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Some coffee roasters get good results by having a special sale of roasted peanuts one day a week at reduced prices.

In some large cities commercial peanut roasting is concentrated in the hands of a very few firms. In others practically all of the large wholesalers do their own roasting. The charge for roasting varies tremendously, from 50 cents to $1.25 per bag of about 100 pounds, and occasionally even higher. The usual charge in a large city may be expected to be between 75 cents and $1.10 per bag. This includes calling for and delivering the peanuts, if desired.

There is a considerable demand on the part of street venders and small storekeepers for roasted peanuts in small bags. Paper bags holding 5 or 10 pounds of roasted peanuts have an especially large sale in some cities; other dealers put roasted stock out in bags containing 20 to 50 pounds.

A machine which has recently attained considerable popularity roasts the peanuts in a small cylinder operated by electricity and heated either by electricity or by gas, and often sold as an adjunct to a pop-corn stand. This small cylinder will roast the peanuts in about an hour, and the peanuts are kept hot in the compartment with the pop corn.

Several experiments with a view to preparing roasted salted peanuts in the shell have been made, and the finished products have been placed on the market in a limited way.

PEANUT PRODUCTS

For many years peanuts reached the consuming public only in the form of roasted nuts in the shell. The introduction, over 20 years ago, of the penny vending machine for the sale of salted shelled Spanish peanuts, gave an impetus to the salting industry. Peanut candies of various kinds and peanut butter have also greatly increased in popularity, until shipments of shelled raw peanuts from the South during the past few seasons have been twice those of cleaned peanuts in the shell.

If to the raw shelled domestic peanuts used outside the peanut belt are added the shelled stocks used by peanut-products manufacturers in the South, and imported shelled peanuts, and if all are reduced to unshelled equivalents, it is probable that the total weight of the peanuts used in the shelled form in the country would be found to be between four and five times the weight of the peanuts, domestic and imported, consumed in the shell.

SALTED PEANUTS

Perhaps more peanuts pass into consumption as salted peanuts than in any other way. Enormous quantities of domestic Spanish and Virginias are salted, and salting interests have been among the heaviest buyers of imported peanuts from China.

Spanish peanuts are customarily salted without removing the thin brown skins. First the nuts are gone over to remove foreign material. Usually they pass along an endless belt, enabling workers on either side to detect undesirable substances. In numerous factories, a stoner, employing suction, is also used to remove the stones or other heavy foreign matter from the peanuts. The nuts are then boiled in oil, in a vat or peanut cooker containing a woven

steel, colanderlike basket equipped with a bail and hoisting device, as shown in Figure 26. A vegetable oil of some kind, generally coconut oil, is customarily used.

Reports from prominent salters indicate that there is no uniformity in the temperature of the oil used in heating the kernels. As this temperature determines the length of time the nuts must stay in the oil, the cooking period necessarily varies considerably in different salting plants. One large salter brings the temperature of the oil up

SHIPMENTS OF CLEANED AND SHELLED PEANUTS, BY SECTIONS MONTHLY AVERAGE, NOV., 1920-OCT., 1924

POUNDS
MILLIONS

[graphic]

25

20

15

10

5

0

DEC. JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT.
UNSHELLED PEANUTS
VA., N.C.
SECTION

SHELLED PEANUTS

VA, N.C.

SECTION

S. EASTERN
SECTION

S. WESTERN
SECTION

FIG. 25.-Unshelled peanuts and shelled Virginias move in fairly uniform volume throughout the year. Shipments of other shelled peanuts fall off heavily during the summer

to 350° F. before putting in the first batch of peanuts. Dropping 150 pounds of nuts into the oil so reduces its temperature that the thermometer usually reads from 275 to 288°. It is still hot enough, however, to start driving out the moisture from the peanuts. From this point the temperature gradually rises until it reaches about 325° F., by which time the peanuts have acquired a light-brown color. About 13 to 15 minutes are required to cook a batch of 150 pounds of peanuts at the temperature ranges just given. Other salters, using oil heated at lower temperatures, require up to 25 minutes or more to cook the kernels. In a few plants the peanuts

are delivered into the cooker in a small continuous stream which does not cool the oil appreciably, and the kernels are cooked in a very few minutes.

