Ingredients

What Do You Say To a Boiled Peanut?

Lillie's Q, one place to try boiled peanuts.
Lillie’s Q, one place to try boiled peanuts.

We had only heard of boiled peanuts, not had them, until our first visit to Lillie’s Q. We pretty much instantly loved them— what’s not to like about a peanut that’s been basically been treated as if it were a crawfish? But as David Hammond points out in this week’s Food Detective column at the Sun-Times, “For Yankees, eating warm, wet peanuts may sound unappetizing. When boiled, peanuts acquire a bean-like characteristic, like edamame, salty and soft. Breaking the shell, water dribbles out.” He talks about the divide that separates the peanut-boiling South from the nothing-but-JIF-and-salted-at-baseball games peanut North, and tells you how to make them. Or, an order is $4 at Lillie’s Q; if you know of anywhere else they’re on a menu, let us know. [Sun-Times]

What Do You Say To a Boiled Peanut?