Boiled Peanuts (And how to choose a spouse)
Boiled peanuts have been popular in the south since at least the civil war when our troops used to carry them as a large part of their rations. With salt being a natural preservative, the boiled peanuts could be carried and eaten for up to a week, providing a quick nutritional source on the go and helping to make up for the piteous lack of meat in the southern soldier’s diet.
The first time I ever had boiled peanuts was when I was a girl, not more then seven or eight. My family and I took the first of many trips to the Smokey Mountains with a set of grandparents, my mother’s father and stepmother whom we called Papa Reed and Cornetha. (I’ve told y’all I had thirteen grandparents when I was born, remember?). We were driving up these winding roads through the smokey mountains and Cornetha saw a roadside vender and wanted to stop. I was curious as to what would get her so excited and when she bought a cup of wet peanuts, my curiosity was piqued. They had steam coming from them and the most delicious smell that set my stomach to grumbling. Cornetha shared them with me and likely ended up sharing a lot more than she got herself after I had a taste of my first one!
Y’all know I just had to have them again, but how to get them? I can cook them myself, as I show here, but I still love getting to pull over at a stop sign and trade a few bills for a warm steaming cup. Problem solved: I just married a Georgian so we could go visit his family and I could get them then! (alright, I might have married him for a few other reasons, but lets try to stay on point here, shall we?).
I have always been jealous of Georgians. Not the country, but the state (although I am sure the country is lovely as well). Georgians have it made in a way that us North Alabamians can never have. You see, as soon as the slightest chill hits the air little tents, trucks, and roadside stands start setting up on street corners for one purpose – to sell boiled peanuts to fortunate passerbys. With over 45% of the country’s peanut crop grown there, its no wonder boiled peanuts are in such abundance, but the fact that I have not once seen them in my neck of the woods is a shame worth crying over!
For those of you who don’t want to marry a Georgian (or who may not have single Georgians readily available), here is how you can have this southern delicacy in the comfort of your own home – while still maintaining a relationship with your non-Georgian spouse.
You’ll need: Raw or green peanuts and salt. You can’t make boiled peanuts with roasted peanuts, they have to be raw, or green as they are sometimes called. I got a pound package. You can use a larger amount and just add a bit more salt to taste. If this is your first time with boiled peanuts, start with a cup and then taste it after a few hours, adding a few more tablespoons if you want a saltier peanut.
For the salt, just use plain old table salt. Southerners don’t get fancy with this stuff. Its part of our charm 
.
Place peanuts in a large pot. Add enough water to cover the peanuts, although they will float to the top for now anyway. Add 1 cup of salt and stir.
Cover the pot with a lid and cook on about medium heat, until it comes to a good boil, then simmer it. These are going to need to cook for about three hours but can cook longer if you like. I cook mine most of the day. The texture you are going for is just slightly firmer than a cooked bean.
After they are done being cooked, if they are too salty for you (Personally, I don’t believe in such a thing as “too salty” when it comes to these!), simply add a few more cups of water to dilute the cooking water and cook for half an hour more or so. If they are not salty enough (You go, you!), add a bit more salt and give it a half hour as well to get good and incorporated. The amount of salt I am listing here is what I have found perfect to replicate the roadside peanuts I love so much.
Now how to eat a boiled peanut!
The way you eat a boiled peanut is EVERYTHING!!!
Place the entire, uncracked peanut shell in your mouth. Yes, I am serious. Don’t get all fretful about germs and such, my goodness you just boiled them for several hours. Now do like I said and pop that entire peanut in your mouth, With your mouth closed (unless you want to squirt your neighbor in the face with salty peanut juice), crack the shell open and drink the juice out of it. Then open it the rest of the way and take the shell out of your mouth, while eating the soft peanuts inside. After a few of these, you’ll understand why the roadside vendors always give you a plastic bag or cup to hold your shells!
My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Boiled Peanuts
1 pound raw or green peanuts
1 cup salt
Cover peanuts with water, add salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about three hours, or more if you like. Place entire peanut in your mouth to eat and then crack open with your teath, drinking the juice and eating the peanut while discarding the shell.
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oh man, do I love boiled peanuts! being in the north, I never get to have them. I even tried to make them with roasted peanuts. They came out ok, but it just wasn’t the same. I have yet to find raw peanuts here, but I may have been looking in the wrong places. thanks for posting this! Now I will be on a mission to find some raw peanuts
)
These sound delicious! I have never had boiled peanuts. I have also never seen raw peanuts up here! sigh I think I will go search online.
