Saturday, June 25, 2011

A Bag of Peanuts Please

My mum has a friend who is amongst other things is a Peanut Farmer. So lucky for us each year we get hold of a nice big bag of freshly harvested nuts.  They go down like hot cakes here.  About half of the bag gets eaten straight from the bag, A la natural, the best possible way to devour these nuts, and the other half gets boiled up!

My family grew up around the South Burnett region of Queensland (Peanut country) and boiled peanuts were readily available in most corner shops, service stations a the local hotels.  
As I grew up and grew out of my town, and wandered far and wide throughout Australia and the vast wide world, many people would often look at me quite strangely when I talked about boiled nuts.  I think it might just be another one of those QLD things however I have also discovered it quite popular in Some states of America
If you've not tried a boiled peanut, then you better give this one ago.
This recipe is approximate, I usually fill up a large boiling pan with approx 2 kg of peanuts, cover with water, add about 1 cup of salt and boil for approx 3 hours. If your not sure if they're cooked, take a peanut out of the pan, let it cool slightly and test it, it should be soft with just a light crunch to it, if that makes sense, a bit like a cooked bean. Once cooked, turn off the hotplate and let the peanuts sit in the water for a few hours or until cool.  
Store in a sealed container in the fridge for approx 1 - 2 weeks.
Yes they are cold, wet and salty, but once you get the taste for them they are very addictive. 
Great to nibble on anytime of the day or night!
Notice the dish!
My mum tells me that back in her day they used to boil them in the water that was used to cook their corned beef dinner, If you have ever tasted your corned beef water you will notice that it is Very Salty. I don't think that would be considered safe food standards these days, but interesting!
Also, If your peanuts are fresh from the ground, make sure you rinse them thoroughly to get most of the dirt off of them first!

14 comments:

  1. Yum!
    Heartpoet particularly loves peanuts...he brings the Kingaroy ones home from the farmers market :]

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  2. I think I am one of the ones looking at you strangely, hrmm can't quite get my head around the thought of soggy salty nuts. :p

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  3. Well you learn something new every day :)

    I think I'll stick to having my nuts au natural.

    x

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  4. Kat and Tammi, you must try them, they do taste so much better than they sound!

    Glad to see you choose the Kingaroy nuts Kimmie!

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  5. I have heard of them, but don't know anyone who has tried them - until now. I think I would like them.

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  6. oooh, I LURVE fresh peanuts!

    LURVE them. yum yum.

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  7. Thanks for the recipe, I might do mine now, not doing much else today, my little girl is sick with a temperature:(

    Everyone reading - try these, my husband first looked at me strangely, now he is the one who can not get enough. However his family all look at us strangely when we bring them out at parties and fight for the nuts!

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  8. Well, I can definitely say I have never heard of boiling pea-nuts....I will have to go looking for them now, JUST so I can try this...Thanks for sharing.....loving your blog.

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  9. I've never tried boiled peanuts either! Would love to have access to fresh ones so we could try them..what fun this would be! :)

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  10. Wow! How long did it take until they got a harvest? In Malaysia, steamed/boiled peanuts are commonly seen and that's how I first had peanuts - steamed/boiled! I'd love to grow them but I don't know if I could given the Melbourne climat.

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  11. Hmmm, I think I'll stick to trying to make some Peanut Paste with the few I managed to grow. Maybe next year if I get spares.
    Boiled Peanuts...sounds good, yeah, really. lol.

    Barb.

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  12. I have just discovered your blog and can't wait to explore it more!! Hubby and I have 6 kids and have the same dreams as you do, to live a more simple life and eventually have a few acres in the country.
    First off we are going to try your Baileys Recipe lol, that sounds delish!!
    Come and visit me, I have two blogs going now, would be great to see you

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  13. Hi, I'm visiting from Rhonda's blog Down to Earth :) :) your blog is really sweet and I'm also new to crochet. I've never tried boiled peanuts. Sound interesting. I do like fresh peanut butter. At my local Fred Meyer store, we can buy fresh peanuts and have them ground into peanut butter right before our eyes. It's really nice :) :) Have a lovely weekend. Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather :)

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  14. I have not had boiled peanuts for years. You have brought back a beautiful memory of my childhood. I grew up in Northern NSW and my grandma grew a big patch of peanuts every year. I loved harvesting them and boiling them up. My brothers and I would fight over the last of them.

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