Growing Peanuts At Home: Boiled Peanuts

This was our first year planting peanuts in our garden and I have to say it was quite fun.  After about 110 days we checked the plants to see if they were ready to harvest for making boiled peanuts.  From what I have read it is best to pick slightly immature peanuts if you are planning to boil them.  The way to tell is to look at the seed coat.  A white to light pink seed coat is preferable.  Pods with a dark inside hull are over mature and pods that have a partially filled hull are under mature.
Yummy Peanuts!
Luckily after  the plants grew a bit the choked out most of the weeds and were a very low maintenance plant.  I could not however keep out our pesky crab grass.  We dug up our plants using a potato fork and pulled off all of the mature pods.  We did loose a good bit of pots to mice.  They had little tunnels dug out around the plants and we would find empty shells all over the place!

After we picked all of the pods from our plants and cleaned off the loose dirt and leaves I soaked them in a pot of cool water for about 30 minutes.  I changed the water several times until it finally ran clear.

 

A shot of our peanuts in the crock pot.

 

Our peanuts were delicious and kind of addicting.  I was planning to can a couple of jars but every time we got ready to cook some we ended up eating them and sharing them with friends.  We are in the process now of drying the rest of our peanuts that we allowed to mature for about 160 days.
 I will let you know how they turn out!

Cajun Boiled Peanuts
2 lbs Fresh Green Peanuts
8 Cups Water
3 1/2 Tbs Salt
1 Tbs Old Bay
1 Tbs Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Chili Powder

Clean peanuts, removing any loose dirt or leaves.  Soak peanuts in a large pot of water for 30 minutes changing the water a few times until it runs clear.  Transfer peanuts into a large crock pot and cover with water and seasonings.  Cook on high for 17-24 hours until desired softness.  Drain peanuts and enjoy!

Shared with The Prairie Homestead – Barn Hop

Categories: Appetizers

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