# Putting peanuts in your Coke. Have you heard of such a practice?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 11, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652 "2011-11-11T23:56:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Miss\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Sunshine)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/41 "2011-11-12T05:01:02Z")
Try putting sprees in your coke… fizz fizz
Have never heard of peanuts in it…I suppose the sweet & salty taste is appealing.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/42 "2011-11-12T05:22:50Z")
My father (b. 1927) always put peanuts in his Coke if he had them.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/43 "2011-11-12T05:32:59Z")
It’s a line in a song sung by 80s country hipsters.
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/44 "2011-11-12T05:59:40Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> Possibly true. Peanuts as a snack were probably, overall, more predominant through the nation in the days of yore; at the circus, at home, etc. These days I don’t think you see a pack of peanuts outside of the air.
Every gas station and convenience store around here has a rack of them. Granted, there’s more variety than there used to be–you generally have the additional choices of cashews, almonds, and often peanuts with seasonings other than plain salt. I have not experimented with any of the other options in Coke, but I am not optimistic.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/45 "2011-11-12T07:31:05Z")
> [@Balance](#):
>
> Every gas station and convenience store around here has a rack of them. Granted, there’s more variety than there used to be–you generally have the additional choices of cashews, almonds, and often peanuts with seasonings other than plain salt. I have not experimented with any of the other options in Coke, but I am not optimistic.
Interestingly, [none of those is a true nut](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(fruit)#Culinary_definition_and_uses).
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### Author:  [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/46 "2011-11-12T07:57:53Z")
As Sam Lowry said, in East Texas when I was a kid, it was peanuts in Dr. Pepper. Although, we called all carbonated beverages Coke.
This was a common exchange at the drug store:
“Give me a coke.”
“What kind?”
“Dr. Pepper.”
I’m not going to try to explain that. It’s just the way it was. However, we only bought Dr. Pepper “cokes” when we wanted to put peanuts in. All in all, thinking about it, it was pretty darn strange.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/47 "2011-11-12T13:11:40Z")
I’ve heard of this, but only via internet message boards.
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### Author:  [@Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Obvious)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/48 "2011-11-12T13:22:41Z")
> [@oliversarmy](#):
>
> This was a common exchange at the drug store:
>
> “Give me a coke.”
>
> “What kind?”
>
> “Dr. Pepper.”
That still happens here in GA. Anytime I’m at a place where the waitress brings your drink, I have a similar exchange.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/49 "2011-11-12T15:11:54Z")
Worth noting that this was a big thing among farmers in hot climates before there were electrolyte drinks, so restoring salt might have been its underlying purpose.
OTOH a lot of people sprinkle salt in chocolate milk. I haven’t tried it but those who do swear by it.
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### Author:  [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/50 "2011-11-12T15:37:56Z")
Nope, never heard of it. What’s the purpose? Does it change the flavor of the soda, or is it to soak up the flavor of the soda in the peanuts to eat afterwards?
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### Author:  [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/51 "2011-11-12T15:55:24Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#):
>
> Nope, never heard of it. What’s the purpose? Does it change the flavor of the soda, or is it to soak up the flavor of the soda in the peanuts to eat afterwards?
It makes a slurry of soda, peanuts, and foam, which together are salty and sweet, crunchy and fluid, foamy fun.
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### Author:  [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/52 "2011-11-12T15:59:00Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#):
>
> It makes a slurry of soda, peanuts, and foam, which together are salty and sweet, crunchy and fluid, foamy fun.
Ah, gotcha, thanks. That does sound intriguing!
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/53 "2011-11-12T16:14:24Z")
I’ve been spreading this practice locally. It’s yumtastic.
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### Author:  [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/54 "2011-11-12T20:46:26Z")
Definitely, it was a well known practice from my parents’ generation, although you’d be more likely to do it with an RC than a Coke. (In my prejudiced opinion, anything you did to RC cola could only improve the taste.) I don’t remember doing it with a cola drink myself, but I remembered putting them in a grape Nehi. This was all back when drinks came in glass bottles. Somehow the idea of putting peanuts in an aluminum can or plastic bottle just seems wrong.
When he was particularly hot and sweaty from working out in the garden for a long time, my father sometimes salted his coke. Without knowing it, he was making his own electrolyte drink.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/55 "2011-11-12T21:56:28Z")
> [@YWalker](#):
>
> Definitely, it was a well known practice from my parents’ generation, although you’d be more likely to do it with an RC than a Coke.
A MoonPie was the official accompaniment to RC when I was a kid. My father used to say “We’ll get us a MoonPie and an RC and eclipse our ass!” which to this day I don’t have a clue where that came from but I’m assuming it was probably the punchline of some Depression era joke.
And agreed on anything improving an RC. I used to hate it when my mother would bring that sugar + acid-rainwater home, which was usually when they were on sale for less than half the price of Coke. The only thing worse is most store brand soda.
There was an episode of _All in the Family_ where Gloria bet Mike he couldn’t tell the difference when blindfolded between Coke, Pepsi, and RC. He did so instantly; I never understood how anybody on Earth couldn’t do this.
Do they still sell RC in the U.S.? I don’t remember the last time I saw one, let alone the last time I drank one.
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### Author:  [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/56 "2011-11-12T22:02:10Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> Do they still sell RC in the U.S.? I don’t remember the last time I saw one, let alone the last time I drank one.
Yep. They are sold in our stores here in central Mississippi.
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### Author:  [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/57 "2011-11-12T22:53:14Z")
RC’s still on the shelves at “da Jewels.”
And yes, I have seen the peanuts in cola slurry with my very own eyes.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/58 "2011-11-13T03:14:35Z")
Don’t go bad-mouthing RC, you heathen! Stuff’s a little bit of Home\*.
\*Home being a totally romanticized version of my family and their antecedents, filtered through memory and many miles.
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### Author:  [@80sQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80sQueen)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/59 "2018-03-12T18:41:27Z")
> [@Kolga](#):
>
> 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.
No sir you were not hallucinating on fabulous 80s drugs there was an episode of season 8 of Dynasty where Sammy Jo pops some peanuts on her bubbling bottle of Coca Cola and drinks it as she’s talking to her ex Steven Carrington. 👍
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-peanuts-in-your-coke-have-you-heard-of-such-a-practice/602652/60 "2018-03-12T20:18:48Z")
I can’t believe I missed this one back in 2011! :eek: :smack:
There was an episode of _ **Ironside** _ in which they put out a televised appeal to identify a murderer. The whole time they were on the air, he was sitting right in the studio, putting peanuts into his Coke, which is how they nailed him (it was the one piece of information they had on him). That was where I first learned of it (ca. 1969), and I tried it myself soon afterward.
The murderer, BTW, was Russell Johnson, aka “The Professor” on _ **Gilligan’s Island** _.
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