Peanut butter, peanut brittle, peanut sauce on your chicken satay — peanuts are so ubiquitous we don’t even think of them as a vegetable with a season.
But come September, it’s peanut harvest time. Peanuts are Georgia’s official state crop, and all across the state, farmers are pulling up their peanut plants, harvesting billions of pounds of peanuts from hundreds of thousands of acres of fields.
Peanuts are also grown on a smaller scale. Andy Byrd of Whippoorwill Hollow Farm in Walnut Grove planted his four 150-foot beds of peanuts around the first of June. This month, he’s harvesting 150-200 pounds of very special peanuts — peanuts with a black skin instead of the more common red. He’s been growing them for the past 15 years, and he sells his harvest at the Morningside Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.
Byrd’s brother-in-law Jim Needham had the seed first, acquired from a Walton County farmer who’d been growing the unusual peanuts since the 1930s. Byrd likes them better than red-skinned peanuts because of their rich flavor and because he favors heirloom vegetables generally.
Gordon Schronce, father of Georgia Department of Agriculture Public Affairs Director Arty Schronce, grows black peanuts up in Iron Station, N.C. He’s been growing them since 1980 when he acquired three peanuts from a neighbor.
Over the years, he built up his stock, and now they’re available from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange as “Schronce’s Deep Black Peanut,” a strain the elder Schronce has refined over the years to yield peanuts with a deep violet-black skin. They’re also available from Sand Hill Preservation Center if you want to try your hand at growing your own.
“I can’t detect much of a difference in flavor between red and black peanuts, except the black ones may be a tad sweeter. Daddy likes to mix red and black together and fry them in canola oil. They make an attractive as well as tasty mix. No, that is too modest. They are about the best-looking, best-tasting peanuts I have ever put in my mouth,” Arty Schronce said.
Byrd’s favorite way to eat the black peanuts is boiled. He soaks the peanuts in a water bath of salt and a little baking soda, then drains them and boils them in heavily salted water for about six hours. The general ratio for boiling peanuts is 1/4 cup salt to 4 cups water to 1 pound of peanuts in the shell.
Roasting is another option. Spread your peanuts on a rimmed baking sheet and roast them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Byrd’s tip is to test the peanuts frequently and remove them before they’re as done as you’d like because they’ll continue to cook in the shell after you remove them from the oven.
What happens to all the peanuts greens after the peanuts are pulled up? At Whippoorwill Hollow Farm, they go to feed the farm’s goats and sheep, an excellent source of protein.
On Sept. 30, you can visit the peanut fields yourself. Whippoorwill Hollow Farm is hosting “Field of Greens,” a six-hour event with 30 chefs, local music, a kids’ village and craft demonstrations. For more information, go to www.fieldofgreensfestival.com.
Cooking demos
6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13. Chef Seth Freedman of Forage and Flame. East Atlanta Village Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.farmeav.com.
9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. Chef Bruce Logue from STG working with peanuts. Morningside Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.morningsidemarket.com.
10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. Chef Drew Belline of No. 246. Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com.
11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 16. Chef Virginia Willis. Grant Park Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.grantparkmarket.org.
For sale
Vegetables and fruit: African squash, apples, arugula, Asian greens, beets, cantaloupe and specialty melons, chard, corn, cucumbers, dandelion, edamame, eggplant, garlic, ginger, green and yellow beans, green onions, herbs, kale, komatsuna, lettuce, long beans, Malabar spinach, muscadine grapes, mushrooms, okra, onions, pea shoots, pears, peppers, pole beans, potatoes, sorrel, spaghetti squash, spinach, sweet potato greens, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnips, watermelon, winter squash, yellow squash, zucchini
From local reports
Schronce’s Fried Peanuts
Hands on: 30 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Makes 4 cups (1/4 cup serving)
In the 1950s, Dot Schronce brought home a recipe for fried peanuts from Southern Bell in Charlotte, where she worked. She and her husband modified that original recipe over the years, and now Gordon Schronce is the main peanut fryer in the house and Dot is the peanut brittle maker.
Gordon Schronce declares the key to success in frying peanuts is to keep watch. Peanuts can go from almost done to overdone in a minute. They continue to cook after removal from the oil, so it is critical they be removed immediately when the indicator peanuts turn beige as noted in the recipe.
Different peanuts behave different ways. Some are larger, not as fresh or have a higher oil content than others. “It’s not a science; you have to get the feel of it,” Gordon Schronce said.
1 quart shelled raw red peanuts and/or black peanuts
Canola oil for frying
Salt
Line a rimmed baking sheet with paper towels and set aside.
Peel the skin off 8-10 red peanuts. Soaking the peanuts in water for a few minutes will facilitate this. The skins will wrinkle and be easy to remove. These will be your “indicator peanuts.” They will turn from white to beige when the peanuts are done. The black peanuts have a darker blush underneath the skin and cannot be used for this purpose.
In a large frying pan, mix skin-on red and black peanuts together with the indicator peanuts. Barely cover with canola oil and put the pan on a burner on high heat. When the oil gets hot, turn the burner to medium. Keeping them too hot will make the skins pop and splatter oil.
Gently stir the peanuts as they cook. Do not leave them unattended. In about 15 minutes, the indicator peanuts will turn beige. At that point, remove the peanuts from the oil immediately and spread on prepared cookie sheet. Sprinkle them generously with salt. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Per 1/4-cup serving: 267 calories (percent of calories from fat, 78), 9 grams protein, 6 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 25 grams fat (3 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 146 milligrams sodium.
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