Boiled peanuts are one of those polarizing foods — not unlike okra — that people seem to either love or hate.
I am definitely in the “love” camp when it comes to these succulent little treats.
The best ones are scooped up out of warm crockpots at country gas stations where they are usually heralded with a hand-lettered cardboard sign reading simply “boiled p-nuts.”
If there’s a drawback to boiled peanuts, it’s that they can be pretty messy. For one thing, they are wet and, for another, there’s the problem of what to do with all of the shells.
A certain kind of joy comes from slurping plump, soft peanuts out of their shells while rivulets of brine run down your forearms, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t times when it would be nice to have the pleasure of boiled peanuts without the mess.
Enter boiled peanut hummus…