BANGALORE: Anyone can go nuts over the humble peanut, the prince and the pauper alike. And at this time of the year, Basavangudi’s busy Bull TempleRoad surrenders to this little nut. The peanut is really the king of the road for the duration of the annual Kadlekai Parishe as heaps and heaps of the nut line the road, and traffic is brought to a standstill.The nuts come from the city’s outskirts and are different varieties. They are broadly classified into the native and farm varieties. While the native one is generally made of two pods, the farm grown nut has three and is bigger in size. Most peanut pros however swear by the native species, which make up for taste what it lacks in numbers.Another advantage with the native ones is that when a group is sharing a small heap of peanuts, one can have two native peanuts in the same time that it takes to shell and consume one farm nut. These two varieties come in varied forms.The raw ones are put through various processes to achieve different results. The raw ones have a light brown coloured shell and sometimes reddish brown, depending on the soil they are grown in. The pods are slightly sweetish and juicy and stick to the interiors of the shell. When they are roasted before drying, the shell is slightly blackened and the pods assume a dark pink tinge and still stick to the shell.This is a crucial feature since nothing devastates a peanut fan more than dropping a pod while shelling the nut. Hence, with a pod sticking to the shell, he can extract it with due deliberation to ensure he gets maximum benefit for his efforts. Nothing pleases a peanut popper more that seeing fully evolved pods as he breaks the shell, which he does with much expertise.Seasoned “shellers” exert the right amount of pressure on the nut along its length and lo, both pods show up, ready to be popped in. Another word of caution. Make sure you have the right quantity of nuts before you; for, once you start, there’s no stopping.
Comments
0 comment