A Southern Snack—Boiled Peanuts

There has been much to write about in the last week. But not so much time to write it. We had our annual summer knitting retreat last weekend. And we had houseguests at the lake. The knitter wife, Bev, went to the retreat with me. The husbands entertained themselves. We had such a good time, both knitting and visiting.

The knitting retreat was fun as always. I'm zooming through the retreat project. Since it's a cotton knit, I'd love to wear it while the weather is still hot. I had an entire day yesterday home alone. Daddy-O is busy this weekend with the Youth  Livestock Show, so I've had the house to myself. I'll be close to the end of the shawl by the time the livestock show is over.

When he got home late last night he headed straight to the kitchen to find a snack. He was happy to find a bag of boiled peanuts in the refrigerator. It's a Southern thing. We love boiled peanuts. If you live in other places, you might not even know what I'm talking about. Here, where we live, boiled peanuts are often sold from stands on the roadside. Everyone has their favorite peanut stand and sometimes will drive for miles and miles to get the "best" ones.

Now, let's talk peanuts. We think the best boiled peanuts are made using green peanuts. Green peanuts are ones freshly pulled out of the ground. They are only available at harvest time, because the fresh ones won't keep long. It's a short season to enjoy those. Raw peanuts in the shell—more readily available—have been dried so that they have a long shelf life.

Our local meat market also has wonderful produce and I was happy to find green peanuts there a few days ago, already bagged in 2 lb packs. It's not unusual for them to be loose with a scoop in the bin. A quick Google search turned up directions for cooking the in the Instant Pot. If you only have access to RAW peanuts in the shell, you google for cooking times for them. It's a much, much longer cooking time. 

INSTANT POT BOILED PEANUTS

2 lbs green peanuts
1/2 cup salt (more or less, to taste)
water to cover the peanuts

Wash peanuts. Put peanuts, salt and water in IP. Do not add water past the maximum fill line. Because the peanuts float, put the trivet on top of peanuts and weight it down with a pyrex dish. I used the lid of a pyrex dish.

Use MANUAL and set time to 45 minutes. Then do a "natural pressure release" (NPR), which means let the IP sit after the time is up and the cooker turns off until the pressure pin drops. Pour up peanuts. Store in refrigerator—if you don't eat them all right now.

If you have never eaten boiled peanuts, let me tell you how. Pop the shell open and eat the peanuts. If you slurp them out of the shell, you'll get a little of the salty juice, too. You do not eat the shell. (People have asked.) The nuts are soft— more like cooked dried beans—rather than crunchy like a roasted nut.

We have also cooked boiled peanuts on the stovetop (or huge pot on a gas cooker outside) and in the slow cooker. And Jo, another knitter friend, told me yesterday that her husband has done them in the microwave. You can google all the ways to do it.

All of this peanut talk remind me of an experience Jessica and I had years ago. We went to a well known seafood restaurant in Charleston. A place where they bring you a basket of boiled peanuts as soon as you are seated. Like you get chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant. We dove into the peanuts immediately. And we were nearly done when we realized that we were the only ones eating them. The other dining patrons were either ignoring them or examining them as they wonder what to do with them. We decided we may have been the only Southerners in the place!