Boiled nuts help protect against illness

[Richard]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - For lovers of boiled peanuts, there's some good news from the health front. A new study by a group of Huntsville researchers found that boiled peanuts bring out up to four times more chemicals that help protect against disease than raw, dry or oil-roasted nuts.

Lloyd Walker, chair of Alabama A&M University's Department of Food and Animal Sciences who co-authored the study, said these phytochemicals have antioxidant qualities that protect cells against the risk of degenerative diseases, including cancers, diabetes and heart disease.

"Boiling is a better method of preparing peanuts in order to preserve these phytochemicals," Walker said.

The study will appear in Wednesday's edition of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The other co-authors in the study are A&M researchers Yvonne Chukwumah and Martha Verghese, as well as University of Alabama in Huntsville researcher Bernhard Vogler.

Walker said peanuts and other plants use phytochemicals for things such as helping avoid disease and insect attacks.

"These things are not nutrients; at the same time they have health benefits to humans," he told The Birmingham News. "The trick is to keep those health benefits, not to process them out of the foods."

According to Walker, water and heat penetrate the nuts, releasing beneficial chemicals to a certain point. Overcooking the nuts destroys the useful elements.

Alabama is third in the nation in the amount of peanuts produced with a crop valued at more than $67 million last year.

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Information from: The Birmingham News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071026/ap_o...vkXIsDW7oF

[AndrewX]

I've been eating them boiled since I was a kid Richard. They taste best when boiled and I also like boiled almonds without the skin... 'licious.

[Sily]

Interesting article... I am going give this a try.  Sounds yummy.  :big grin:

[AndrewX]

Do try them Sily as I am sure you'll really like them, even moreso than having them in the conventional manners.  With either the peanut or almond get them raw with their skin on.  You'll know when they're ready as their meat will have a translucency to its outer layer.  Boil for about 10-15minutes on high flame, then take take the pot to the sink and start filling it with cold running water till all the hot water has overflowed and has been replaced by cold water.  Then you can grab the almond and simply squeeze it at one end and the kernal will easily pierce through the skin leaving yo uwith a plain kernal to nibble.  With the peanuts you'll find that some if not most of their tusks/skins will fall off the kernal during the boiling, those that don't remove very easily also. 

The beauty of this method is they taste like the've just come out of the ground or off the tree... even better... AND, they keep for a long long time once wiped dried and stored in a jar.  Air the jar as soon as you see condensation on its inner walls and restore till you need them. 

NibbleNobbiesNuts:big grin:

[Sily]

Mmmmmm.. I can't wait to try this.  Thanks Andrew.

Me boiling nuts - - > 

[AndrewX]

3drops of essence of terror, 5drops of sinister sauce...

When the stirring's done make I like the spoon?

Of course aha of course

...but don't forget the pinch of tenderness. 

I'm Milton, your brand new siiiiiiirrrr. 

and Felix the fly would say, "My glasses, I've lost my glasses..."

lolol

[William]

  i LIVE down south and you can drive here during the summer and buy from a local dood on the corner boild p-nuts all summer long.  The best I ever had was growing up in middle florida.  They called them green p-nuts and they Were the biggest you have ever seen.  Ive not seen them that big since i was a tadpole.

[Sily]

William is back!  :-)

[Sily]

Happy dance - - -> 

[William]

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