The Pearl River County Peanut

This year at Blackberry Farm, one of our seed preservation growouts was a peanut that has been grown in Pearl River County, Mississippi since 1850. A family from the area has grown and preserved this peanut for decades.

In all of my years of seed collecting, I have never found another peanut variety quite like this one. It is unique both in appearance and flavor. This variety has hard shells, and the peanuts are a light pink color. The flavor is quite pleasing with sweet overtones.

In former times, these peanuts were roasted on the fireplace hearth and in cast iron skillets on wood burning stoves. This process was referred to a sparching peanuts, and they were either eaten this way or added to recipes.

Peanuts were an important part of the family’s diet and helped sustain their food source throughout the Winter months. In the 1800’s and early 1900’s, peanut plants were shocked up on poles to dry and then used for hay. When fed to cows, the milk, butter and cream produced was very rich.

The Pearl River County peanut is another example of an endangered variety that I am so glad we have been able to preserve at the Farm.

John Coykendall, Master Gardener