & GA) into parts of LA and FLA. Of course, North Carolina has also got some pockets (perhaps because of peanut fed hogs?) Boiled peanuts are an either/or proposition. You either love them or hate them. One couple I know hated them as "trailer trash" food but, when said couple found that they [boiled peanuts, that is] were popular in Southeast Asian cooking and when Laotian cooking became the "rage" in their area, these folks instantly became admirers. I like to think of them chocking down great amounts of something they hated just to appear wordly. Boiled peanuts must be green: anything else is a waste. Don't bother with canned. Make them yourself and freeze them if you must or, as we do, just go by the season. Enjoy them as available. Resist this notion of having foods out of season! Crab boil in the mix is a good idea and we do it but it is not "authentic." Personally, I come from the 2 or 3 hour simmering school but that is a personal preference. As long as the salt is right..... Wed Sep 05 00:35:12 -0700 2001 1547303 0 Toomsuba 9 1547514 I had my second or third taste of boiled peanuts on a trip to Fla. in July and I must admit, I'm still not a fan. But I'm curious--do you just eat the nut or both shell and nut? Is the proper chowing method just to scoop up a big bowl, individual open the nut, pop it in and continue--as a snack? Or are they shelled and eaten "en masse" like a veggie? I was interested to see how ubiqitous they were -every gas stop from TN on down had a pot going, and millions of signs on the freeway. Obviously, somebody likes 'em! Wed Sep 05 10:34:11 -0700 2001 1547513 0 berkleybabe 10 1547515 Hi BB: Growing up in northern Florida, boiled peanuts were unbiquitous (funny how the word ubiquitous has become ubiquitous!). ANYWAY, this is how we ate them all those years ago: put the whole peanut, shell and all, in your mouth and suck the salt out, after it didn't taste salty anymore, take it out of your mouth, shell it and eat the peanuts. Throw shell on floor. I was a salt addict even then. But I'm sure if I ate them like that now I'd blow up like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon! pat Wed Sep 05 11:21:06 -0700 2001 1547514 0 Pat Hammond 10 1547517 Re: method of eating BP's, you may have stumbled onto another chapter for the upcoming tome on the subject. Most folks we know open the individual peanut shell and eat the nuts BUT if the shell is soft enough, as sometimes it is, then you can eat that, too. Rather like opening an oyster, there is no etiquette; but there is a generally preferred way. (Hammers and screwdrivers will open an oyster but to the detriment of the bivalve and the certainty of shells in the oysters) Wed Sep 05 14:29:11 -0700 2001 1547514 0 Toomsuba 10 1547569 The boiled peanuts are only to be eaten with the shells off.. They are also good Canjun style.. All you have the do is boil them for 1-2 hours and put jalopenia in the water and some onions and salt about 10 tbls. and enjoy.. they have a little bite to them and are alittle hot but much better tasting then the plain.. Sat Aug 23 17:28:48 -0700 2003 1547514 0 Berkleybabe 5 1547278 I think that they are an acquired taste. To me the first few always tended taste somewhat peanutty and then they started to taste like very salty kidney beans. I lived in Pensacola for several years and roadside vendors were numerous in that area. It was not uncommon to find boiled peanuts at the consession stand at various sporting events in western Flordia and southern Alabama. Also most of the supermarkets in the area stocked them in cans and/or glass jars. Tue Aug 28 14:22:20 -0700 2001 1547274 0 Smokey 5 1547304 Thank you! I've been keeping my counsel, but your post just freed me...I just posted lasted week about our trip to Sanibel Is., from Detroit. On the way down and back, every gas station, convenience store --hell, maybe every parking lot or church--has a crock pot of boiled peanuts. Big signs on the freeway, on small roads, every where. So, I step up. Try the plain --bleah. Mushy peanuty/lentil/potato taste with no texture. And you've got to pry it out of that gross soggy shell. I think the cajun would be just an additonal flavor outrage to basically peanut/ground paste. Sorry, I think you gotta be born and raised with these babies to like 'em. Tue Aug 28 19:18:10 -0700 2001 1547274 0 berkleybabe 6 1547307 I never had them til I was in my thirties, and I love them, buy them every time I go down. Not for everyone. Tue Aug 28 20:01:34 -0700 2001 1547304 0 ironmom 6 1547310 Not trying to sway you in anyway, just that boiled peanuts don't have to be "Mushy peanuty/lentil/potato taste with no texture..". I cooked mine for less than a hour. Not mushy, but sort of like water chestnuts texture. Tue Aug 28 20:47:58 -0700 2001 1547304 0 HLing 6 1547516 When I've had boiled peanuts (in India) they were quite salty, so very delicious. And I ate the shells and all because they were so well-cooked. Love 'em. Quite addictive. But I've never had them here in the States. Wed Sep 05 12:50:45 -0700 2001 1547304 0 LaurelM 3 1547208 I don't think Boiled Peanuts is exclusive to the south. My mom always tells me how much I loved eating boiled peanuts when I was a toddler in Vietnam. Plus, they are so plentiful in Chinatown. There must be an Asian connection somewhere. BTW, whenever I boil my peanuts I only boil them for about 45 mins. in well salted water. That is what the street vendor told me to do and they came out fine Mon Aug 27 10:10:35 -0700 2001 1547205 0 KT 4 1547232 Oops, just posted a reply and called you MK instead of KT. I'm sorry, KT. Mon Aug 27 16:00:46 -0700 2001 1547208 0 HLing 3 1547225 Boiled salted peanuts are very popular in India too. To clarify, those are raw peanuts in the shell that you're boiling. Mon Aug 27 13:51:58 -0700 2001 1547205 0 LaurelM 3 1547570 Please clear this up once & for all, Are green peanuts the same as Raw peanuts?? I want to make boiled peanuts! the supermarket sells raw peanuts in a green bag? am I on the right track or what?? what is the season for green peanuts? will raw ones in a shell work? or are they totaly different than green peanuts?? Please email me, I dont know if I will be able to find this site again?? thankyou Wed Sep 17 17:10:56 -0700 2003 1547205 0 Kat