It indicates a distinctive difference that one group of people enjoys and another group finds repulsive. But with these types of things, if we share food culture, then many people can open doors and find that what they imagined as repulsive can actually be quite delicious. :)
> Boiled peanuts?? Never heard of that before. Sounds kind of gross. You eat them all soft and mushy? I mean I guess peanut butter is good ...
It's nothing like peanut butter, actually! They're savory, salty, and delicious.
They're boiled in their shells to the point that both the shells and the peanut are soft and mushy. The shells are filled with brine, and they're served hot.
It's quite a lot like edamame, but I'd have to go with boiled peanuts if I had to choose.
If you're driving through southern Georgia, you can get them at almost any gas station popup or farmers market. It's a small cottage industry.
Speaking of savory, you need to try bacon fat soaked collard greens and fried ocra.
Not just a American South thing. There's an old school Chinese snack of braising peanuts in soy sauce, sesame oil, some spices, and a small amount of sugar to make it both fragrant and quite tasty. I think Chinese style though is to shell the peanuts first before cooking for convenience of the person eating them, but I've seen some folks cook them in the shell as well.
If you've ever had edamame, I would almost rank them as cousins. I personally find Cajun boiled peanuts to be way better but they scratch the same itch
