BMG's Green Peanuts

[BMG]

Alright, so this recipe is a southern thing. I've only been living in the southern US for the last ten years. Prior to that the rest of my life was spent in Alaska or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I had never heard of 'green' peanuts. When I first tried them I didn't care for them; it was a textural thing - they're sort of like cold, squishy beans. Since then however, I have grown to like them quite a lot. This being green peanut season, I just got home from the grocery store with the first batch of the summer!

So what you do is go to the grocery store where they are usually sitting in the produce section in a large box of some sort. You scoop them into produce bags until you get your desired amount and then pay by the pound. Around here they're $1.99/lb.

BMG's Green Peanuts:
Green Peanuts (however much you wish to cook).
Enough water to cover the peanuts in your large pot.
01 Heaping tablespoon of table salt per quart of water used.

Directions:
Thoroughly rinse your green peanuts! They come from the store still a bit sandy so rinse them well!

Put them into a large stock pot (I use a 4 gallon canning pot for this).

Fill with enough water to cover the peanuts (keep track of how many quarts you put in the pot!).

Add one heaping tablespoon of table salt for each quart of water you put in the pot.

Bring the peanuts to a boil. Set a timer for 2hrs, reduce the heat to medium, cover and leave them alone. Once the timer goes off drain the peanuts and leave on the counter to cool for an hour or so. Once cool, transfer them to a plastic bag (I find that used shopping bags work just fine for this) and place them in your refrigerator until completely cool.

Serve them  cold in a bowl. Eat them while you crack them open (the peanuts in the super soft shells are fine to eat but you should toss aside any that are obviously black and bad on the inside once you crack them open). Be sure to have a container for the empty shells nearby and enjoy!

Notes:
Once they have boiled for 2hrs, they are fine to eat immediately. Folks like them hot, I just prefer mine cold. When they're hot they aren't as salty as when they are cold. Also, some people add other flavors to their peanuts (crab boil, Cajun seasoning, garlic, etc). I don't add any of that fancy stuff because I really like them with just the salt.

I have no idea how far north the availability is for these. I know I had never seen them in AK or MI though. I guess I would suspect that you can get them from Florida to the Carolinas and then west to Texas, but that's just a guess.

If you've never had a chance to try them, but see them in the grocery store during the summer, go ahead and buy a pound and try them out. We use them in place of popcorn! 

[IronDioPriest]

I've never heard of such a thing. Do they taste like peanuts? Beans? Something else entirely?

I know peanuts are from the legume family rather than the nut family, but I never contemplated eating them like beans before.

[Charles Oakwood]

Must be an Indian thing.

[Pandora]

Dot or feather?

[John Florida]

Alright, so this recipe is a southern thing. I've only been living in the southern US for the last ten years. Prior to that the rest of my life was spent in Alaska or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I had never heard of 'green' peanuts. When I first tried them I didn't care for them; it was a textural thing - they're sort of like cold, squishy beans. Since then however, I have grown to like them quite a lot. This being green peanut season, I just got home from the grocery store with the first batch of the summer!

So what you do is go to the grocery store where they are usually sitting in the produce section in a large box of some sort. You scoop them into produce bags until you get your desired amount and then pay by the pound. Around here they're $1.99/lb.

BMG's Green Peanuts:
Green Peanuts (however much you wish to cook).
Enough water to cover the peanuts in your large pot.
01 Heaping tablespoon of table salt per quart of water used.

Directions:
Thoroughly rinse your green peanuts! They come from the store still a bit sandy so rinse them well!

Put them into a large stock pot (I use a 4 gallon canning pot for this).

Fill with enough water to cover the peanuts (keep track of how many quarts you put in the pot!).

Add one heaping tablespoon of table salt for each quart of water you put in the pot.

Bring the peanuts to a boil. Set a timer for 2hrs, reduce the heat to medium, cover and leave them alone. Once the timer goes off drain the peanuts and leave on the counter to cool for an hour or so. Once cool, transfer them to a plastic bag (I find that used shopping bags work just fine for this) and place them in your refrigerator until completely cool.

Serve them  cold in a bowl. Eat them while you crack them open (the peanuts in the super soft shells are fine to eat but you should toss aside any that are obviously black and bad on the inside once you crack them open). Be sure to have a container for the empty shells nearby and enjoy!

Notes:
Once they have boiled for 2hrs, they are fine to eat immediately. Folks like them hot, I just prefer mine cold. When they're hot they aren't as salty as when they are cold. Also, some people add other flavors to their peanuts (crab boil, Cajun seasoning, garlic, etc). I don't add any of that fancy stuff because I really like them with just the salt.

I have no idea how far north the availability is for these. I know I had never seen them in AK or MI though. I guess I would suspect that you can get them from Florida to the Carolinas and then west to Texas, but that's just a guess.

If you've never had a chance to try them, but see them in the grocery store during the summer, go ahead and buy a pound and try them out. We use them in place of popcorn! 

 Never heard of such a thing.Or seen green peanuts down here.

[LadyVirginia]

We used to buy boiled peanuts from roadside stands in georgia--this sounds like the same thing--though I don't if the peanuts were "green".  We ate 'em hot and mom used to warn us if we ate to many we'd get a stomach ache!  I loved them.  haven't had them in years.

[BMG]

That's right LV. Boiled peanuts = green peanuts. Green meaning, raw and right out of the ground.

To clarify, they taste like peanuts, but only subtly. Very muted in comparison to roasted peanuts.