Love this post! As a displaced Southern belle now living in Missouri, I do miss my boiled peanuts. My family still lives in north Georgia so everytime I’m home I usually will eat boiled peanuts 3 or 4 times! All 3 of my kiddos absolutely love them! Also, there used to be a boiled peanut stand somewhere in north Alabama because my husband and I used to stop there on the way to his parents house in Mississippi! I think it was on Highway 72 (or maybe 78?)
Hey Amiyrah! At first, I didn’t know where to get them either, then I started reading all of the peanut packages in the grocery stores and was able to find raw ones at Wally World, but they are mixed up with the regular ones so you might have to dig. I bet some of the grocery stores have them…alright maybe I’m just being hopeful! I hate for anyone to go without!
Oh Kate! I hate it so much that I can’t send food to y’all through the computer!!!! I hope you find them, oh Kate, Oh Kate, Oh Kate…they are SO GOOD!
Lynette – hehe, you are doing just like me! I get my boiled peanut fix in North GA as well. Peanut stand on 72????????????? We are going to have to wrestle your husband down and get him to fess up with more info on that one!
Gratefully,
Christy
OH! My brother loves boiled peanuts. My Granny used to make them like this…until she “got old” and then she just bought a can of boiled peanuts when we asked her to make them! Not quite the same! And as to eating them…I don’t put the whole thing in my mouth but I TOTALLY suck all the juice out before opening it all the way!!!! That’s the best part. I’m bummed when I get a “bad” one that doesn’t have any juice.
Send me some LOL!! You know I love me some boiled peanuts down here for sure! I hear ya on the salt too – I love them super super salty, but I have to admit that I usually go the lazy route and buy ‘em off of somebody on the street that’s selling them – raw peanuts are hard to track down and those folks are all over the place selling them pretty cheap and do a much better job than I ever have!
We have lots of boiled peanut stands in South Alabama. The best peanuts are fresh and green, right out of the field. You pull up the vine, take ‘em home and sit on the porch while you pick off the peanuts, which grow on the roots of the plant. Of course, that means they’re really dirty so you have to put them through several “washings” – rinsing off the dirt so there’s no grit left. Then boil ‘em up with plenty of salt. My mom used to “stack” peanuts when she was growing up. The peanuts were pulled up by hand and stacked with pitchforks in huge stacks, ready to take to market. It was a really dirty job, but such was the life of a farm girl in the 40s. You can’t get more Southern than boiled peanuts – thanks for spreading the word, Christy!
Did you find the peanut stand on 72? I used to get them at Lacon Trade day when they were in full business years ago. Get this! I would go get FRESH Pig skins Cajun seasoned boiled peanuts and top it off with fresh lemonade! Sounds good!
Have a good un!
Oh my gosh! My husband, a native Georgian, introduced me to boiled peanuts and I was hooked from the first one. Now, we have introduced them to our kids and they love them just as much. Living in Arkansas, they are not to be found. When we vacation in southeast GA or Florida, we try to get our fill of them while we are there. We’ve tried them at home but we also have trouble finding the raw peanuts. I’ll have to look some more – maybe I’ll have better luck.
Oh man, I am so craving boiled peanuts now! I should really avoid Southern Plate while I’m pregnant.
My husband hates boiled peanuts (and tomato products, so I can’t cook him anything!) so I’ll have to make a pot one day while he’s at work. I’m so excited about making my own boiled peanuts. Thanks!
Oh my goodness, the memories! I partly grew up in Florida, and I remember once, maybe twice, we got boiled peanuts. Best stuff ever! I haven’t thought about those for such a long time. But wow, this post brought back memories of how wonderful they taste. If I can get hold of some raw peanuts, I know what to do with them!!!
There is no way in heck I’ll find raw peanuts in CT, but I’m certainly going to try! We’ll be going to GA for a visit in a month and I’ll have to make some while we’re there!
I am orginally from LA (lower Alabama). As a teenager (many moons ago) we couldn’t go to Dauphin Island for a day at the beach without stopping along the parkway for boiled peanuts. Now, I live along the Florida panhandle in Gulf Breeze. All four wheels on my car lock up to this day, when I see a boiled peanut stand on my way over to the beach. When I cook them at home I do it in my trusty crock pot. For a change of pace, you can use crab boil to spice them up at bit, along with a generous handful or two of salt. They can be addictive..and they are absolutely sublime with an icy cold Diet Coke!
Well I am from (and still live in) Georgia. I had no idea until reading this that boiled peanuts aren’t as frequent in other areas of the south. I guess I don’t get out much but maybe that’s a good thing:) We eat boiled peanuts (they sell them at most gas stations around here in middle GA) all year round but they seem to really be around in the summer.
do you know how to make cajun boiled peanuts? I can’t find the receipe anywhere.
