What do "ripe" peanuts look like?

[katylaide]

I grew some peanuts and I'm not sure if they're ready. The leaves are JUST going yellow. I've bandicooted and eaten a couple of nuts. One (it was one of those single-nut pods) was pink, the other (double-nut) had white nuts. They're the right size. I think the shells are whiter than the dried in-shell raw ones you buy. There's no brown outside skin bit on the nuts but I don't know if that's a thing that happens when they're dried.

[thanrose]

Yeah, they're ripe. The pods will look less gridded than the drier ones you find in shell whether raw or roasted. That fibrous grid will be there, just not as pronounced in appearance. The fact that the leaves are yellowing is what lets you know they are ready.

If you've never eaten a raw peanut, they are beany tasting. The papery skin over the bean will not come away all that easily, but it should be papery, not green or rubbery.

I'd let them sit and dry for a few days, cleaned of dirt and spread out in thin layers maybe on newspaper. You can cook with either boiling or roasting. Roasting will make them keep longer.

I only grow a few each year, and none if the squirrels find them.

[tomc]

I grew some peanuts and I'm not sure if they're ready. The leaves are JUST going yellow.

Your peanuts sound like they are about ripe. Next ya gotta get them to dry. It'll take two weeks or more on a screen or other sutable place out of rain for that to happen.

Roasting takes a lot longer with un-dried p-nuts.