Peanuts get the headlines. Almost everyone likes them. (Everyone who doesn’t have a peanut allergy, that is.) That’s one reason they’re included in recipes for everything from gorp to gateau. Another reason? They’re inexpensive. And the upshot? In one guise or another — cocktail peanuts, peanuts in the shell, Spanish peanuts, peanut oil — you’ll find them on the shelves of every HyperMart and crossroads convenience store. But you won’t see them on many school cafeteria menus, where the peanut‑butter‑and‑jelly sandwich, that one‑time lunchroom staple, is now conspicuous by its absence. In fact, some schools have recently declared themselves to be peanut‑free zones. So it’s a good thing my classroom days are behind me. Peanut butter was the cornerstone of my school lunches when I was a kid, and that wasn’t all. My grandfather would often bring home big brown‑paper bags of peanuts in the shell as a special after‑school or weekend treat. His wife immediately shooed him outside to the picnic table whenever he did, though. My grandmother said she didn’t like the smell of roasted peanuts, but I think she just didn’t want to have to vacuum up hundreds of bits of shell. In any event, as soon as Gramps settled himself down at the picnic table and opened his brown‑paper parcel, he’d be surrounded by us kids. We found the smell of fresh‑roasted peanuts irresistible. And so did every squirrel in the county.

Later on, when I started earning a little money of my own, I bought large cans of cocktail peanuts for myself. I stashed these under the floorboards in my bedroom, where they were handy for midnight snacks — besides being safe from the prying eyes of my brothers and sisters. I didn’t succeed in keeping my stash a secret from the farmhouse mice for long, of course. But at least the mice ate less than my brothers. (The mice had better table manners, too.) By the time I was in my twenties, however, my infatuation with peanuts had begun to wane. Their place was now taken by another nut—the cashew. They’re eaten out of hand as snacks, ground up and spread on sandwiches, and added to all manner of baked goods. And I’ve got a secret for you. They can even be made into a savory sauce that rivals any made with dairy cream… Read more…

 

 
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