Happy BIRD-day!

[brin]

Georgia Boy here.....I love boiled peanuts but like anything else it depends on who made 'em...the ones are the best fresh out of a properly seasoned boiling black kettle of water...and it depends on who's making 'em holding his mouth just right.....

 

[Arkaybee]

For small plots and a one-man operation, like a homeowners planting, you could use the old-time tried and true method of stacking them on peanut-poles and leaving them there to dry for a couple of weeks. Then take them off and pull the peanuts from the vines. This works well.

Make the pole sharp on one end to push into the ground. Add nailed-on cross boards a few inches above the ground level and begin stacking the vines over the pole and around the circumference.
Google search for peanut drying poles and you will get some good info and pix.

I have use this method a couple of times for a couple of rows of peanuts.

My uncle used to hang the vines from nails high-up around the inside of the barn. He could go in anytime and pick off the peanuts he wanted.

Arkaybee

 

[txdon]

Thanks Arkaybee for the drying technique. One question: How do you know when to pull the peanuts? Thanks, Don

 

[Arkaybee]

txdon:

Dig the peanut plants when the leaves have turned yellow.

Upend the plants and shake off as much dirt as you can and leave the pulled vines (roots and nuts upward) in the field for several days or as long as a week or two if there is not a lot of rain after which you can shake off more dried dirt. Or do the same orientation under roof for a couple of weeks. Then pull the nuts from the vine and lay them out in a single layer on sheet metal roofing (I actually put them on the metal roof of our porch) or on some sheeting that you can use to move them inside if rain threatens. Leave them to dry in full sun until the shell becomes "crunchy" and can be cracked more easily. Then you can bag them in some open-mesh bags (read: onion sacks) and hang them in a well ventilated place. This should do the job until you decide to roast them. Boiled peanuts are not for me.

Peanuts like a loose sandy soil in which the peanuts fill out easier and more fully and are much easier to handle i.e. when digging and removing soil.

HTH

Arkaybee