Friday, September 25, 2009

Peanuts

It's peanut harvesting time in South Georgia.  That means it's time for boiled peanuts. Now, sometimes we Southerners have been known to tease those from elsewhere, telling them peanuts grow on trees.  Actually, you can see the peanuts grow on vines, and the nuts develop below ground.  The whole harvesting practice is mechanized for the main harvest, but for boiled peanuts, after the peanuts have been dug (really, the vines are just scooped up and flipped over), we grab a few vines, toss them on back of the truck, and come home to pull them off the vine.  Boil them in water with a lot of salt until they are soft.  I'm a purist - not interested in hot spiced boiled peanuts, or any other addition. 


The Georgia Peanut Commission (children's section) provides  information about peanuts. Here's another good write-up.  I wouldn't expect anyone to just take my word for it.



This is one of my brother's fields.  You can see he has dug a few rows, and further back the peanuts are not yet dug. You can see how two rows are dug and tossed together into one windrow. We are at one corner of a large field. 


6 comments:

Becky Garrison said...

Yum!!! I love boiled peanuts - in fact, I boiled a big pot full not too long ago. Thanks for all the prayers and encouraging words! Becky

A Joyful Chaos said...

We raised peanuts last year. Yummy!

Anonymous said...

I love boiled peanuts! My girlfriend's family farms in south GA and they have loads of peanuts too. One of my friends from Michigan once thought that because the hull is boiled, you were supposed to eat that too! ugh Hope you are enjoying the weekend and I hope you are dry - we are being soaked with rain again today.

Joyce said...

Interesting peanut facts. I love boiled peanuts.
Joyce

Queen B. said...

oh my gosh, that is sooooooooo COOL !!!!!!!!!!

crispy said...

Thanks for showing the pictures. Since I am not from the south, the peanut thing is new to me. I always love to learn how things work.

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