# Peanuts in soda?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 2, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328 "2009-10-02T09:28:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/1 "2009-10-02T09:28:50Z")

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I was reading a magazine article recently that said something about putting peanuts into a bottle of soda, drinking the soda, then eating the peanuts. I don’t remember if it was a specific type of soda, but it did mention that this “peanuts in the soda” was popular in the southern U.S.

Can anyone enlighten me about this? I’ve never heard anything about it.

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/2 "2009-10-02T09:36:44Z")

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Peanuts in Dr. Pepper.

[Homesick Texan.](http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2008/06/dr-pepper-and-peanuts.html)

[Good Earth Peanuts.](http://www.goodearthpeanuts.com/recipes/drpepper_peanuts.htm) (very short :D)

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**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/3 "2009-10-02T11:02:53Z")

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I have a work colleague who does this with Pepsi.

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**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/4 "2009-10-02T11:18:00Z")

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I grew up in Virginia and we used to do this with colas. For me, it had to be cola in thos really long thin bottles they had in the 70s.

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**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/5 "2009-10-02T11:51:16Z")

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> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> I grew up in Virginia and we used to do this with colas. For me, it had to be cola in thos really long thin bottles they had in the 70s.

Same here. Had to be bottles. Cans or cups just didn’t do it. Once you got past that first, salty sip, it was pure ambrosia.

I stopped doing it when cans became the vending machine/grocery store standard.

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/6 "2009-10-02T12:36:32Z")

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I saw this a lot in central/southeastern Virginia. Barbara Mandrell referenced the practice in “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.”

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/7 "2009-10-02T12:45:15Z")

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I have seen the peanuts/coca-cola “recipe” in a cookbook called “The White Trash cookbook”, that had other delightful items like a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich, the fabulous four-can casserole, and ways on how to cook a dead opossum.

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**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/8 "2009-10-02T13:26:56Z")

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When I was a kid, in the late '50s, early '60s, and we had nothing better to do, my friends and I would often walk over to Mac’s Market a few blocks away to buy bottles of Coke and packs of peanuts. When we were back outside each of us would carefully pour the nuts into the soda and walk back home, enjoying our treat and figuring out what to do next. I’m still in Florida.

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**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/9 "2009-10-02T13:28:43Z")

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My dad told me that he and his siblings used to do this when they were kids. They grew up in Louisiana, and the popular drink for this was Coke.

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**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/10 "2009-10-02T13:28:43Z")

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My Dad, born in rural Georgia in 1920, used to do this all the time. This was back when Coke came in little [6 ounce green bottles](http://www.tias.com/stores/tuffarelli/pictures/btles06a.jpg). He would buy a bottle of Coke and a pack of peanuts, take a swig from the Coke to make room, and then pour the peanuts into the Coke. I tried it once or twice but never liked it because the salt from the peanuts tended to make the Coke go flat.

The cool thing about those little six ounce bottles was they had the name of the original bottling plant in [raised letters on the bottom](http://www.tazewell-orange.com/johnsoncity/coke/johnsoncitysw6oz23b.jpg). Since these bottles were re-used (they could be returned for a 5 cent refund), the bottles wound up circulating all over the country, and it was always interesting to find a bottle from far away. Found a bottle from Honolulu once and wondered how that bottle made it to a country store in Georgia.

My dad said he used to make lunch bets with coworkers on whose bottle would be from farthest away.

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**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/11 "2009-10-02T13:48:21Z")

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> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> I have seen the peanuts/coca-cola “recipe” in a cookbook called “The White Trash cookbook”, that had other delightful items like a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich, the fabulous four-can casserole, and ways on how to cook a dead opossum.

Is that the same book that had this poem?:

You take a chicken and you kill it  
Then you throw it in the skillet

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**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/12 "2009-10-02T14:20:59Z")

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My dad was doing this in Iowa - northern Iowa actually, up near Wisconsin - in the 1940s. He did have cousins in Atlanta, though, so he may have picked up the habit from them.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/13 "2009-10-02T15:39:49Z")

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Peanuts in Co-Cola, peanuts in Royal Crown.

If you want to be a real purist, use Lance peanuts, not those fancy-schmansy Planters.

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**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/14 "2009-10-02T15:51:46Z")

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> [@tdn](#):
>
> Is that the same book that had this poem?:
> 
> You take a chicken and you kill it  
> Then you throw it in the skillet

Some folks, if they have their druthers,  
First remove the feet and feathers.

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**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/15 "2009-10-02T15:53:31Z")

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I remember it in Mississippi in the 70s–always with Coke.

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**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/16 "2009-10-02T15:57:05Z")

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_I remember circlin’ the drive-in,  
pullin’ up and turnin’ down George Jones  
I remember when no one was lookin’  
I was puttin’ peanuts in my Coke_

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**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/17 "2009-10-02T15:59:39Z")

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My mom does this with Dr. Pepper and peanuts.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/18 "2009-10-02T16:00:26Z")

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I’m still confused. Did you just drink the soda? Or drink the soda and then eat the soaked peanuts at the bottom? Or just shake it around and get random mouthfuls of peanuts and soda? (I’m assuming peanuts sink in Coke - I could be wrong…)

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**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/19 "2009-10-02T16:07:12Z")

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They float. Drink first, chomp down after. Sometimes you get a stray peanut during drinky time.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-in-soda/512328/20 "2009-10-02T16:12:18Z")

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Got ya. I’m going to have to try this - I love salty and sweet combinations and am still miffed that they discontinued Pretzel Flipz (chocolate-coated salty pretzels).

(In the UK, anyway, I just Googled and found I can order them online from America…)

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