Prep: 5 minutes; Soak: 8 hours; Cook: 5 hours; Cool: 1 hour.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups salt, divided, plus more to taste 2 pounds raw peanuts in the shell
How to Make It
Step 1
Dissolve 1/2 cup salt in 2 gallons water in a 3-gallon stockpot; add peanuts. (Weigh down peanuts, if desired, with a large plate or lid to ensure they’re fully submerged.) Soak 8 hours or overnight.*
Step 2
Drain water; refill pot with 2 gallons water and remaining 1 cup salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 5 to 8 hours or until peanuts are tender, adding water as needed to keep peanuts covered; stir occasionally. (South Carolina-style peanuts are very soft, but some cooks prefer them al dente.) When the peanuts have boiled 3 hours, check for texture and saltiness. If the peanuts are not salty enough, add salt in 1/4-cup increments, turn off heat, and let soak 1 hour. Check peanuts for seasoning every hour.
Step 3
Remove from heat, and cool 1 hour.
Step 4
Drain and eat immediately or store (in the shell) in a sealed container in the refrigerator or freezer. Boiled peanuts will keep 7 days in the refrigerator, several months in the freezer.
Step 5
*The soaking step is not essential, but it reduces the cooking time by a couple of hours and helps ensure that the peanuts cook more thoroughly and uniformly. The salt in the soaking liquid keeps yeasts and molds from developing overnight.
Step 6
Reprinted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee. Copyright 2006 by Martens Maxwell, Inc. With permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.