#2151 must be an acquired taste

We probably all have something that we ate as a child, or even as an adult, that makes other people kind of scrunch up their face and say "Eww." For me, a tasty childhood treat was something my dad called "peanut butter scramble." It was made with a spoonful of peanut butter and a splash of white corn syrup. We mixed those ingredients together and spread it on a slice of white bread and hooo baby it was good. I admit that I have had a peanut butter scramble as an adult and it wasn't the same for me as when I was a kid. It wasn't exactly gross but it wasn't exactly good, either.

Last month when we were in Georgia, my mom was all about trying typical southern food. One of the foods she was interested in trying was boiled peanuts. I don't think I had even heard of boiled peanuts, but after she talked about them, I noticed little food carts that sold boiled peanuts and saw signs at convenience stores advertising them too.

The day we were driving to Charleston, we stopped at a convenience store for a potty break and a snack. As I was looking at the snacks, I saw two heated containers with boiled peanuts. One of the containers was Cajun flavor and the other was original. I pointed it out to my mom, and we decided to get some original flavor.

Not my pic; it came from the internet but this is EXACTLY what I saw in that c-store

I don't think we have boiled peanuts here in the west. (I just asked MT and he has never even heard of such a thing.) I was surprised to find that the peanuts are boiled in the shell and the water was, well, hot, of course. We asked the clerk at the c-store how to eat the boiled peanuts. She looked at us like we were kind of stupid. "Just like you eat a regular peanut, I think," she said. Then she asked a man who was behind us in the line how to eat a boiled peanut. "Ain't y'all ever eat boiled peanuts before?" he drawled. "You pop 'em in yer mouth, shell and all, and chew 'em up."

Shell and all?

"Well sure," he said. "The shells is soft and add to the flavor. Or you can shell 'em and just eat 'em like a regular peanut."

We did not fill up the container with boiled peanuts. The clerk admonished us, "I'm gonna charge you full price, so you might as well fill it up." I'll be honest with you: they didn't smell very good and they looked pretty gross too. I told her that we'd never had them before, so we probably had plenty.

This is not my photo; I found it on the internet, but this is really how boiled peanuts look

Back in the car, Mom opened the container of peanuts. I don't think I have the words to describe what it smelled like, but it didn't resemble peanut smell. Mom decided she didn't want to eat the shell, so she gingerly slid the shell off the nut and popped the soft nut into her mouth. 

"Eww. Ugh. Yuck. Do you guys want to try one?"

Lizzie, who was driving, said that she would try it. Mom handed her a nut, shell free. Lizzie put it in her mouth and immediately the corners of her mouth pulled down and she sort of whimpered and made a sad moaning sound followed by "Eww. Ugh. Yuck." I think her eyes were watering and she was sort of laughing and crying at the same time AND keeping the car on the road somehow.

I was laughing so hard at the look on her face that I was crying. Then Mom asked if I wanted to try one. I said no because why should I when it was so clearly gross?

My mother and my sister were having none of it. If they could eat one, I could eat one. I felt like I had to then. Mom handed me a shelled nut. It looked like a Great Northern white bean and smelled like nothing I have ever smelled before that day. I put it in my mouth. Immediately, my mouth was flooded with an excessively salty flavor. I bit into the nut, expecting that maybe it would have a tiny bit of crunch, but no. It was mushy, like an extremely over-cooked bean. The texture was terrible and the flavor defies description.

I started crying. I felt like I was three and my mom was forcing me to eat peas. With all my heart I wanted to spit that stupid peanut out but there was no way I would do that since both Mom and Lizzie had womaned up chewed and swallowed the foul goober. I was sort of laughing, but mostly, for real, I was crying. It felt like that wad of nastiness would not go down my throat. I couldn't swallow it which just made me cry even more.

Finally it was gone. Mom and Lizzie were laughing and I had to laugh too because honestly, what kind of person thinks boiled peanuts are a good treat? Damn! I'm sure there are plenty of perfectly lovely southern people who think boiled peanuts are great. That's why I think maybe they are an acquired taste.

There are southern foods I would be happy to acquire a taste for like grits or biscuits and gravy. I can't say that I'm glad I tried the boiled peanuts, but at least it's off the list and I won't ever have to have them again.