Peanut Skins

As I cracked open a dry roasted, unsalted peanut this morning I began to ponder this curious little legume. What first caught my attention was the thin skin covering the nut. It is the skin that is still present when labeled Spanish peanuts.

I have robotically removed this skin without contemplation for years. We all throw out the shell, but do people eat the skin; surely, some must. Before popping the next peanut in my mouth I made sure to leave the skin intact. If you have never tried this before the results are not stellar. The skin has much more texture than flavor and its thin profile is well suited for jamming itself into guns or between teeth. I can see no potential harm only annoyance and lack of flavor in consuming the skin.

If I were to be concerned with the time expended in eating the peanut I would surely ingest the skin every time. For now, that is not my primary concern so I have little reason to ingest it. Alternatively I would consume it if there was some benefit. I know there must be some small amount of fiber, but could there be more to it?

With Google at my fingertips I found a few claims about peanut skins. First, there seems to be an urban myth about the skins. And it seems that a few bored or jonesing pot smokers have taken this issue to task. Some have claimed or propagated the myth that you can get high from smoking peanut skins. I am going to say this is a myth without even trying it. I am usually convinced by evidence, but the remote possibility that a peanut skin could create a mind altering smoke and the lack of credibility in the reports from sites such as answers.yahoo.com have crushed any urges to test this myth. Besides, it would take a lot of peanut skins to test this and I have better things to do.

The second and more likely claim is that there could be antioxidant benefit from eating the skin. There is not a lot of evidence, and it appears that raw peanuts skins provide the basis of the information. If you have never tried raw peanuts I would suggest it. They taste much different than roasted peanuts; different in a much less satisfying way.

From my evaluation of the limited information I do not see substantial benefit or harm from ingesting the skin. So I will now eat the skin. I mean, why waste it?

As a last thought, why is it so hard to find dry roasted peanuts that have been shelled which do not have maltodextrin and safflower oil added? The real problem is that I have to peel my own peanuts just to isolate them. Perhaps we will live in a world someday where simple foods are just that.

Black Eyed Peas

I have a small bag of black eyed peas in the cupboard, but I have not found a use for them yet. Last night I dropped them into a bowl and added water so they would be ready to use today. I have never eaten them before, and as I am on a vegetarian diet experiment, so what better time to try them.

Browsing the internet I came across a few ideas. Searching the internet for recipes has yielded some of the best and worst recipes I have ever followed. The problem is that no one needs credentials to post a recipe. At the same time, not all good cooks have credentials. It is a sort of roulette. And that is why I often give it another shot.

Browsing through various recipes that called for meat I found it interesting that this bean is often prepared on New Years Day. In fact some consider it good luck to eat them on New Years Day. I do not, or at least do not yet subscribe to this idea. Besides, that was yesterday so I would have to wait another year to test that theory out.

I settled on a recipe that caught my eye. It called for quinoa. A few weeks ago I purchased a small amount of this grain. I had never heard of it before I read a raw food book. Never having tried quinoa it seems like a perfect time to try it along with the mysterious black eyed peas.

Black-Eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes

Vegetarian for 2 days...

I started a vegetarian diet on Tuesday. So far it is going well. After having hummus twice, I am ready to start making my own at a higher level. Today I searched out a recipe that will be prepared this afternoon. I soaked the beans yesterday, and I will make some pita bread today.
Here are the recipes I will be testing.

http://humus101.com/EN/2006/10/14/hummus-recipe/

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/pitabreadrecipe.htm

Last night I made orange curried lentils. the meal came out better than expected. I cooked the lentils first on boiling water. I then caramelized a diced onion in olive oil. When I placed them together I added about 2 TBSP of curry paste a teaspoon of cumin, a TBSP of coarse salt, half a can of tomato paste, a TBSP of minced garlic and ginger, and finally water to make it a bit thinner. This was simmered for a few minutes and served over jasmine rice. It was excellent with a little bit of homemade sambal chili sauce.