 Lex Legate, owner of the Peanut Depot in Birmingham, Ala., prepares to boil peanuts. (Photo by Michelle Williams) |
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Posted on 10/30/2007 9:39:37 AM PDT by Incorrigible
Lex Legate, owner of the Peanut Depot in Birmingham, Ala., prepares to boil peanuts. (Photo by Michelle Williams) |
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Boiled peanuts, a mushy snack enjoyed by many in the South, may be better for your health than raw peanuts or those roasted dry or in oil, a new study by a group of Huntsville researchers suggests.
Boiling brings out up to four times more healthy phytochemicals in the peanuts than raw, dry- or oil-roasted nuts, according to the study by three Alabama A&M University researchers and one from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Phytochemicals have antioxidant qualities, which protect cells against the risk of degenerative diseases, including cancers, diabetes and heart disease, said Lloyd Walker, chair of Alabama A&M's Department of Food and Animal Sciences and a co-author of the study. "Boiling is a better method of preparing peanuts in order to preserve these phytochemicals," he said.
The study is to appear in the Oct. 31 edition of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The other co-authors in the study are A&M researchers Yvonne Chukwumah and Martha Verghese, and UAH researcher Bernhard Vogler.
Peanuts and other plants use phytochemicals for things such as helping avoid disease and insect attacks, Walker said. "These things are not nutrients; at the same time they have health benefits to humans," he said. "The trick is to keep those health benefits, not to process them out of the foods."
Water and heat penetrate the nuts and, to a certain point, release beneficial chemicals, Walker said. But overcooking the nuts destroys the useful elements.
"I'm just saying if you're going to cook it, find out the best way to cook it," he said.
Peanuts are big in Alabama. The state is third in the nation in the amount of peanuts produced — behind Georgia and Texas — with a crop last year valued at more than $67 million. This year, Alabama is expected to produce 376.8 million pounds of peanuts.
Peanuts are among the foods that A&M researchers are studying to find the best way to process them for the maximum health benefits.
"In a nutshell," Walker said, "basically the drive is to eat better to have better health."
(Kent Faulk is a staff writer for the Birmingham (Ala.) News. He can be contacted at kfaulk(at)bhamnews.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
I like peanuts but never had them boiled. I'll have to give it a try.
“Bowled” peanuts... get it right...
It’s an acquired taste. We lived in LA (Lower Alabama) for 11 years and never acquired the taste for them.
Is peanut-butter heated in the production process? (I know “natural” peanut-butter isn’t, the way they grind it in the store sometimes.)
I love boiled peanuts! one of the greatest southern foods.
I love boiled peanuts...called grits, ain’t they?
There's a stand on Hwy 316 where the guy 'salts' them with Cajun spices.
YUM.
But they’re nasty.
“I love boiled peanuts...called grits, ain’t they?”
Why, shame on you, sir! That is close to blasphemy!
Boiled peanuts are delicious!
“There’s a stand on Hwy 316 where the guy ‘salts’ them with Cajun spices.”
“Fried” peanuts have been appearing down south, here, and they are spicy hot. But I like mine the old fashioned way, and salty, but not too salty.
Boiled peanuts, grits, fried okra, black eye peas, hoe cakes...
we Southerners know how to eat, missy.
My most favorite snack in the whole world.
I love them boiled and then chilled in the fridge!
((Homer Simpson)) Ahhhhhhhh Boiled peanuts (drool). /homer
I love boiled peanuts, too! My husband does them in the crock pot sometimes and he adds his own Cajun seasoning.
grits and hoe cakes aren’t too bad.
Fried okra - so,so.
I was always afraid of black eyed peas. The look like they’re staring at you from the plate.
Boiled peanuts shouild be banned under the Geneva convention as torture.
In A Nutshell, Boiled Peanuts Better For You “
Yeah? So? Tofu is probably better for me than any form of peanuts, but I’m NOT going to eat tofu - or boiled peanuts - with my beer, and that’s the end of it!
Had a guy introduce me to these when I was in Air Force tech school in Mississippi. I loved them, but I’ve never seen them since! Definitely a regional thing, I guess.
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