איפה הבוטנים

October 21, 2017 7:02 PM

I acquired a taste for a particular style of peanuts in Israel, and I don't know of any source for them in the U.S. Are they available around here? If not, is there a way I can replicate them?

Two decades ago, I spent some time studying in Jerusalem. I would occasionally buy hot roasted peanuts from a shop off Kikar Shabbos. These were the standard botnim available for sale. Unlike their American counterparts, the peanuts were coated in a salt/spice mixture on top of their natural wrappers. (That is: the outer shells had been removed, but the brown papery inner wrappers were still on.) I was faced with a choice between removing the salty goodness or acquiring a taste for the somewhat bitter inner wrappers. I went with Door #2. This became a small problem when I went back to America and couldn't get them anymore.

About five years ago, I visited for a wedding, bought a couple hundred grams of nuts from a random nut vendor in the Machane Yehuda shuk, and confirmed that, yes, this was still the local style and I still loved it.

Are these available for sale anywhere in Artzot HaBrit, ideally in the NYC area? If not, are they something I can replicate at home using some combination of (raw?) peanuts, salt, and (spices)? How?

posted by Shmuel510 to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

We eat them similarly in India, usually going under the name masala peanuts. You could try looking for them under that name in an Indian store. Alternatively there are many recipes for them online - should be easily modifiable to use a different blend of spices. And you'll definitely find peanuts with the brown skin still on at Indian stores if you decide to go that route.
posted by peacheater at 8:23 PM on October 21, 2017

I can't speak to the spiced part of the question, but Spanish peanuts still have the red-brown skins (seed coat) on and are available in most supermarkets.

(I'm assuming you're not talking about Israeli kabukim peanuts, which can be found on Amazon.)
posted by elsietheeel at 8:34 PM on October 21, 2017

The Peanut Shop in Williamsburg, VA has an amazing variety of peanuts (and they do mail order). One of the things they sell are what they call Spicy Smoky Redskin Peanuts. Even if these turn out not to be what you are looking for, they add new flavors of peanuts all the time, so if you talked to them, they might do some version of what you are looking for (they are based in a big tourist town, so get visitors from all over.)
posted by gudrun at 6:55 AM on October 22, 2017

Amazon sells masala peanuts.
posted by pushing paper and bottoming chairs at 6:59 AM on October 22, 2017

I'm not familiar with these but I checked Chowhound and found a couple threads about Israel-style peanuts and where to find them in New York. These threads recommend Holon and a couple other places.
posted by acidic at 10:54 AM on October 22, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks for the responses!

(Kabukim are indeed not what I'm going for... as far as I can tell, this is what I'm talking about.)

I have sallied forth to the nearest Indian market, and emerged with four bags of peanuts...one regular unsalted with the jackets; one Spanish unsalted with the jackets; one vacuum pack of Bharuchi salted peanuts with the jackets; one pack of masala peanuts without the jackets.

The masala ones are good in their own way, and I am glad to make their acquaintance, but anything with chili powder is a very different flavor profile.

On further reflection and tasting, I think the key issue is that the jackets in the remaining ones aren't bitter enough. I'm not sure if that's a matter of preparation, or if the peanuts used in Israel are a different variety.
posted by Shmuel510 at 4:38 PM on October 22, 2017