I love peanuts, and I love ‘em boiled. My mom grew peanuts one year. Really good fresh. Thanks for the recipe.
I was raised in a rural area of northern Florida and boiled peanuts were a revered tradition! There is a differance in raw and green peanuts, raw being the “dry” peanuts you can buy throughout the year and green being the fresh from the field kind
As several of my family grew peanuts on their farms I had plenty of access to fresh green boiled peanuts and as good as raw boiled peanuts are green boiled peanuts are “the bomb”!
I am sooo excited! I just got back from the grocery store, NOT W.M., but the real grocery store and to my utter surprise they had bags of Jimbo’s Jumbos that I just happened to see. So, guess what we are doing on New Year’s Eve? That’s right – boiling a big pot of peanuts. We can’t wait.
I CAN’T EVER FIND A TRUE CAJUN BOILED “P-NUT” RECIPE ONLINE AND I’M GOING THROUGH WITHDRAWAL!!!
Seems they don’t make these little gems in my parts much anymore, and I can’t find them (fresh) in the convenience stores, either.
Any suggestions shore of experimentation? The Cajun type aren’t just hot or easy spices, they have chunks of stuff floating in the broth that impart the flavor. If you’ve had them, you know how much more addictive they are than even delicious boiled ones!
I usually respond to comments starting where I left off, but I am going to start with the last one this time because, “All”, I’m worried ’bout ya.
First off, breathe. Its okay, I promise. I feel your pain. Not with cajun boiled peanuts mind you but I did go through a similar experience with Tastykake’s coconut cakes once. Fortunately, I have found that they are available in the Washington, D.C. Area and my parents usually go there once a year so yeah…its alright hon.
~breathes~ Alright now, as to the “stuff” floating around in the water, I’ve never seen it or had cajun peanuts so I can’t rightly guess what that might be. However, I did a little searchy-poo myself and came up with oodles of recipes for cajun boiled peanuts. If I had your email addy I’d send ‘em to ya but as I don’t, let me just summarize here. If you do try to email me about this, you might want to read this note first because I tend to get a hundred or so emails on any given day and it sometimes takes me a while to dig out.
Every recipe I see suggests a shrimp and crab boil store bought mix be added to the pot. Zatarain’s makes this and Zatarain’s anything is good stuff. As this boil mix already contains salt, I would leave your salt out entirely until the peanuts were almost done and then taste them, adding salt and cooking for another thirty minutes if need be.
Now that is the simple way, which I would try first if I were you. Use my recipe but leave out the salt and add a bag of Zatarain’s shrimp and crab boil. Here is a recipe I found on a forum if you are a more complex type guy/gal:
2 lbs raw peanuts
3 tbls chili powder
3 fresh jalapeno peppers (seeded and chopped)
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (chopped)
5 cloves garlic (peeled and smashed)
1 lg yellow onion (quartered)
1 tbls cumin
1 pkg Zatarains crab/shrimp boil
1 1/2 cups crushed red pepper flakes
There were no cooking instructions so I would assume you just cook it as I did mine.
Now take a deep breath and give one of these fellers a try.
It’s gonna be okay. Took me eleven years to get that coconut TastyKake….
Hope this helped!
Gratefully,
Christy
~goes to look for some cajun boiled peanuts to try…~
Claire I haven’t had them in the can but have seen them. Good thing to have in desperate times, I’m sure! Hehe, you still eat ‘em right! I’ve never gotten one without any juice ~GASPS AT THE VERY THOUGHT!!! ~
Mary Oh yeah, if they were for sale around here, I’d totally be buying them too! I agree with you COMPLETELY!
WillowDee Now that is a fascinating story!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share it, I LOVE getting to know more background information like this, especially when it pertains to our southern roots!!
Teri I didn’t find it! I’m not sure where it is, we are right near Huntsville but hey, I have had fresh pig skins before and WOW you are right, them suckers are awesome! I obviously need to find these Cajun boiled peanuts….
You have a good un. too!
Jody I hope you find them! I wish I had a supplier on hand right now for all of y’all! I am glad you and I share this mutual love at first bite!
Xasora LOL! Bless your heart! Don’t avoid Southern Plate, at least you can get normal cravings here! When I was expecting my daughter, I remember craving baked beans and root beer. It sounded like such a DIVINE combination…and then I ate it. Not even homemade baked beans but the canned ones…and an entire diet A&W. I’ve never regretted a combination more in my life…
Let me know how they turn out!! Let me know how that wee one likes them, too!!
