It’s a Southern Thing

I’m not sure if this happens in other places, but if you grew up in the south, you have probably driven by a homemade sign that said, “boiled peanuts.” If you were brave enough to stop beside the huge, steaming pot at the little road side stand, you would get either a huge cup or a brown paper bag filled with hot, salty, boiled peanuts. Of course you would also get a separate bag for your shells!

It seems like Georgia has raised me right- I’m a huge fan of our native crops, peaches and peanuts. I grew up in Tifton, GA which is proud of their peanuts! I grew up getting these little packets of peanuts with “Tifton” written across them, a local favorite and advertisement for the peanuts we grew around us. Today if you are heading down I-75 to Florida, you can even stop off at the Peanut Museum and get a free bag of them.

Like peaches, when you have a crop grown basically in your backyard, you learn all kind of ways to eat it. Peanut brittle, peanut logs, honey roasted peanuts, salted peanuts, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter cakes, pies, and even dehydrated peanut butter (PB2) was invented in Tifton. Then of course, there are the infamous boiled peanuts. For people who didn’t grow up with them, I have heard them say they are really gross. But for us that did, we would eat them until our lips burned from the salt.

Each week I look for connections and thing that tie us together. This week it just happened to be boiled peanuts as my friend had a crock pot full at a party and little girls (and moms) ate them up. It started the conversation about how we all grew up eating them- on camping trips with our families, at ballgames, or when we went to the lake. I’m discovering foods have that kind of reminiscing power. A special snack that you used to save for special occasions brings back times and places that you want to remember.

My children have also discovered their love for boiled peanuts. I know there are ways that you can take raw peanuts and cook them for hours and hours to make your peanuts and it is not hard at all, but usually when someone wants boiled peanuts, I don’t happen to have them cooking in the crock pot for the past 24 hours! Instead I have discovered a great way to get our hands on some delicious boiled peanuts right when we want them. For our family, it’s usually a ballgame watching snack, outside party kind of snack, or oddly enough, something we take to the beach.

We have discovered these canned boiled peanuts that are delicious! You can find them in most grocery stores. Sometimes they are with the nuts and other times with the canned foods. Apparently no one really knows what they are or where to put them! 🙂 At Sams you can buy them by the gallon and we just put them in the crock pot to warm them up. I don’t think anyone should be eating boiled peanuts on a regular basis for heath reasons, but they are a fun treat to have with people around and you hear lots of stories and opinions about them.

I wanted to leave you with my boiled peanut hack since it is football season and you might need a little something for your tailgate, but since we are on the subject of peanuts, I thought I’d leave you with my grandmother’s recipe for Reese’s pie. Just for those of you from the north that would rather not ever eat another boiled peanut in your life if you can help it! 😉 Keep scrolling if you want a healthier alternative altogether!

For a healthier alternative to peanut eating, try PB2, dehydrated peanut power. This genius idea was developed by a friend of our family, J.C. Bell. The powder is low calorie and high in protein. You can add the powder to oatmeal, baked goods, smoothies, fruit dips, and so much more. For more information and recipes, go to www.pb2foods.com

You can find PB2 and even chocolate PB2 in grocery stores and health food stores everywhere or by clicking one of the pictures below: