About Boiled Peanuts
Just what are boiled peanuts anyway?
Boiled peanuts are a fairly simple food to make. You dump some raw peanuts (raw, not roasted) in a pot with a ton of salt and boil 'em all day, and you end up with honest-to-goodness boiled peanuts.
The texture of a boiled peanut is really unique. It's soft like a cooked bean, but it still retains some firmness and bite to it. The flavor is understandably heavy on the salt, but there's something more there that's addicting.
Are they really that historical?
In a word, yes. There is record of the eating of salted boiled peanuts in the South as early as the Civil War. They've been honored in folk song since 1866. These "goober peas" are just about as "traditional Southern" as you can get.