There are two chain stores in my area (Hitchcock's and Winn Dixie) where you can buy the green peanuts (as well as an independent mom & pop grocery store). Aside from road-side stands (and at the Daytona 500 I've been told) I haven't seen them sold anywhere else. At Hitchcocks and that aforementioned Mom & pop store they come in a giant cargo box and people just scoop how ever many pounds they want into a produce bag and head to the register. In Winn Dixie they come in pre-weighed bags (usually 1-2 pounds) but are also usually twice the price as the other two places.

[LadyVirginia]

what's the season for availability in stores?

[John Florida]

That's right LV. Boiled peanuts = green peanuts. Green meaning, raw and right out of the ground.

To clarify, they taste like peanuts, but only subtly. Very muted in comparison to roasted peanuts.

There are two chain stores in my area (Hitchcock's and Winn Dixie) where you can buy the green peanuts (as well as an independent mom & pop grocery store). Aside from road-side stands (and at the Daytona 500 I've been told) I haven't seen them sold anywhere else. At Hitchcocks and that aforementioned Mom & pop store they come in a giant cargo box and people just scoop how ever many pounds they want into a produce bag and head to the register. In Winn Dixie they come in pre-weighed bags (usually 1-2 pounds) but are also usually twice the price as the other two places.

 OK now I know what you're talking about. I can buy those almost in any store down here.

[EW1(SG)]

That's right LV. Boiled peanuts = green peanuts. Green meaning, raw and right out of the ground.

To clarify, they taste like peanuts, but only subtly. Very muted in comparison to roasted peanuts.

There are two chain stores in my area (Hitchcock's and Winn Dixie) where you can buy the green peanuts (as well as an independent mom & pop grocery store). Aside from road-side stands (and at the Daytona 500 I've been told) I haven't seen them sold anywhere else. At Hitchcocks and that aforementioned Mom & pop store they come in a giant cargo box and people just scoop how ever many pounds they want into a produce bag and head to the register. In Winn Dixie they come in pre-weighed bags (usually 1-2 pounds) but are also usually twice the price as the other two places.

Green peanuts are generally pretty common from Richmond south to north Florida, and in Asian markets, particularly those that sell Thai products.  "Green" just means raw peanuts, not roasted or otherwise cooked, and are commonly used to make 'bald p'nuts,' sold at roadside stands throughout the southeast.  But there are lots of older recipes that call for green peanuts in a variety of entrees and side dishes, and of course, where would we be without peanut brittle!  (Although sadly,  many "modern" recipes substitute roasted goobers.)

[BMG]

@LV: Buying season in grocery stores is generally may-august. This year I was able to buy some in the last week of April however.

[LadyVirginia]

@LV: Buying season in grocery stores is generally may-august. This year I was able to buy some in the last week of April however.

thanks

hopefully we'll get to travel some this summer and I'll have to remember to look for some if we stay at a place with a kitchen

[BMG]

If you do happen to find some, they can be kept for quite a while if you keep them dry and cool - don't seal them in plastic as they will begin to mildew quickly! But you could conceivably buy an amount of them prior to heading home and they would keep for the trip back. Dry and cool prior to cooking! Moist (keep in a plastic grocery bag, not sealed but folded over) and cold after cooking. They will keep in the fridge after cooking for 4-5 days. Also, since they are saturated with saline water, they freeze very well. Just fill up a large ziplock baggie and stash them in the freezer for 6 months or so. Thaw them in the microwave for use later.

[LadyVirginia]

If you do happen to find some, they can be kept for quite a while if you keep them dry and cool -

thank you!

[RickZ]

I grew up in Norfolk, Va, and travelled US 460 quite often and saw the peanut fields of southeast Virginia; there were plenty of Mr. Peanut signs, as well.  I've heard of boiled peanuts, but they were not, I repeat not, a Virginia tradition; I think it's a further 'Deep South' tradition (Georgia seems to like boiled peanuts).  Where I grew up, next door to Peanut Country, roasting peanuts is the preferable way to eat them, as they can be added to so many dishes, including the making of peanut butter and cream of peanut soup.  Let's hear it for G.W. Carver!

There's no other way to put it:  Boiled peanuts are gross.

[Pandora]

Uh oh!  FOOD FIGHT!

[Alphabet Soup]

I grew up in Louisiana and Alabama (as Damnyankee transplants). I remember a visit to family friends where us kids (there were five of us) were treated to boiled peanuts. I also recall to looks of panic and betrayal as my younger brother and sister spit them out and wondering who and why were they being poisoned 

[RickZ]

I grew up in Louisiana and Alabama (as Damnyankee transplants). I remember a visit to family friends where us kids (there were five of us) were treated to boiled peanuts. I also recall to looks of panic and betrayal as my younger brother and sister spit them out and wondering who and why were they being poisoned  

{Raises hand}

My first and only reaction to boiled peanuts as well.  I couldn't spit them out of my mouth fast enough.

ETA:  A long buried horrible memory that has now resurfaced.  Thanks for that.

[LadyVirginia]

heh

I loved them as a kid.

Reminds me of cooked dried beans...well, they are a legume...but then I love beans too.

[Alphabet Soup]

I grew up in Louisiana and Alabama (as Damnyankee transplants). I remember a visit to family friends where us kids (there were five of us) were treated to boiled peanuts. I also recall to looks of panic and betrayal as my younger brother and sister spit them out and wondering who and why were they being poisoned 

{Raises hand}

My first and only reaction to boiled peanuts as well.  I couldn't spit them out of my mouth fast enough.

ETA:  A long buried horrible memory that has now resurfaced.  Thanks for that.

Sorry 'bout that