Boiling Peanuts Daily

by Hugh Graham
(Powder Springs, Georgia)

I want to set up and sell boiled peanuts in my shop. My question is how and what to do with the peanuts at night, how to deal with them as I'm going to have peanuts available each and every day for several days in a row? How do the roadside stands store the leftover peanuts at night until the start of the next day? Do they start over and throw away the nuts from each day? How do I deal with the peanuts from day to day without bacteria and bad peanuts?


I hope this is clear.

Thanks!
Hugh

Comments for Boiling Peanuts Daily

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Jan 27, 2016
 Peanut preservation
by: Bill croft

I've sold peanuts, from a stand for twenty five years. The way to preserve peanuts form day to day is by boiling them each day. I use one of my trailers, which I feature on this site. When I get up, in the morning, I turn the peanuts on and go get ready to go to work. By the time I'm ready the peanuts are boiling and I leave home. When I arrive, at my stand, the peanuts are already hot and ready to serve immediately. You lose a lot of business if you have to heat the peanuts once you arrive. You're waiting for the peanuts to heat up, but customers won't wait. This is one of the many advantages of having a trailer. You can do all your preparations and clean up at home. As long as you boil the peanuts, each morning, you won't have any problems with spoilage or bacteria. The peanuts will lose some consistency from day to day, not much. I recommend serving them for no longer than four days. If you can't sell a pot full in four days you have a bad spot, MOVE! After four days the peanuts can be frozen and used for a one time reheat. They must be discarded after one reheat. In the heat of summer, the peanuts should be brought to a boil twice daily. The heat of summer sometimes could cause them to spoil overnight. Nothing worse than going out in the morning and discovering that your peanuts are floating in a yellow slime! If you purchase one of my trailers, included is a complete info package explaining everything you need to about cooking and serving peanuts along with maintenance and replacement parts. I'm always available, after your purchase, for any further questions you may have. It's a must if your serious about the peanut business. I'll coach you on how to make some serious cash.
Bill Croft
Nov 03, 2016
 Bill You have not answered the question
by: Anonymous

Are you boiling your peanuts overnight unattended and then roiling down the road to your stand with pots full of hot water and peanuts?
Nov 07, 2016
 Cooking peanuts
by: Bill

I work my stand five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday. I use Monday and Tuesday for cooking and maintenance. I have two large chest freezers I like to keep full to insure I don't run out of peanuts during the week. I actually have five freezers in case I have to prepare for large events. You can never have too many freezers or frozen peanuts. Once precooked and frozen, peanuts will last a whole year. On Monday, I do my trailer maintenance and cook batches to be frozen until my freezers are full. Each freezer hold about 250 qt scoops. Once the freezers are stocked, I no longer cook on Mondays unless I need to restock freezers. I use Tuesday to cook for the upcoming week. On Wednesday morning, I heat the cooked peanuts, to a boil. They must be brought to a boil each morning to prevent spoilage. I then, daily, travel to my stand with the peanuts hot in the pots. When I arrive, I'm ready to serve immediately. I only reheat, during the day, as needed. Not reboil, just keep warm. I repeat this process daily, ending on Sunday night, and start all over again. Any unsold peanuts can be frozen on Sunday night for later use. All this is impossible without a trailer. I've been doing it this way for years. I hope this answers your questions.
Bill
Nov 19, 2016
 Excellant explanation!
by: Anonymous

That is exactly what I needed to know. Thanks Bill
Just one more thing... Are large freezer bags the way to go for freezing?
Nov 22, 2016
 Freezing nuts and other good stuff!
by: Bill

I use two gallon freezer bags to freeze the nuts. They are available from the ziplock brand. If you have Ingles grocery stores, in your area, their bags are better and cheaper. I use a wire basket to remove the nuts from the pot. I pour them into a one gallon tea pitcher to transfer the nuts to the two gallon bags. Two pitchers to each bag. No need to freeze the juice. When you reheat the nuts, you add them to fresh water. You must add salt, to the fresh water, to prevent the salt in the nuts from being bleached out. The two gallon frozen bags will fit, perfectly, into a 120 qt cooler. The cooler will store nine frozen bags (72 qts). If you purchase a good cooler, such as an Igloo, the nuts will remain frozen up to three to four days. Any unused frozen nuts can be returned to your chest freezer for later use. Frozen nuts can only be reheated one time and then must be discarded. Like I said, you can never have too many chest freezers, frozen nuts or quality coolers. I sold out, one time, with people in line holding money. It's an awful feeling! It never happened again in twenty five years! I haul, to events, way more than I could ever sell. Spring is rapidly approaching. Use this time to get set up to make some good money in the coming season. You'll need the items, mentioned above and a completely equipped, ready to go, boiled peanut trailer. I can provide this, along with all the information you need, to operate a very profitable, year round, fun, self employed cash business! Full or part time.

Bill
Jul 12, 2017
 Frozen boiled peanuts
by: Phil

Bill
When you say that you dump the frozen peanuts into fresh water and just add salt, is there a salt to gallon or salt to peanut ratio that you use? Or do you taste test until satisfied? Also how does this effect the quality of the brine? Thanks in advance for you response.
Jul 28, 2017
 Adding salt to fresh water for frozen peanuts
by: Bill

Hi Phil,
The pots on my trailers hold 25# of peanuts. When using frozen peanuts and fresh water, I add 1/2 round box of table salt. If you start with a different amount you can add the salt by taste, depending on how many peanuts are in the pot. Once they come to a boil, the brine will be the same as fresh. Frozen peanuts can not be refrozen twice. If you thaw and boil them and if they don't sell, they have to be discarded. Try to estimate how many sell to eliminate waste. You can prepare less and always add more. The new brine is good as long as you boil it everyday. It can be used up to a week as long as you're using the frozen peanuts. The original cooking brine can be used with frozen peanuts without adding salt. If you're selling fresh cooked and sell out, you just add frozen peanuts to that water without salt.
Bill
Sep 14, 2017
 Spicy or flavored Peanuts
by: Anonymous

How do I add spice and flavor to boiled peanuts? Do I add during or after and would they sell? How much would I add for a large pan at home. How about for the 25lbs you are talking about? What spices should I try?
Sep 15, 2017
 Spicy peanuts
by: Bill

There are several ways to spice peanuts depending on what you want. Some people like Cajun, some like Cajun hot and some just like hot. In twenty five pounds I add the same amount of salt, 2 1/2 round boxes, to all recipes. Some people like them saltier. For Cajun, I add a 16 oz bottle of Cajun seasoning and two packets of Cajun crab boil. For heat I add a 16 oz bottle of powdered cayenne red pepper. Some people like them hotter. My recipe is an overall, general version. Most customers seem to like them. The main problem with selling them is the added cost of the spices. I charge a dollar more per qt to offset it. They do sell very well.

You have to have a four pot trailer to sell both regular and Cajun, which is more expensive. When freezing Cajun leftovers, you have to freeze the spiced juice, which requires a lot of freezer space. If you don't freeze the juice, you have to add the spice, each time you reheat them. That's expensive. For these reasons, I only serve them at large events. For small batches, I have no idea because I only cook in bulk and it depends on your personal preferences. There's several recipes, online, that can give you a general idea and then you'd have to experiment with those.

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