I was pleasantly surprised when I found these on amazon: Raw Organic Peanuts from Superior Nut Company for $3.95/1 pound bag
Directions for preparing raw nuts for consumption:
- Soak the nuts overnight in filtered water and Real Salt
- Drain, rinse, drain the next morning. [NT
- Dehydrate for 'crispy nuts' for 24 hours in a dehydrator, or less time in the lowest setting of your oven. Check them now and then for doneness - my dehydrator takes 24 hours but yours may take less.
- Eat; make peanut butter; or go on to the next step.
- You can make the nuts salted/flavored by coating them with oil and salt or spices. I put them in a bowl and drizzle a little bit of oil on them. Then I stir in the oil well. I add salt/spices and stir some more. Then I spread out and roast at the lowest oven temperature for about 10 minutes (if I remember right!) until I can begin smelling the aroma.
If your raw peanuts have the skins on they are easiest to take off after soaking, while still wet. If you gently squish the peanut at one end it usually pops out of the skin. This is a good step to involve the children!
Storage: According to Nourishing Traditions
Update: I just got my 10 pound box of peanuts yesterday! I put some in bags for the freezer and have 1/4 of the order soaking. Today we'll take off the skins and dehydrate. I'll do a follow-up post later with photos all the way to peanut butter and flavored peanuts. Yes, I had to save up for the box but at about $4/pound for raw AND organic peanuts it'll be worth it and should last for months and months and months.
This post is part of Kelly's Real Food Wednesday at:
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/04/real-food-wednesday-4611.html
I love crispy nuts but I haven't soaked peanuts yet. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chris. I did notice that these little peanuts I bought (see above link)dried much faster than some others I've used and faster than almonds normally dry.
ReplyDeleteOh, I peeled some while they were wet and got tired :) so I dried most with the skin on. They actually peeled much easier dry! I would put some in a bowl; roughly squish and rub them and the peels came right off.
When I figured out the cost per peanut butter (if I were to just use them for that) it came out almost exactly the same as the Kroger store brand organic peanut butter ($3/jar). BUT these are organic and soaked!