Stephanie You have such a Southern heart! Lol I just love hearing from you , Stephanie, and I really do appreciate you taking the time to read. Its always a pleasure to hear from one of my “regulars”!! You are sooo coming on my cooking show (if I ever have one, lol).
IT’S APRIL!! Hey Girl!! If you are in GA, just stop and throw a rock and you’ll hit a stand! No need to make them there, have them made to perfection for you!! WEEEEEEE
Linda hehe, I went to UCLA for a while myself (University of Calhoun, Left Of Athens). Now you’ve made me want to not only eat Cajun ones, but go to the beach as well!!! See you there!!
Christie (with the positively lovely name!;) oh yeah, you have no idea how fortunate you are!! I don’t get out much either , hehe.
Kathy Read the comment I left before this one for Cajun ideas! Hope it helps!
Rebel Oh lawd, I need ‘em that fresh! You got a good Mama! Thank you!
Steph Well now isn’t that neat! Thank you so much for telling me, I had no idea! Jealous of you now though! Lol
Jody OH YAY!! I’m excited, too!! I’ll be blogging on new years and hoping to see a comment about your peanuts!!!!
I am so grateful for all of your comments, thank you so much!! I love hearing from you!
Gratefully,
Christy
We boiled the peanuts today and enjoyed them after not having any for over 2 years! We cooked them a lot longer than 3 hours to get them as soft as we like but it was worth the wait. Have a blessed New Year!! Finding your blog this past year has been one of the highlights of my year as someone new to blogging!! You gave me some much needed inspiration to try some new recipes along the way.
Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!
A month ago, I took my 5 kids down to see my mom in Northern FL where they retired to. It was HEAVENLY to just stop and buy boiled peanuts. Oh I MISSED them. My dad would take my 4 sisters and me to my his grandparents farm house in GA (outside of Macon) every yr. We ALWAYS stopped for these peanuts.
My kids thought I was gross when I popped the entire peanut in my mouth. So I did not share with them! LOL That’s what I get for marrying a Yankee from NY!
I’m thoroughly enjoying your web site and plan to try several of your recipes. About the boiled peanuts—NEVER use raw peanuts. Always choose green peanuts. I’m afraid our road side vendors here in North Carolina (the Smokies you speak of) tend to boil raw peanuts, so we don’t waste our money. I’ve probably got 4 gallons of boiled GREEN peanuts in my freezer right now since every summer we boil our own. Farmers markets will usually have green peanuts during the summer months.
One of my favorite treats as well!! My Brit Hubby doesn’t like them tho….the first time he saw me pop the entire peant hull in my mouth and how I ate them just flabbergasted him. I hold with your belief that he was dropped on his head as a baby too- and therefore cannot fathom some of the good eats we have in the south.
Poor Baby.
Speaking of peanuts, I got a box of raw, shelled peanuts for Christmas, and have no idea what to do with them.
I’ve wondered if peanuts boiled out of the shell would be any good, but haven’t been adventurous enough to try.
I’m from (and still in) NorthWest Georgia. There’s boiled peanuts around here for sale all the time.
But since I could buy a bag of peanuts cheaper than I could buy a cup of them, it was as easy – and cheaper – to do them myself.
You wanted to learn about saving money, there you go.
I am a proud Georgian girl… very proud of it and we call boiled peanuts Southern Caviar. They have that wonderful, salty POP of flavor just like their more expensive (and snobby) namesake. As for the Cajun variety, I have had some that have peppers (usually jalapeno and cayenne) in them, but when I make it, I just cut back on my salt a little bit and throw a palmful (a technical term, take my word for it) of Tony Cachere’s Cajun seasoning in it.. gives it a little heat and a wonderful flavor.
MMMMMMMMMMMMM………yyuuuuummmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!! That seems to be all I can think right now!
http://www.hardyfarmspeanuts.com/
Coming from a (ahem) boiled peanut expert, I have to say these are the best and they are available now in grocery stores! (I am sure yours are just as good, Christy!
)
We bought a bag from Publix the other day, not knowing the stands were up a month early this year (they are usually only up Sept. and Oct.), and they were so fresh and just delicious. Our friends in the Tampa, FL area love them in the Cajun flavor. They were available IN THEIR GROCERY STORES before they were available in ours, and we are 30 minutes from their farms!
I do have to disagree with you though, Ms. Jordan. I have never put the whole peanut in my mouth and sucked out the juice. I crack them open and pour the juice out, then pluck the peanuts from the shells. If I can’t open them with my fingers, only then will I put the whole things in my mouth. Goodness gracious.
I love boiled peanuts…try adding about 1/2 crab boil!!! DELICIOUS!!!