Boiled fresh green peanuts are one my favorite snacks. But, the process of boiling them is quite time-consuming. After our recent Front Yard Peanut Patch harvest I learned how easy it is to can boiled peanuts. Canning is not only a great way to preserve these seasonal delicacies, it is a way to cook them in half of the normal time. The typical cooking process can take 2-3 hours depending on how fresh they are. But, canning peanuts takes only 1 hour and 15 minutes. Canning boiled peanuts is so incredibly simple, this could have been my shortest and simplest canning post yet. But, before sharing the steps to the process I must include a description of this delicious Southern food written by my love who is from the Great Pacific Northwest. His romantic and eloquent opine could not be more accurate. Like many Southern transplants he has learned to love these salty treats.
There is something special about boiled peanuts that make them so beloved and addicting. It’s not the type of snack food that it going to blow you away with complex flavors. Boiled peanuts are much more insidious. They fulfill a deeper need and hunger.
Boiled peanuts, aka country caviar, deliver delicious salty, oily, protein filled morsels that feed your primal desires. For those that have never tried them, the taste is more subtle, yet richer, than you might first imagine. But with each shell crackled and peanut slurped, you feel slightly more compelled to reach for the next. Eating shelled boiled peanuts creates a positive feedback loop work – reward – work – reward – work – reward that drives you to the bottom of the bowl, or more often, the Styrofoam cup.
Boiled peanuts are not an everyday snack. They aren’t usually something you keep in your pantry to munch on between meals, or eat every day for lunch with your sandwich. Many people think of them as road trip food. A way to pass the time while getting somewhere great, a special treat from a general store in the middle of nowhere, a spontaneous stop at a tent on the side of the road. Our first stop when we head to float the river is always a convenience store to buy a cup of boiled peanuts from the crock. They are the snack food that fuels our soul on the road to adventure.
Canning Instructions
- Soak raw peanuts in cool water for 30 minutes – 1 hour. Drain, rinse and repeat 3 times or until the water runs clear and peanut shells are cleaned.
- In a large stock pot cover peanuts with a salty brine made of 1 cup plain salt per 1 gallon of water.
- Boil peanuts for 30 minutes.
- Ladle peanuts and liquid into clean hot mason jars leaving 1/2″ head space. Do not pack the peanuts in the jars, they should float freely.
- Clean jar rims with damp paper towel and apply 2 piece canning lids.
- Process in pressure canner at 11 lbs pressure, 45 minutes for pints or 50 minutes for quarts. At higher altitudes additional time may be needed. Refer to the National Center for Home Food Preservation for additional time requirements.
Digging Food 