As a callow youth I recall a commercial for a peanut company (Planters? Fisher?) where they advertised they had better peanut products because they removed the ‘bitter nibs’. As such, I always removed the nibs from my peanuts before consuming them.
Until a few weeks ago, when I finished off a can of Carolina peanut company sriracha ranch peanuts and discovered a pile of nibs at the bottom. Hunger and curiosity got the best of me, and I ate 'em. Only to discover they tasted just like mini peanuts. No bitterness, no off notes.
Anybody else remember the commercial, and avoid nibs as a result? Anyone else savor these tiny peanut within a peanut treats? Anybody even know what I’m talking about? Especially me?
Damn, I meant to put this in Cafe Society. I shall summon a mod.
Never once heard the embryo part of a seed called a “nib”, or heard that the embryo of a peanut is supposed to be in any way culinarily different from the rest of the peanut.
I don’t recall a commercial, but it’s been mentioned on “How it’s Made” and similar shows. This isn’t the one I remember, but it’s mentioned at the 1:20 minute mark - YouTube It’s called the “heart” of the peanut, and apparently they’re sent off for birdseed. It doesn’t sound like it’s all that bitter, but probably enough to throw off the taste of peanut butter a bit.
It was for peanut butter, not whole peanuts. One of the name brands like Skippy or Jif. Googling turns up nada.
I eat peanuts quite a bit and I can just barely taste the “bitter” difference in the nibs. (They do have other differences in flavor.) And I’m a supertaster. But not all people have the same range of taste capabilities. Presumably there are some out there who can quite clearly notice them. Why a peanut butter manufacturer in the 60s would care about a few consumers is odd.
I used to work for the company that produced Skippy (the company has since sold it). I was told that the nibs from the peanuts were bitter, though I never noticed. I think that there was consumer testing that supported that. During processing the nibs tend to get separated and fall through small holes in the conveyor belt, as shown in the How It’s Made video above. We didn’t do anything special to eliminate the nibs or to save the nibs. They were just treated like waste. Most of the peanut butter facility waste was sold to local pig farmers for feed.
I never knew these even existed (the “nib” portion of a peanut). I’ve always eaten peanuts whole, I’m going to have to pry a couple apart to see what the fuss is all about.
Absolute heaven! I’m going to have to keep my eyes out for some. Doritos makes some sort of “Doritos Nuts” or some such that’s essentially peanuts coated with the Doritos Nacho Cheese “Cheese” flavor powder. Sounds like the ultimate bachelor food, but they’re actually pretty good. Maybe I just have a high threshold for disgust.
Carolina peanut company’s version of the sriracha ranch peanut is wonderfully delicious. Meijer’s used to carry 'em but no longer. Now I order them online from the company. It’s worth it.
I never saw that commercial, but I used to scrape the nibs out of the peanuts with my teeth and eat them. Never noticed a big taste difference. They seemed a smidge drier, for lack of a better word, though.
