Following is a great Blog post from guest writer - Paul Gude of Seattle, Washington.
I want to thank Paul very much for agreeing to experience a little bit of the South by trying our boiled peanuts. So I mailed him some. I know it's not from one of our road side vendors with all the pots, boilers and such, but I think Paul got the idea. He's a great guy and funny too! If you are not following him on twitter, you should here:
@sgnp
Here is Paul's take on a Southern tradition-all the way from Seattle!
The Boiled Peanuts Arrive
Gordon McCleary (@ASouthernYankee on Twitter) sent me the boiled peanuts by mail. I won't show you the package, as it has both of our addresses on it, but rest assured they come from quite far away from my current home of Seattle, Washington. I am sad to admit that I had anticipated them coming in a rusted tin can rather than a new-fangled plastic bag.
Preparation
Following the instructions, I vented the bag for microwave cooking. I was a bit surprised by the crossover between this packaged Southern favorite and, say, a bag of edamame I might pick up at Uwajimaya. My prejudices melted away, as I realized my vision of the South was pretty much stuck in the 80s, when I visited there on a trip to the Epcot Center. I'm originally from the Midwest, which some of the folks I've met seem to equate with the South. This is inaccurate. Having visited the South, I'd suggest that the Midwest is what the South would be like if you remove everything interesting.
Anticipating the Salty Aroma
As I put the bag in the microwave, I could already anticipate the smell. I love the smell of saltwater, but the boiled peanuts also had a slightly bean and/or pea smell to them that I tend to avoid. One good thing is that the cook time is only around 60 seconds, which didn't allow it to permeate the kitchen too badly. Still, when my wife came in later she said, "Ugh, I can smell the pea-ness." We both had a good laugh.
Ready to Eat
In my experience with foods from the South, the visual of the food presented is inversely proportional to how tasty it may be. Luckily for me, the boiled peanuts looked God-awful. The smell hit me with full-force when I opened the bag, and I instantly formed the opinion that perhaps boiling peanuts originated as a punishment invented by old people who could no longer chew them. "Now no one will enjoy them," they'd bark. "Shut up and eat." Still, I soldiered on.
"Oddly" Purple
This photograph doesn't do the hue of the boiled peanut justice. The red seed coat (mesocarp) had turned to a watery purple. It struck me as weird until I realized this obviously happens as part of the boiling process and I was being an idiot. The seed coat couldn't really be removed because it had slightly adhered to the "meat" of the seed, which in turn had become soft and almost mushy. The resulting edible portion is hard to describe, sort of a salty undercooked kidney bean, or a peanut that had been injected with sadness
A Second Look at the Larger Shells
I ate a LOT of boiled peanuts in my first sitting. After I became familiar with them, my initial recoil of horror subsided and then I couldn't stop consuming them. I started looking at the shells more closely and realized that there was some sort of fatty, clear, gel-like substance on the inside of most of the shells. For some reason, I had the impulse to scrape it out and eat it.
Slimy Clear Salty Gel in the Shells
I have no idea if there's a name for this, or even if you're supposed to actually consume it, but I pretty much did this with all the shells that had whatever this stuff was left in them. I'd scrape it out with my thumb and eat it. It's like what tear-jelly might taste like, something I assume horrible fairy-tale villains enjoy on a regular basis.
Eating the Smaller Shells
One of the reason Gordon had sent me the boiled peanuts in the first place is because we had gotten into a discussion of eating the shells of the peanut. I tried doing it with the first one out of the bag and couldn't bring myself to complete it. I basically squished the peanut mush out and spit out the remainder. However, I later found, scattered among the larger pods, smaller pods that were actually soft enough to consume. I ate two of these, and can report no ill effects.
Saving the Rest for Later
One bag is supposed to be seven servings and I estimate I ate around five of them in the first sitting. I put the rest in a clear plastic bag with the intent on trying them cold this morning. I will do so now.
(Time passes)
Trying the boiled peanuts cold has added a new revelation. They basically taste like something that's been fished out of the ocean. Exactly that.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat the rest of them.
