Peanuts Galore

I love peanuts (or any other nut for that matter), but am much more appreciative of its overall value, having read the words of one of its great champions -George Washington Carver (1864-1943), who we met in a previous story.

From How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption (Seventh Edition, January 194, here are some of his words, and a couple of very interesting recipes.

Of all the money crops grown by Macon County farmers, perhaps there are none more promising than the peanut in its several varieties and their almost limitless possibilities.

Of the many good things in their favor, the following stand out as most prominent:

1. Like all other members of the pod-bearing family, they enrich the soil.

2. They are easily and cheaply grown.

3. For man the nuts possess a wider range of food values than any other legume.

4. The nutritive value of the hay as a stock food compares favorably with that of the cowpea.

5. They are easy to plant, easy to grow, and easy to harvest.

6. The great food-and-forage value of the peanut will increase in proportion to the rapidity with which we make it a real study. This will increase consumption, and, therefore, must increase production.

7. In Macon County, two crops per year of the Spanish variety can be raised.

8. The peanut exerts a dietetic or a medicinal effect upon the human system that is very desirable.

9. I doubt if there is another foodstuff that can be so universally eaten, in some form, by every individual.

10. Pork fattened from peanuts and hardened off with a little corn just before killing, is almost if not quite equal to the famous red-gravy hams, or the world renowned Beechnut breakfast bacon.

11. The nuts yield a high percentage of oil of superior quality.

12. The clean cake, after the oil has been removed, is very high in muscle-building properties (protein), and the ease with which the meal blends in with flour, meal, etc., makes it of especial value to bakers, confectioners, candy-makers, and ice cream factories.

13. Peanut oil is one of the best known vegetable oils.

14. A pound of peanuts contain a little more of the body-building nutrients than a pound of sirloin steak, while of the heat and energy producing nutrients it has more than twice as much.

Carver gives recipes for soups, breads, cakes, cookies, ice-cream,and candy - plus a few others that definitely enlarged my peanut-cooking repertoire.

NO. 37, LIVER WITH PEANUTS

Boil the liver from two fowls or a turkey; when tender mash them fine; boil one pint of blanched peanuts until soft; mash them to a smooth paste; mix and rub through a puree-strainer; season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice; moisten with melted butter; spread the paste on bread like sandwiches, or add enough hot chicken stock to make a puree; heat again and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

NO. 44, PEANUT OMELET

Cream a slice of bread in half a cup of rich milk; beat the whites and yolks of two eggs separately; add the yolks to the bread crumbs and milk; to half a cup of finely ground peanuts add a dash of pepper and salt; mix thoroughly; fold in the whites, and cook as usual in a buttered pan.


Quotation for the Day.

I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.
Orson Welles.

Cooking with PB.

Some time ago I gave you the menu for a ‘curious all-peanut dinner’, and I was reminded of it when I came across the following interesting (but surely too-sweet) recipe for a ham dish made with peanut butter.

Nut Crust Ham Slice.
(Serves 4)
1 slice ham 1-inch thick.
½ cup peanut butter.
1 cup soft breadcrumbs.
¼ cup melted butter.
1 cup milk.
Place ham in greased baking dish, cover with peanut butter, sugar, bread crumbs, melted butter, and cover with the milk. Bake in a moderate oven about one hour, being careful not to let the ham get too brown.
[The Washington Post, Nov 18, 1936]

Surely there are other interesting ways to use peanut butter, apart from in cookies and cakes? Here are a few you might like, from The Use of Peanuts on the Home Table, a bulletin from the University of Texas in 1917.

Peanut Turnips.
Slice turnips in rounds, throw into rapidly boiling water or meat stock and cook until tender. Place layer of turnips in bottom of buttered baking dish, sprinkle over these chopped roasted peanuts, and pour over this peanut butter thinned with warm water to consistency of cream. Repeat until dish is filled. Cover with bread crumbs. Season each layer with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for about fifteen minutes, basting every little while with peanut butter thinned with a little hot water.


Potato and Peanuts.
6 medium sized cold boiled potatoes.
2 cups white sauce.
1 cup chopped roasted peanuts, or ½ cup peanut butter may be used.

White Sauce.
4 tablespoons butter.
4 tablespoons flour.
2 cups milk.

Cut cold potatoes into cubes and mix with white sauce, to which the peanuts have been added. Put in a buttered baking dish, cover with bread crumbs, heat in oven until crumbs are light brown. Serve in baking dish.

Peanut Butter Dressing.
2 eggs, beaten.
4 tablespoons vinegar.
2 tablespoons peanut butter.
4 tablespoons sugar.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 cup cream, whipped.
Cook together the vinegar, eggs, sugar, salt and peanut butter: cool. Add cream and serve on head of lettuce.


Quotation for the Day.

Avoid fruit and nuts. You are what you eat.
Jim Davis.