Peanuts, Wherefore Art Thou?

This past February, I took Deanna and Dane skiing in North Carolina.  This was Deanna's second ski trip (I took her for the first time a couple of years ago) and Dane's first experience.  I put both of them in Ski School to learn the basics.  Dane, of course, was certain he was already an expert and didn't need any training.  Since I was dealing with my blood clots and was on blood-thinners at the time, I couldn't ski, so I watched and filmed!

On the way up to the mountains, we passed dozens of those little shops cut into the side of mountains or barely hanging off the edge of a cliff.  We chose one that looked easy to access and stopped to look around, buy Deanna's coveted Apple Butter, and take a short break from windy mountain roads.

Inside, we noticed they had boiled peanuts for sale; three kinds, in fact.  You could choose from Regular, Cajun (spicy) or Salt and Vinegar.  The latter didn't sound very appealing until the store owner gave me a sample.  They were absolutely addictive.  We bought two cupsful and Dane got the Regular, most of which we ended up throwing out, but the Salt and Vinegar were gobbled down.

On the trip home, we looked for that place again to buy more, but it was too late in the day and everything was closed.  We've talked about those Salt and Vinegar Boiled Peanuts a lot in the months since.

Last Friday, I took my father grocery shopping at the military base.  The weather has cooled down tremendously and they had a big display of green peanuts.  Those Salt and Vinegar ones sprang to mind, so I bought a big bag and brought them home, tossed them in the crockpot with salt, cold water, and vinegar, and started 'er up.  I cooked them through the night on Friday and, by Saturday, we had a batch ready for feasting, which we all did.  Dane had a friend over and I'd hear the back door open, then the lid of the crockpot opening.  We all enjoyed them tremendously.

Late in the morning, Don walked into the kitchen.  Deanna and I were standing around the crockpot sucking the juice out of peanuts, then shelling them and downing the soft nuts inside.

"Hope you enjoy them," he said, "because the peanut crop failed and peanut prices are going to skyrocket.  I read that 1 lb. of peanut butter will cost $10!"

I looked at Deanna, her eyes got wide, and, within a couple of hours, we were at the grocery store buying (you guessed it) more green peanuts.

We bought 15 lbs.  I've been cooking and freezing boiled peanuts (with salt and vinegar) ever since.  I figure if I buy them now, before the prices are impacted, go ahead and cook them, then freeze them, we'll have peanuts to get us through the whole winter.  On a cool weekend, as a special treat for the children, I can pull a bag out of the freezer, throw them in the crockpot, and - VOILA!!  Hot, vinegar and salt boiled peanuts - for nothing, except the hassle of cooking them now.

I feel like we've got a factory going here.  I realized very early on that the crockpot wasn't a large enough capacity to get them all done before mold set into them, so I now have my large kettle going on the stove as well as my stockpot AND the crockpot.  But, once the batches I'm working on now are done, I only have one more small batch to do, and it'll fit in the crockpot.

The plus side to all this work, of course, is unlimited boiled peanuts throughout the day.  When the work is finally done, the stove and the kettles are cleaned and put away, I'm sure the children and I are going to go through boiled peanut-withdrawal.

Good thing we don't have to worry about it just yet!