Peanuts

Despite the attention that President Jimmy Carter brought to small, round Georgia peanuts, the majority of which are transformed into peanut butter and peanut oil, the noblest Southern peanuts (which are technically not nuts but legumes) remain the same plump, oval, delectably unctuous Virginia variety that was most likely introduced to that state and North Carolina from Africa during the slave trade. (Actually, peanuts are native to our hemisphere, but before being cultivated in the South, they were taken to Africa by South American explorers.) One of the most distinctive seasonal specialties of Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas are freshly harvested unshelled peanuts that are boiled in brine in huge kettles till soft, and served as a snack at outdoor summer events and sold along roadsides. People either love or hate boiled peanuts, and no doubt they are an acquired taste due to their soft texture and briny flavor.