Bohled Peanuts

I think this is the first time I've seen one of our traditional Southern snacks listed as being healthy. It so...odd, like if the Milky Way stood on its head and showed the universe its underwear:

For lovers of boiled peanuts, there's some good news from the health front. A new study by a group of Huntsville researchers found that boiled peanuts bring out up to four times more chemicals that help protect against disease than raw, dry or oil-roasted nuts.

Lloyd Walker, chair of Alabama A&M University's Department of Food and Animal Sciences who co-authored the study, said these phytochemicals have antioxidant qualities that protect cells against the risk of degenerative diseases, including cancers, diabetes and heart disease.

The taste of a hot, salty, mushy green peanut is so good. I especially like getting a juicy one so I can drink the hot peanuty water. I might even surreptitiously roll the empty shells around in my mouth a little to suck out the juice. Boiled peanuts are so delectable, as a matter of fact, that eating them makes up for the six hours or so you spent enduring the smell of hot boiling ass to cook them, which is as close an approximation as I can give to the bold smell they release as hot steam. As a child I once spent the better part of a summer day in a motel efficiency with giant kettle of green peanuts odoriferously on the boil. Now that I think of it, since it was me, an aunt, an uncle, and a cousin all in a tiny un-airconditioned room in Florida, maybe it wasn't the peanuts I was smelling. In any case, at the end of it all, I was rewarded with a glass of tea and a section of newspaper filled with a delicious treat to eat underneath a tree.

My co-worker has some stories to tell about her college roommate at Stetson who kept a hotplate on her dorm room desk whose sole use was to keep her in fresh hot boiled peanuts. My co-worker did not laugh when she told them, either.

You'll find a little history on our snack here.