Caviar of the South (boiled peanuts)

Boiled peanuts (peanuts boiled in salt water) are so popular and such a delicacy in the Southern United States that they have been dubbed the “caviar of the South.” The nickname “caviar of the South” has been cited in print since at least 2007.
 
Other dishes have also been called the “caviar of the South,” including grits (since at least 1968) and pimento cheese (since at least 2010).
 
Many other dishes have been called “caviar.” Black-eyed peas have been called “Texas caviar” and been dip has been called “cowboy caviar.”  Huitlacoche (corn smut) has been called “Mexican caviar” and escamoles (ant larvae) have also been called “Mexican caviar.”
   
 
Wikipedia: Boiled peanuts
Boiled peanuts are popular in some places where peanuts are common. Fully mature peanuts do not make good quality boiled peanuts; rather raw or “green” ones are used. “Raw” denotes peanuts in a semi-mature state, having achieved full size, but not being fully dried, as would be needed for roasting or peanut butter use. After boiling in salt water they take on a strong salty taste and become softer with the length of cooking, somewhat resembling a pea or bean, to which they are related. The most flavorful peanuts for boiling are the Valencia type. These are preferred in the United States, being grown in gardens and small patches throughout the South. Green Virginia-type peanuts are also sometimes used.
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Cultural importance
On May 1, 2006, Governor Mark Sanford signed a bill, H.4585, making boiled peanuts the official snack food of South Carolina.
     
Titled Forum Project Discussion Community
boiled peanuts ?
Sultana   
01-02-2007, 05:11 PM
It’s the caviar of the south, didn’t you know? 😛
 
boiled peanuts ?
frankx       
01-20-2007, 06:57 PM
I don’t know about them being the “caviar of the south”, but they’re pretty darn tasty!!!
 
flickr   
Taken on April 17, 2008
Southernkitchen
Boiled Peanuts; the Caviar of the South
 
18 February 2009, The Capital (Annapolis, MD), “Georgia trying to revive peanut’s good name,” pg. D3, col. 1:
ATLANTA (AP)—Georgia lawmakers are trying to revive the peanut’s good name.
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Tables line with jars of peanut butter, bags of boiled peanuts — “the caviar of the South” — and buckets of shelled peanuts greeted the hundreds who wandered by the first flood of the state Capitol yesterday.
 
Twitter     
amy f5
‏@mrsF5
Some people go their entire lives without sampling boiled peanuts, the caviar of the south.
4:52 PM - 2 Jun 2009
 
Twitter
Stephen McDaniel
‏@thedeputydog
Hot Boiled Peanuts in Nashville “Caviar of the South”  Come and try them (Mon,Weds & Sat)
11:02 AM - 2 Jun 2009
 
Travelin’ Grits
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Caviar of the South, Boiled Peanuts
Everyone in the South knows that summer not only means homegrown tomatoes and other yummy garden freshness, but also New Crop peanuts!
   
The Huffington Post
Boiled Peanuts: The Southern Snack We Adore
By Rebecca Orchant
Posted: 08/08/2013 8:38 am EDT Updated: 07/06/2014 10:59 am EDT
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Occasionally called “the caviar of the South,” boiled peanuts are, in fact, exactly what they sound like. Sort of. You wouldn’t want to grab a bag of ballpark peanuts and toss them into a stockpot—they’re already roasted. To properly boil a peanut, you’ve got to start with raw peanuts, and if you’re extra, extra lucky, green peanuts. Green peanuts aren’t really green, they’re brown on the outside and white on the inside. “Green” in this case, refers to the fact that they are fresh, unroasted, not dried, pretty much straight off the vine. You don’t see a lot of green peanuts outside the South, because that’s where most of them are grown, and Southerners know how great boiled peanuts are. Proof: boiled peanuts are the official state snack of South Carolina.
 
Yahoo! Food
Boiled Peanuts, the Caviar of the South
Julia Bainbridge, Food Editor
October 23, 2014
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“This is the caviar of the south,” one woman exclaimed at a Hardy’s roadside peanut stand.
 
The Hardy recipe is straightforward: green peanuts, water, and salt. This year, despite being unableto pronounce it, they tested a sriracha version of boiled peanuts—and won the statewide Flavor of Georgia competition.
 
The Free Press (Rockland, ME)
2/4/2015 2:02:00 PM
Home & Garden: Peanuts, Anyone?
by Georgeanne Davis
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When or why Southerners started boiling peanuts no one knows, but peanuts were first brought to America by slaves from Africa and the practice of boiling peanuts probably originated with them. Letters and memoirs from the time of the Civil War describe how Confederate soldiers were without the basics of bread or meat, especially toward the end of the war, and peanuts were an available food that could be carried wherever they went. On the trail, soldiers roasted or boiled peanuts over campfires and added salt as a preservative.Today, not only are boiled peanuts called “the caviar of the South,” they are also the official state snack of South Carolina (does Maine have a state snack?).