Peanuts

They come in jars, roasted. They come in cans, mixed with all sorts of other more important nuts. They fall to the bottom, they are unassuming fillers. The other guys are bigger and cost more, but the peanuts give bulk to the mix and keep the cost down. They disappear into peanut butter, or maybe they get a bit more attention in the crunchy versions. I like them all, well enough, until now.
Yesterday I was given a present of a box of peanuts, or rather peanut plants. I had expressed an interest to our local biofuels emperor in serving more local foods at our upcoming Kiln Opening. As someone who aspires to eat only foods grown within 100 miles, he took me seriously. He procured what was to become several pounds of roasted peanuts from organic farmer and legend, Doug Jones of Piedmont Biofarm, and an afternoon project began. First the peanuts needed to be pulled off the plants. The plant matter went to the compost heap and the peanuts filled a large bowl. The shelling was next. This was time-consuming, but we had help, and as usual, especially with farm work and food preparation, many hands made light work. The roasting began as soon as we had enough shelled peanuts to fill a cookie sheet, Then the experimenting began. We roasted the first batch at 350. Delicious! Doug came by and pointed out that the results were better if they didn’t touch each other. I spread them more thinly. Could we do a low temperature batch and still get good results? I know raw food enthusiasts slow roast nuts at a lower temperatures to achieve certain health benefits, but I also didn’t want to poison any of our guests and apparently raw peanuts are toxic in some way. Some Google searches and several batches later, I settled on 325 to get the color and taste I wanted, but I want to keep researching this bit.
So you’re safe, but here’s the best part. The results were spectacular. These fresh, locally grown, fresh-roasted peanuts are superb. They are not like anything I’ve tasted before. They are lightly salted, by me, crunchy and wonderful.
A couple of years ago Mark finally pulled a huge vase out of the third firing of the massive new alkaline kiln, built exclusively to produce a glaze he had spent years trying to perfect. The pot was exquisite! He named it “Now That’s What I’m Talkin’ About” and we all rejoiced. After years down a difficult, costly road, this stunning result had made the struggle worthwhile. Farming and marketing local produce, reacquainting us all with real food is a winding, tricky path as well. But it’s worth the effort. Food that tastes like food used to taste when I was young, food that is deeply nourishing, food prepared with love and care, food that supports a local economy, now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. Come on down to the preview Friday night and enjoy. We’ll eat peanuts, and talk about whatever you wish.

(“Now That’s What I’m Talkin’ About” is now owned by the High Museum in Atlanta, GA.)