Home Grown Peanuts

This past spring while I was doing a little bit of flower shopping at Earl May's, I came across a package of peanut seeds.  I bought one package, and with John's help, got the peanut seeds (aka: they look exactly like a peanut) planted.  Soon enough they started sprouting and later developing flowers.  I kept waiting and waiting for a peanut to grow.  I finally realized peanuts have a long growing season so it would still be a month or so before peanuts started developing.  Later when I took a peak at them again there were these finger like things growing off of each stem.  Once this stem reached the ground it buried itself and began forming a peanut.  After letting them grow for quite a while and after the leaves started turning yellow, we dug them up.  And....wa la! peanuts!  The pictures below shows the plants with the peanuts still attached.

After letting them dry for a couple weeks, we (my boyfriend John, sister Tasha, and I) picked the peanuts off the plant and roasted them.

Roasted Peanuts Ingredients:

2 pounds in-shell raw peanuts (I don't think I got two pounds off the few plants we planted but we continued with this recipe anyways)
2 tablespoons peanut oil (I didn't have peanut oil so I replaced it with veg. oil)
1 to 2 tablespoons kosher salt (I didn't have kosher salt so I just used iodized salt)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Rinse the peanuts under cool water to remove excess dirt.  Pat dry and place in a large bowl and toss with the peanut oil and salt until well coated.  Place on a cookie sheet, making sure to spread them out into a single layer.  Roast in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating pans halfway through cooking.  Once you remove the peanuts from the oven, let them cool slightly before eating.  They will continue to "cook" and become crunchy as they cool.

I also wanted to make homemade peanut butter with the few peanuts that were harvested.  When I set my mind to something it will get done!  So, now on to making peanut butter, with John's help, using the home grown and roasted peanuts.

If using roasted peanuts to make peanut butter, remove shells and discard.  Remove the skin by rubbing the peanuts together in your hands held over a salad spinner, allowing the peanuts and skins to fall into the bowl.  Once the skin has been loosed from all the peanuts close the salad spinner and spin until all of the skin has been separated from the peanuts. (I don't have a salad spinner so we picked the skin off and put it in the garbage and put the skinless peanuts in a blender). 

Peanut Butter Ingredients:

15 ounces shelled and skinned roasted peanuts (John and I got tired of cracking open the roasted peanuts so we didn't end up with anywhere near 15 ounces)

1 tsp. kosher salt (once again, used iodized salt instead)

1 1/2 tsp honey

1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil (I just used veg. oil and I ended up using way more than 1 1/2 tbsp)

Directions:

Place the peanuts, salt and honey into the bowl of a food processor (I don't own a food processor so I just used a blender).  Process for 1 minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Place the lid back on and continue to process while slowly drizzling in the oil and process until the mixture is smooth, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.  Place the peanut butter in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Well, it did look like peanut butter when it was done.  Just not as creamy as the store bought peanut butter.  I tasted it and didn't like it one bit.  John tasted it and thought it tasted like peanut butter.  Others who have tried it have also liked it.  I don't know what it was about it, but it just didn't suit my fancy.

It was fun watching the peanuts grow but I don't think I will be growing anymore any time soon.  I will find something else interesting to grow next year.