Nuts!

Several times, I have asked my mom if there's anything she's wanted from the produce stand I usually visit. She lives three hours from here, but when I go back to visit, I like to take a little something with me. She's growing her own tomatoes (and doesn't have the squirrel problems I've had) and hasn't needed much else she couldn't get at home except peanuts. That is, locally-grown raw peanuts.

Most people don't eat raw peanuts; they're either roasted or if you're in the deep south, boiled (no thanks). So when I read this post over at the Nashville Scene's Bites Blog and saw "peanuts," I got excited because I've not been able to find them at my usual produce place.

When I walked up and asked where the peanuts were, though the very nice guy manning the stand said, "You mean peanuts for squirrels?" Thinking that well, yes I do eat rabbit food but generally not squirrel food (unless you count tomatoes) and wondering if there was a difference between squirrel-grade peanuts and human-grade peanuts (hey, I'm not a farmer; I don't know), I asked "Are those peanuts only good for squirrels?" He replied, no, they were for humans, too but they were raw so most people have been buying them for squirrels. I told him I've already been feeding the squirrels against my will with my tomatoes and these peanuts were for me, not for squirrels. I taste-tested a couple before I bought them, though. Oh, yeah, these were Lesley-grade peanuts.

As my mother explained (and I was able to confirm), the raw peanuts you buy in the grocery generally come from Mexico. They're bigger peanuts, but usually only two to a pod, with pink or tan skins and fairly bland. Tennessee peanuts (or, in this case, southern Kentucky peanuts) are smaller, but come three or four nuts to a pod, have dark red skin and are much more flavorful. I had some grocery store peanuts in the pantry, so I did a side-by-side comparison.



You can really see the difference and side by side, I could really taste the difference. The Kentucky-grown peanuts were very flavorful and the skins weren't so dry they got caught in my throat since they've been harvested recently. So I recommend buying some southern-grown raw peanuts in the shell the next time you're in the market for a tasty snack to keep around the house. But I recommend eating them instead of wasting them on tree rats.