Soup Chronicles: Peanuts And Fish

  Today is a holiday so I'm just letting my brain go wherever it pleases, and it wandered over here where I found something that reminded me of a very vague childhood memory.

  Yes, boiled peanuts in a can. I am obsessed with canned foods because we preserved everything, including things best never canned. Both of my grandmothers packed all sorts of things in jars for the winter and taught me how to do this is well. I have witnessed everything from my granny's Matbucha (which I still know how to make by memory) to curried fish in a jar. There were the usual staples like fruit and veggies and I'm positive that my first canned corned beef experience was out of a Mason jar.

  But they never canned peanuts. The peanuts came to our side of the border after my maternal grandmother made a trip around obscure parts of the American south. I don't recall the actual taste of the peanuts, but I know I liked them more than my grandmother's bizarre version of chitlins made out of lamb intestines. Granny Annie had no problem with culinary adventure. Some of them were delights rehashed from her childhood like the amazing roasted chickpea snacks and some were not only new to her, but new to the planet. Many were successful (roasted spicy lamb stew...drool) and some scared me (curried whitefish that she didn't take the bones out of) but her heart was always in the right place.

  Back to the peanuts. I WANT these peanuts to rehash an unusual childhood memory of a peculiar person that changed my culinary life. I would make them myself (I can Google) but there is no way I am finding green peanuts here. I have also never found these things on my side of the border, or even the western States for that matter. If one of you knows where I could buy or steal these dandy little legumes I would be one happy critter. :)

  In the mean time, I have found someone online who cans salmon almost identically to the way my grandmother taught me how to and it has pretty pictures. The only change I'd make is to add a sprig of dill to each jar and a pinch of pickling spice for a little tang. Oh, and if you debone your fish, pack it skin side OUT. (I don't know WHY, but my grandmother just said so and she's always right.) Go here for the pretty pictures.