Boiled Green Peanuts - Gastro Obscura
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Boiled Green Peanuts

Roadside vendors in the Deep South soften fresh goobers with bubbling brine.

Roadside boiled peanuts and pork skins.
gildedafternoon/Used With Permission

If you’re driving through the Southern United States, you might see roadside vendors leaning over large metal drums cooking atop fire pits. They’re boiling green peanuts (not green in color, just freshly harvested).

Outside the Deep South, you won’t run into these snacks. Fresh peanuts grow best around this region, and have an extremely short shelf life after they’ve been boiled. But Southerners love the treats so much, they throw a festival revolving around them. (And yes, there is a children’s pageant, where contestants can vie for the titles of Lil’ Miss Peanut, Lil’ Mr. Goober, and Lil’ Baby Goober.)

To prepare these iconic legumes, vendors bubble local peanuts in brine for hours, which softens both shell and the meat inside. Snackers buy the treat by the bag, then pop each creamy, salty peanut from its casing by peeling away the saturated shell or by biting directly into it. The process is similar to eating edamame.

The culinarily adventurous can opt for spicy, cajun-flavored boiled peanuts. Southerners often pair the salty, savory roadside snack with beer, cola, or a glass of sweet tea.

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