Boiled Peanut Soup

Boiled and shelled peanuts

If I had to pick one favourite food, I think it would have to be peanut butter. I suppose it is more of a condiment then a food but that's besides the point. When I came upon the peanut episode of Good Eats I was excited to make something awesome out of peanut butter, after all it goes with everything and I have tried it with just about everything. One of the recipes was for a delicious looking peanut butter pie with chocolate and an Oreo crust but in the spirit of culinary adventure I decided to go for something I had never heard of. I had never heard of boiling peanuts let alone making soup out of them but I am always up for the adventure. All the steps are pretty straight forward but this is not something you can make in a hurry. Depending on the freshness of the peanuts they can take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours of boiling to reach the desired tenderness. I only boiled mine for about an hour and a half due to some fridge repairs but I don't think it hurt the results. Once boiled the nuts are very similar to the texture of a cooked bean. This makes a lot of sense since peanuts are not really nuts at all they are legumes. the legumes family includes other culinary staples like peas, soybeans and lentils. The worst part of the recipe is getting about a pound and a half of peanuts of of their shells, like I said if you're in a hurry find a different recipe. Once the peanuts are ready, the recipe calls for cooking bacon and onions, adding chicken stock, then seasoning. Once that is simmered for about half an hour blend and that's it. One thing I should have mentioned, the bacon is reserved for garnishing the soup. The bacons really makes the soup, it is a little bland on its own but the saltiness of the bacon plays well with the peanut's flavour. I was expecting a lot of peanut taste but it is more subtle then I was expecting.

Now for a little about the peanut and how it saved the South. In 1910 the Southern Unites State's cotton crop was devastated by boll weevils, a beetle that feeds on cotton. With farmers down and out in steps our hero George Washington Carver, a scientist at the Tuskegee Institute. He published a pamphlet detailing how to grow peanuts and 105 ways to prepare them. Some of the more interesting were: peanut milk, peanut sausage, peanut orange punch and the list goes on and on. Now a days Southern states produce a great deal of the world's peanuts, with Georgia producing almost half of the US crop. America ranks third in global production, behind China and India. Another interesting factoid: once fertilized the peanut plants' flowers droop down and push themselves underground. Being underground protects the young peanuts and allows them to mature without being disturbed.

Bacon garnish

I am adding something new to the blog, a final verdict. I thing the true test of a recipe is would you make it again? Some recipes that taste good are just not practical because of time to make, strange apparatus or ingredients that you will use once and then will sit in the back of the cupboard until the next ice age. Hopefully this section gives the overall feeling I had towards the dish and if it is worth making.

Verdict: would not make again.

Boiling and shelling just takes too long for a soup that is good but not amazing.

Boiled Peanut Soup Recipe