Crockpot Peanuts

Spoiler alert! This blog post isn't about crafting! 

I shared a pic of some boiled peanuts the other day and it prompted a lot of questions from some folks .... so here you go!

Crockpot Peanuts

Ingredients

2# (approximate) fresh, raw or "green" peanuts

3 quarts water

1/4 cup salt (more or less) You can always add extra salt before you eat.

Wash peanuts and drain. Place in crockpot and cover with three quarts of water.

I used a crockpot liner, but it's not necessary.

If you have less peanuts, just use enough water to cover a couple of inches. Peanuts will float to the top, so stir occasionally. Cut back on salt if you use fewer peanut.

Set crockpot on high until the water heats up, then turn back to low and leave overnight. 

I started the peanuts around noon, and by the next morning, they were tender.

Drain the water off the peanuts, leave in the shell and place in zip lock bags or containers. Store in the refrigerator.

The water from the cooked peanuts will be brownish. Some peanuts will have "juice" in them when you open them, this is normal.

Eat the peanuts warm or cold. Add extra salt if needed.  

You can put them in the freezer also.

You can purchase raw peanuts in the fall of the year at supermarkets or produce stands. Mine came from Walmart.

Boiled peanuts are not for everyone for sure, they may be an "acquired" taste))) They sort of have the texture and a little bit of taste of an uncooked black-eyed pea.

If you taste of a raw peanut, you will think there is no way that could be good....if you have boil them and then try them.

Raw Peanuts

My husband, who like me, grew up in the country even asked me the other day, how do you tell a peanut is raw. I mean...I really couldn't believe he asked me that question. So I figured, if he had questions, others may too.

Raw peanuts could be "green" which means the peanuts have been pulled up out of the ground, picked off the plant and washed. They have not been dried yet.

These are the peanuts for boiling. They are only available in the fall of the year in  our southern area. People grow them in gardens and truck patches.

In other parts of the country, raw peanuts may be more readily available or even imported. 

You may also see "raw" peanuts for sale in bags in stores, but unless these are in the refrigerator section, they are dried peanuts and ready for roasting or parching, or just eating.

My mother always used dried, raw peanuts for her peanut brittle. She always said the peanuts cooked in the syrup and you didn't need roasted peanuts to start with. Her peanut brittle was always good)))

If you haven't had the experience of being sent to the garden to pull the peanuts up....well maybe you haven't missed anything other than the experience to know how and where we get peanuts)))

My folks usually planted a couple of rows of peanuts in the garden. Daddy was always the one who would check to see when the peanuts were ready for pulling. If you pulled them too early, they wouldn't be filled out and that was a waste.

So, once the peanuts were ready for pulling, he would usually pull them up, shake off as much dirt as possible and then pass on to us kids to pull the peanuts off the plant. 

Once all the peanuts were pulled off, they would be washed in a large tub and then spread out on a sheet to dry outside.

These raw or green peanuts were the kind you could boil. You don't boil them after they are dried. I don't remember how long it takes to dry, a few weeks I think. 

After the peanuts were dry, they were stored in either pillow cases or toe sacks depending on how many the crop made. 

Dried peanuts were "parched" in the oven. The peanuts you buy in the store call them "roasted." We always called them parched. 

Mother would spread the dry peanuts (in the hulls of course) on a cookie sheet and parch them in the oven on low heat until they were ready. If they were a bit chewy, they still were not ready. Parched peanuts are crunchy. 

You had to watch them because they get close to being ready, they will burn easily.

Well this may be more information than you were asking for! But anyway, try some boiled peanuts and see how you like them))) 

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