# Salted watermelon? Pah! Who puts PEANUTS in their Coke? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2000, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137 "2000-07-28T01:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baglady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Baglady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baglady)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/1 "2000-07-28T01:19:46Z")
Hey, I’m told this is true. It’s apparently done in the South, to add salt to your Coke. All i can say is, “Hey, is that a sheen of grease floatin’ on your soda?” ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/2 "2000-07-28T01:22:24Z")
Ummm, salt+soda= instantly \* flat \* soda…ewwwww It’s fun to do to someone when they ain’t looking, though 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mu\_Mu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Mu\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mu_Mu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/3 "2000-07-28T02:36:15Z")
it tastes like cheese. Try it! ---
**Author:** ![Bluepony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Bluepony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluepony)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/4 "2000-07-28T02:55:15Z")
Baglady, Down here in northern Florida I haven’t seen anyone put salt in their Coke, and we can get as redneck as anyplace in the South. We get enough salt in our diet down here without messing up our Coke! They might do it in Alabama. Hell, they’ll do _anything_ in Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![Flang\_Dang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e4f/32.png) [@Flang\_Dang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flang_Dang)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/5 "2000-07-28T03:37:37Z")
You really don’t see it anymore, and I had almost forgotten about it, but we used to do it when I was a kid ('60’s Texas Panhandle). A couple years ago, something reminded me, and I tried another one. Things like that always bring back strong memories, but unless you were raised with it, I doubt you’d care for it. Soda drinking was different then, though. You didn’t slam down a 44-oz Coke to cut the thirst or chain-drink all day. You had a small (6, 8 or 12 oz) bottle, maybe once a day as a treat. So, a 5-cent pack of peanuts in a 15 cent coke was livin’ large. ---
**Author:** ![Tweeterbug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Tweeterbug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tweeterbug)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/6 "2000-07-28T04:50:51Z")
Do they eat the peanuts, after? This just sounds nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Flang\_Dang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e4f/32.png) [@Flang\_Dang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flang_Dang)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/7 "2000-07-28T05:05:05Z")
Actually, Tweet, the object is to keep them in suspension constantly, sucking in a few with each sip. See, once the Coke is gone, the remainig peanuts will cling to the side of the bottle–aggravating. It’s not exactly cosmopolitan, but pretty much like just eating peanuts while drinking a Coke. By the way, Dr Pepper works too, but those are the only sodas allowed, and only in bottles. To clarify, it was a childhood thing. I don’t make a habit of this now (wouldn’t go with Diet Coke/DP anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Louie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Louie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Louie)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/8 "2000-07-28T07:16:25Z")
I love putting popcorn into a cup of Coke, then drinking the Coke with the popcorn. Yummy 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/9 "2000-07-28T10:37:41Z")
**Flang Dang,** yes, Dallas County in the 1950s and early 1960s. I did it because the older guys down at the cotton gin did it. I have to admit I had all but forgotten this practice. Do you suppose it is a Texas thang? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/10 "2000-07-28T15:04:19Z")
Yeah, my Dad used to do this. He’d get one of those small bottles of coke, then pour a bag of peanuts into it. With a small bottle, I guess you drink it before it has time to go flat. I tried it once or twice, but never liked it. He also put salt on his watermelon. His other Southern snacking habit was to crumble up some cornbread in a glass or bowl of milk (which he referred to as “sweet milk,” to distinguish it from buttermilk), and would then pour _salt_ over the mix and eat it like cereal. ---
**Author:** ![Altair\_8800](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Altair\_8800](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Altair_8800)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/11 "2000-07-28T20:29:23Z")
It’s done in North Carolina too. It’s pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![HomeSlice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9d8465/32.png) [@HomeSlice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomeSlice)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/12 "2000-07-28T20:37:33Z")
Mmmmmm, peanuts in coke. I ahd some today. Also, Peanuts in SunDrop, also good. ---
**Author:** ![Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diver)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/13 "2000-07-28T20:45:14Z")
I will have to concur with the other Texas boys. West Texas in the late 40’s, peanuts in Coke, Pepsi, or RC Cola. Coke was the most popular as I recall. Haven’t tried that in a lot of years. Maybe this weekend… ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/14 "2000-07-28T20:57:32Z")
My Chef Instructor for the class I’m taking now recalled when she was a girl growing up in South Carolina. Seems that every Friday she was dragged off shopping with mom, and her “consolation” was an 8-ounce bottle of Coke, and a packet of peanuts–which she dumped into the said soda. I thought it was just one of those weird “kid things”. You mean this is a _real_ thing that people do??!!?? **spoke-** : my grandpa did the same thing as your dad–crumbling up cornbread in “sweet milk”–is this a Georgia thing? ---
**Author:** ![Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archer)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/15 "2000-07-28T21:42:39Z")
I grew up in south Texas and we did the peanuts in the coke thing too. You could also use Dr. Pepper as has been mentioned and Root Beer if you wanted. There was another “delicacy” the moon pie. This item was a glop of marshmallow between two stale circular graham crackers and covered in imitation chocolate. There was a short period when Dr. Pepper was warmed up on the stove and served hot like a cup of tea. Nasty stuff… ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/16 "2000-07-28T21:50:16Z")
I do it it all the time. It’s very exciting and it feels great. That bubbliness all over … Oh, _PEANUTS_! I thought you said something else. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/17 "2000-07-28T21:59:33Z")
Oh, Texas, home boys, Nehi and a Moon Pie, high cotton. Town square on Sadday (Saturday, to the unitiated) R.C. Cola and a can of sardines for lunch. Old style can of sardines, that is. The ones with a key to peel the top off. Sweetmilk, buttermilk, light bread and cornbread, turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens–I may go home to die someday. Oh, and paper shell Texas pecans. ---
**Author:** ![Xgemina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/b5e925/32.png) [@Xgemina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xgemina)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/18 "2000-07-28T23:56:05Z")
My mother was from Arkansas and coke and peanuts was one of her childhood memories as well. Personally I think Dr. Pepper always tastes better after a mouthful of peanuts. Oh, or RC. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/19 "2000-07-29T00:39:54Z")
Alright, the squicking and felching threads I could handle, but YOU people are sick, sick, sick. ---
**Author:** ![Flang\_Dang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e4f/32.png) [@Flang\_Dang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flang_Dang)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137/20 "2000-07-29T01:05:02Z")
Hey, it’s not that big a deal and not exactly freakish. It’s not so much a _Texas_ thing, as it is a _country_ thing. In fact, don’t you remember Barbara Mandrell’s “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool” and this key line? ``` "I remember when no one was lookin' I was puttin' peanuts in my Coke" ``` Up till then, I thought everybody did it. Funny, but my sister was recently talking about her memories of my grandfather enjoying cornbread & milk. He taught my to eat bicuits with just butter & table sugar too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salted-watermelon-pah-who-puts-peanuts-in-their-coke/27137.md?page=2)