TheSnackHound

(Above: Scene from a Florida gas station.  They have coffee, lotto tickets…and boiled peanuts.  They are EVERYWHERE!) 

Outside the Disney-fied areas of Florida, you cannot drive or walk twenty feet before a sign hawking boiled peanuts smacks you in the face.  Some of the more professional establishments put out a sign that points to a little stand with a parasol over it, that tricks you into thinking it is a hot dog stand.  Some boiled peanut-eries look like the booth Lucy used when giving Charlie Brown professional advice.  More common yet are signs made from leftover pieces of cardboard or hunks of word with the enticement of plain or jalapeno flavors spray painted onto them. Often, it appears that the sign maker misjudged their available space, left out a letter, and then wrote them above the message with an arrow, indicating to the reader that they could spell, they just didn’t plan appropriately.

I didn’t want to ever try them because I sometimes am afraid of “unknown food”.  My husband reminds me that my response to going out to eat, when we first met, was “I never had that,” in reference to just about any food.

One day I tried them and the best I can describe them is thinking about chickpeas.  Kind of mushy, but with a slightly peanutty taste.   They do not taste quite like peanut butter.  It is the sort of thing that if it had been mashed up and presented it as such, you would say to yourself “oh this is a weak tasting peanut butter, but I could eat it.”  However, in its traditional form, you bite into something expecting it to be at least slightly hard, and when it turns out to be mushy, people who are not prepared for it might find it less than appetizing.

Sorry to offend the humble citizens of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, by giving a thumbs down to a traditional favorite.  As I have read, the tradition at least goes back to the Civil War era, but could possibly could have originated earlier.  If someone can write in and convince me by way of recipe that I have been missing out on something, please set me straight.