When the nuts reach the proper color they are promptly lifted out of the cooker, and the oil is drained off before salting. Usually the salt is shaken over the nuts with a sieve or is sprinkled on by hand, and then the peanuts are stirred or raked so that the salt is evenly distributed. Some manufacturers prefer to apply the salt before cooking the peanuts; others reverse the process. The proportion used by some salters is about 3 pounds of salt to 100 pounds of peanuts. Peanuts which are cooled immedieately are often sprayed lightly with oil before salting, or occasionally with glucose or gum arabic and water, so the salt will stick better. Shriveled peanuts, if not too badly shriveled, are not considered unfit for salting as they tend to plump out after being subjected to the oil. Even if they do not completely fill out, a small percentage of shriveled kernels is not particularly objectionable.

In some large salting plants the cooked peanuts are emptied from the vats into large flat tanks or bins (fig. 27), where the oil is drained off by a suction pipe running under the tanks. These tanks are so large that after salt is scattered over the peanuts they are turned over with a shovel to mix in the salt thoroughly.

Salted Spanish peanuts are sold in various ways. Many reach the consumer in small envelope sacks retailing for 5 or 10 cents. Passenger trains, railroad stations, drug stores, and delicatessen stores furnish a considerable outlet for these goods. In some instances the firms putting out the envelope sacks are not large enough to do their own salting, and they purchase the finished product from salters, often in boxes having a paraffined-paper lining. Many large salters employ machinery for filling the sacks with peanuts; smaller firms fill the envelopes by hand, using a measuring cup to determine the quantity going into each sack.

Enormous quantities of bulk salted Spanish are shipped in barrels to 5 and 10 cent stores and others which use them as leaders." A certain number of ounces may be sold for 10 cents, or the peanuts may be sold at so much per pound. In the Pacific coast group of one chain of 5 and 10 cent stores, it is said that 90 stores sold over 950,000 pounds of salted peanuts, both Spanish and Virginia types, in six months.

A few southern concerns are now putting out blanched salted Sish (peanuts with the skins removed, salted) in 10-pound tins smaller containers, prepared in much the same way as are Virginias, described on page 59 and 60. These blanched 1 Spanish have met with favor.

VENDING MACHINES

In some cities enormous quantities of salted Spanish peanuts are disposed of through penny-in-the-slot vending machines. These machines are often loaned to merchants, drug stores, city transportation systems, etc., on a plan which allows the owner a certain percentage of the sales, usually 25 per cent, as a commission in lieu of rent. Vending machines are now widely distributed throughout the United States. They operate solely with Spanish peanuts, as

the Virginia type nut is too irregular in size and shape to fit the mechanism of the machine. A vending machine has recently been placed on the market which is heated by electricity. The peanuts are thus kept dry, crisp, and somewhat warm. An electric bulb on top of the glass bowl automatically flashes a light off and on, attracting the eye to the machine.

[graphic][subsumed][merged small]

The Virginia extra large salted peanut industry is of comparatively recent introduction, but has now become firmly established. Many large factories have been erected, notably in cities in southeastern Virginia and in Chicago, especially equipped to handle the salting of large-size nuts, and aided by extensive advertising a lively demand has been developed for the product.

As a rule, only the large-size Virginia-type peanuts, both domestic and imported, running 28 to 34 to the ounce, are salted. After being cleaned, the kernels are roasted just enough (fig. 28) so that the thin red skins can be removed, either by hand or with blanching machinery. The whole-nut blancher consists essentially of a box containing two fine brushes revolving in opposite directions. The peanuts are poured into the top, the brushes remove the skins without

[graphic]

FIG. 27.-Salted peanuts. Mixing salt with the peanuts preparatory to packing. The vegetable oil in which the peanuts were cooked has been drained off by a suction pipe

splitting the kernel, and the nuts emerge onto a picking table, where foreign matter is removed by hand. Dust and skins not already blown away are drawn off by a suction pipe. They are then cooked in oil and salted in much the same way as are Spanish peanuts. Slightly less time is required, for during the cooking process in preparation for blanching some of the moisture is removed. better grades are salted whole, but a large business is done in salted split kernels.

The

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