I say, just pop the entire thing in your mouth, shell and all. After all, why else would they salt the shell if they didn’t intend for it to be eaten.
My wife says I’m nuts:rolleyes: and that the shells will give me hemoroids:eek: but I’ve been doing it this way for going on 5 decades, and the pooper is in fine shape. If I wanted regular peanuts without shells, I’d of bought them that way.
Are there any “official” ways these things are supposed to be eaten?
Uh, because they can’t help it? They just soak 'em in brine; the saltiness of the shell is more of a by-product than an indication of edibility.
Aside from the roughage issue, I don’t think eating them will hurt you - but I bet your dentist wishes you’d stop.
I always suck on the shell first, cuz I’m a salt-a-holic, then eat the peanuts. I will eat the shell and all though about every sixth one though. It’s fun to grind up the shells.
As a kid, I recall my family buying these big, burlap bags of raw peanuts for like around $1, then my Mom would roast them in the oven, take them out, let them cool and we’d eat them from the shell, sprinkling salt on them. Pretty good! Another way was to soak the whole peanuts in intensely salty brine over night, then bake in the oven. The product that emerged was salty, but not as salty as shelled nuts were.
I never heard of anyone eating shell and all. That’s kind of like eating a coconut, shell and all. I read once where peanut shells can be scattered in a garden to repel certain insects, and in a few bars I’ve been in, the floors were covered with sawdust and peanut shells, which gave the places a pretty nice aroma. Peanut shells are also sold for fuel, compost, paper additives, and cattle feed.
It seems nearly everything unfit for human consumption eventually winds up in cattle feed.
Now, what I find real disgusting are boiled peanuts! I’ve tried to eat them a few times and they are just so disgusting! Even freshly boiled! There used to be a stand around here that had like a big tin trash can on a burner, filled with simmering peanuts and people actually stopped to buy some!
Then again, I find all forms of Okra disgusting.
I’ll eat a few shell and all. Mostly as a good way of getting a rise out of people. In any crowd, there’s always someone who refuses to believe you can eat the shells until you demonstrate. I think you would have to eat a LOT of them to suffer an obstructed colon as a result. Frankly, most of us don’t get enough roughage, and a few peanut shells probably helps, rather than hurts. If it weren’t for the salt treatment, I’d worry more about the fact that they probably don’t wash them very well since they expect people to shell them.
This reminds me of my one friend who was once sharing in a Long John Silver meal and got strange looks as he ate his shrimp, tails and all. He was informed that you’re not supposed to eat the tails.
pkbites: Would you like some pistachios?