Someone earlier suggested to me that I put peanuts in my Coca-Cola. Uh…what?
Yes. It’s a Texas thing, right? Or is that peanuts in beer? Anyhow, I’ve heard of it.
I thought it was boiled peanuts? I’ve never seen it, but I have heard of it.
I did it growing up. The thing was to get a bottle of Coke and a pack of salted peanuts from the vending machine, dump the peanuts into the bottle, drink, and then eat the Coke-soaked salty goodness.
I thought it was a Southern thing, not just a Texas thing.
I can personally attest to this from 1959.
Virginia.
I’m in Texas, and the way I heard it was putting peanuts in your Dr. Pepper. But since Texans call all sodas Coke, then I think it still counts.
I’ve been doing it for 40 plus years.
Even now, about once a month I buy a package of Toms Salted Peanuts and put half the pack in my coke. I save the other half for another coke a few days later.
As a kid I ate the whole pack with a coke. 
I hate salted peanuts straight from the package. Too darn salty. Coke gets rid of the salt so I can enjoy the peanuts. Coke even tastes better with the salt. Not that I usually add salt to coke on purpose.
Well, yeah… 
Several years ago I gave a friend a cookbook for his birthday called White Trash Cooking. Some of the “recipes” I remember from there:
Peanuts & Coke: put peanuts in Coca-Cola, drink and chew at the same time.
“Won’t stick to your mouth” peanut butter sandwich: peanut butter and mayonnaise.
I think they also had a potato chip sandwich.
Four-can casserole: one can Campbell’s mushroom soup, three cans of something else (they told you the exact brand), mix together, pop it into the oven.
But they also had “real” recipes for things like squirrel and possum, and for some Southern foods like hush puppies, collard greens, biscuits…
Yeah, I was wondering if it was Southern, or Texas, or both (as I realize Texans don’t necessarily like to be lumped into the greater “Southern” category.)
Does adding salt to the cola make it turn flat?
It’s a Southern thing, not a specifically Texas thing.
And yes, it makes the Coke flat, which is why I never took to the peanuts-in-coke thing.
I should add that it’s an old-timey Southern thing, dating back to the days when Coke came in 6-oz bottles.
I never see anybody doing the peanuts-in-Coke thing these days, but maybe there are a few nostalgic hangers-on still in that habit.
My brother has always done this. You just get one of those little packs of salted peanuts and dump them into your bottle of Coke.
I don’t know if he ever did it in a can of Coke, but bottled Coke or RC Cola, sure.
Just never was to my taste.
ETA: this was in Georgia, in the 1970s, for the most part. He may still do it now, just not sure.
I have a very vague memory of hearing about it. But I can’t call up the details.
Heh, I’ve never heard of such a thing till now, but I like to keep an open mind about things like this. I’ll have to try it someday. It always annoys me when someone comes up to me while I’m eating something and says something like “eww ucky! Gross, I hate that!” de gustibus non disputandum est.
My mother did this, and I picked it up from her. This was in rural Louisiana back in the 70s. You drink a little of the Coke to make room, then pour one of the little snack packs of roasted, salted peanuts in. It makes a bunch of salty-sweet foam (which is the best part); once that’s gone, you drink the mostly flat Coke and munch the peanuts. I never particularly liked peanuts, but I liked them in Coke. I haven’t done it in years, though.
Fun 80s trivia: I believe I remember seeing a scene in “Dynasty” (don’t judge me you don’t know my life!) where Sammy Jo (Heather Locklear’s character) was having a conversation with someone and was shown dumping a bunch of peanuts into a Coke. It was clearly used to communicate quickly that she was an uneducated backwoods hick.
I am, however, open to the possibility that I hallucinated that scene, given that it was the 80s.
The first I ever heard of it was that Barbara Mandrell song, “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.” Then I saw some old guys at a Charlottesville, VA laundromat doing it (This was maybe 1980). I tried it once out of curiosity, but never a second time.
If you do it now, use the cane sugar Coke to get the best effect. I buy mine at the local mercado. Same for drinking Coke with vinegar and salt potato chips and plain M&Ms. For me, HFCS cola (any brand) just doesn’t do it “right.” I might try it with some other brands of cane sugar sodas, see how it goes. YMMV
BTW, I’m Southern by birth, Texan by the grace of God. 