Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people, they give up their secrets also - if you love them enough. George Washington Carver, American botanist and inventor.
Peanuts are legumes, of the pea or bean family. But peanuts are promoted as nuts; consumers eat them like nuts. Despite my mother’s protest about lack of variety, I took a peanut butter sandwich to school for lunch every day. A true Texan, I liked roasted and salted peanuts, too. After Bob and I moved to Georgia, it took awhile for me to develop a taste for boiled peanuts. On my mother’s first visit to Georgia, we served her this popular Southern treat. With her first bite, she, who kept a basket of dry roasted peanuts in the shell on her hearth, said, “They taste like unseasoned black eyed peas.”
According to Andrew F. Smith in Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober Pea, when the country went to war in 1941, sources for imported cooking oils were cut off. After Pearl Harbor, “peanut oil production soared.” The newly organized National Peanut Council immediately set aside a week in March to promote the peanut even more. By 1974, the council had expanded its promotional period to the entire month of March.
The lowly peanut is considered one of the healthiest foods around. According to nutritionists, peanuts have more protein than any other nut and includes 30 different nutrients and vitamins. They are also one of the richest sources of antioxidants. Carver, “The Peanut Man,” once declared, “a pound of peanuts has a little more body nutriments than a pound of steak and nearly twice as much heat and energy producing nutriments.”
Of course, it is also one of the most common food allergens. For that reason, many schools have eliminated it entirely from their lunchrooms. But, it was not always so. I was teaching in Dallas, TX, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Since the city was considered a prime target, schools were designated as a evacuation centers. After the crisis ended, each school was left with gallons of peanut butter. The cooks at South Oak Cliff High were ingenious in their efforts to use this ingredient. We were served peanut butter sandwiches, cookies, cakes and pies. As the school year neared its end, they began to put dollops of peanut butter on fruit halves.
We can’t observe National Peanut Month without mentioning the country’s most famous peanut grower, former President of the United States Jimmy Carter. The recent Georgia Electric Membership Corporation magazine features Carter as the Maranatha Baptist Church Sunday school teacher. In the small Georgia town of Plains, this global citizen draws some 300 visitors from around the world whenever he teaches.
I would think that President Carter must also like my long time favorite Carver quote. It came after the scientist had prayed to God to give him the secret of the universe. He told his friends that God replied, “Little man, you’re too small to grasp the secrets of the universe. But I will show you the secret of the peanut.” Carver discovered over 300 uses for the plant.
I may be the last person to make this delicious slow cooker peanut candy, but it certainly has become a popular recipe. A friend has treated us with this candy several times. Another friend of hers gave the recipe to her. Isn’t that the way with good recipes? Friends share with friends.
Crock Pot Candy
16 oz. salted dry roasted peanuts
16 oz. unsalted dry roasted peanuts
1 bar sweet German chocolate
12 oz. milk chocolate chips
1-1/2 lbs white almond bark (that’s 1-1/2 lbs!)
Layer in slow cooker as listed. Do not stir or mix. Heat on low for 2 hours. After two hours, stir well. Line countertop with newspaper topped with waxed paper. Drop candy mixture by teaspoons onto waxed paper to harden. (The newspaper protects wax from sticking to counter top.) The almond bark will look like it is not melted but it is. This makes about 100 pieces. (Country singer Tricia Yearwood also makes this candy but drops her spoonfuls into mini-cupcake paper liners.)
2018
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