While pecans are the go-to nut for Southern bakers, peanuts have cornered the market when it comes to snacking. And I’m not talking about those roasted peanuts y’all Yankees eat out of the shells at baseball games. Any Southerner knows the best peanuts are boiled peanuts. Yes, I said boiled. Yes, submerged in water and heated up. I know it sounds kind of gross, but you ought to at least try one sometime. They’re softer, saltier, and easier to open than roasted nuts. And more addictive than ABC’s “Lost.”
Stop by any locally owned tote-sum store in the South, and you’re liable to find a few sacks of boiled peanuts by the register. (Perhaps just to the right of the giant jar of pickled pig’s feet.) You can also find them at roadside fruit stands. Just look for the handmade “boiled p-nuts” signs.
Of course, you could always boil your own, but I don’t recommend it, seeing as you need to start off with raw peanuts, which can be more elusive than the pre-boiled variety. Also, you have to boil them a long-ass time. Like seven hours. But, perhaps you could put that Crock-Pot to good use.
Best to know someone who’ll make up a batch for you. Sadly, I no longer do. And even if I did, I would not pass along the information. Selfish? Yes. Stupid? No.
In case you’re not planning a vacation to Dixieland anytime soon, I thought I’d Google up a boiled peanut dealer for you. The Lee Bros Boiled Peanut Catalog looks like a pretty good one. I can’t personally vouch for them, but where else are you going to get an “I brake for boiled peanuts” bumper sticker?
stuff southern people like 
The Lee brothers are on the Food TV all the time talking southern food and preservatives. By all counts, they’re Brooklyn hipsters these days, but if you need some sorghum molasses or hot pepper jelly sent to you in the barren wastelands west of the San Jacintos, I’d try their catalogue.
I have been on a boiled peanut kick for two weeks…I took Dad some this weekend. I haven’t heard a verdict from him if they live up to “boiled p-nut” stand standards. I have two more bags to boil (I am doing the Crockpot overnight process), I plan on putting some in the freezer (I read you can do this)…if my peanut addiction is over then perhaps there will be a bag or two for you at Christmas.
Thanks! I won’t hold my breath.
Dad told me you’d brought some by. He’d called to tell me that he was enjoying a book I gave him back in 2003!
Raised in Alabama, I love ’em, but my Yankee (raised in Iowa so he’s technically mid-western but no one in my family calls him anything but a Yankee. They also think his family grows potatoes) husband can’t stand them.
Love your blog!
Thanks! I live amongst “Yankees” here in Seattle. But even though we’re next door to Idaho, nobody suspects us of growing potatoes. Funny the ideas families can latch onto!