Random nonsense

[Strawboss]

We used to be able to get big cans what Planter's called "giant Virginia cocktail peanuts" at GFS which is a food supply company, not sure if it's a national company. Those went away a few years back. This is a specific type. I'm sure it will resolve itself soon, just strange is all.

 I mentioned elsewhere that whenever I'm south of the Manson-Nixon Line, I enjoy boiled peanuts, but for me, it has to be in smaller quantities. I also like raw peanuts but those are just not found here.

[maxtog]

I mentioned elsewhere that whenever I'm south of the Manson-Nixon Line, I enjoy boiled peanuts,

Again, been here all my life.  Never seen, been served, or know about "boiled peanuts".  Sounds strange.  Also, there is nothing special or magical about the "Mason-Dixon Line", at least nothing I have noticed in my lifetime.

I also like raw peanuts but those are just not found here.

Not sure I have ever seen or eaten raw peanuts, either (I assume that means completely uncooked in any way?)   Roasted in shell, sure (as long as soaked in salt... peanuts must have salt, kinda like potatoes or eggs.  Roasted/salted no shell good and much easier. My fav would be "dry roasted" (with that nice spicy coating) or "honey roasted."  But also love peanut butter.  Peanut butter and chocolate- OMG yum.  Reese's peanut butter cups are dangerous, so I just don't buy those since I have no self control.  Oh, chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting- super yum.  Peanut brittle is also great stuff.  And who doesn't love a peanut butter and banana sandwich?

For some reason, I am slightly allergic to peanut skins, even though peanuts are not nuts.  Thankfully, almost all processed products remove them.  I am very allergic to most nuts (especially walnuts and pecans), and *deadly* allergic (and almost died once) to at least one (but not sure which, so I avoid all of them).  Love cashews, which are also not nuts (but nor are they legumes, like peanuts; they are "drupes").

[Boomer]

A Peanut allergy is different from a Tree Nut allergy in terms of the protein that the body reacts to, but otherwise the symptoms are similar.
Almonds/Cashews/Pistachios are also Drupes but they grow on trees and many who are allergic to other Tree Nuts (Walnut, Hazelnut, Pecan, Brazil) are also allergic to Almonds/Cashews/Pistachios/Peanuts.
The term "nut allergy" came about because mixed nuts in processed foods were triggering reactions but each case could be a reaction to a different protein from a different nut.
Some nuts contain similar if not identical proteins to other nuts, so you can be allergic to many but rarely to all nuts.

I am allergic to a particular protein found in high(er) concentrations in most Dairy cheeses, and on 3 occasions in my life when I have eaten sufficient quantities of the protein (unknowing) I ended up in hospital. As a consequence I have a MAJOR aversion to any cheese whether it be Dairy, Sheep/Goat, or whatever, but the protein only exists in Dairy so whilst I am not allergic to Feta, I still avoid it like the plague, and I generally avoid all diary products as much as possible. I assume that the same holds for most people with a nut allergy of some ilk where they find it easier to just avoid all nuts. I often don't correct people who think I am Lactose intolerant (although it does give me wind) because it means that they will avoid putting dairy in my food. In fact I can drink UHT Dairy Milk, Sterilised Dairy Milk, and most Ice Cream because the processing breaks up the protein I react to.

Because of my bodies initial reaction to a high enough dose of the dairy protein to me cheese is closely associated with the smells and sensations of vomiting, sufficiently so that even the slightest whiff of cheese can turn my stomach. 

[Big Red]

But also love peanut butter.  And who doesn't love a peanut butter and banana sandwich?

Equal parts peanut butter and unflavored greek yogurt. Mix together. You end up with a light, tangy, peanut butter substance that is FANTASTIC on a sandwich with banana.

[maxtog]

I assume that the same holds for most people with a nut allergy of some ilk where they find it easier to just avoid all nuts.

In my case, yes.  I am somehow very allergic to some nuts, deadly allergic to one at least one unknown one, and not allergic to almonds, but avoid them, along with all true nuts to be on the safe side.  Not peanuts, though, since they are so radically different.  I have lots of allergies, unfortunately- many animals, pollen, mold, dust, etc, and asthma on top of all of that.  But I have no other food allergies (that I know of), other than nuts.  I asked my allergist a few times about being tested to find out which was the "deadly" nut (instead of just the "misery" nuts), and he said they didn't really have tests like that for food allergies.  So I might never know what it was.  He also said it is complicated, because what I ate was only PRESUMABLY from whatever nut it was, but could have been something else, or something on the nut (like a rare mold).  I had an epi-pen with me for about a decade and then stopped bothering about 30 years ago.  They are expensive, bulky, and can't tolerate much temp variation.  I am "livin' dangerously" I guess.

[Boomer]

My testing involved several months of being injected just under the skin several times in the middle of my back with tiny samples of various proteins and the reactions being noted. Apparently their are protein groups and if you react massively to a particular protein, then you normally react to a lesser degree to all proteins in the same group. In my case they narrowed it down to a particular group (which I have the name somewhere) but it's exclusively found in cows milk, so at that point the testing stopped, which was a major relief as the reactions were getting BAD the closer they got to the actual protein. The early tests itched on occasion, but the last set gave me blisters on 4 out of 7 injections and one actually burst.
I've never carried an epi-pen as my reaction is predictable and I normally have time to get to a doctor/hospital before it gets really bad.

I have had a few "minor" instances which are merely uncomfortable, but my last hospitalisation happened when I was 18 so I've managed to avoid a major for 40+ years 
That hospitalisation was for Lasagne, which was so tasty I had seconds.
I had asked if it had cheese in, and they said normally yes, but they had left out the cheese for me.
Unfortunately the store bought Béchamel sauce had cheese in it and they didn't realise.

[maxtog]

My testing involved several months of being injected just under the skin several times in the middle of my back with tiny samples of various proteins and the reactions being noted.

Yep, that is a pretty standard procedure, what they used to call a "scratch test" (because they used to use scratches and then dab the allergens on the scratches before changing to under-the-skin procedures).  I have had that done at least twice.  But I was told they didn't do that with foods, only environmental (contact, mucosa) allergens, because it didn't work for foods.

I have had a few "minor" instances which are merely uncomfortable, but my last hospitalisation happened when I was 18 so I've managed to avoid a major for 40+ years

Same here!  I had several "uncomfortable" (as you put it) experiences as a child, which warned and let everyone know I was allergic to most nuts.  But when I was 17, it happened....  It was Christmas Eve afternoon, at work, and I thought I was eating a mix that had peanuts in it, and was wrong.  Didn't eat much.  Within seconds I had mouth welts, then within minutes my uvula and tongue swelled so big, they were blocking my throat.  Before the ambulance got there, my blood pressure was crashing, I was turning blue gasping for air (between airway blockage, lots of mucus, and asthma reaction as well), covered in welts, and I was semi-conscious.  Ambulance administered massive amounts of epinephrine on the way to the hospital.  In the ER, I narrowly avoided a tracheotomy because they shoved a thin oxygen tube down my nose, past my mouth and into my lung area.  I was put into inflatable "pants" for hours that squeezed the blood from my legs back into my torso.  I was unconscious for most of it (I had only memories of waking to constant vomiting), and spent Christmas in intensive care.

How the hell has our species survived?  Such a ridiculous over-reaction to a harmless thing.  I guess culling was natural/frequent; at least I haven't passed on my defective genes, though.   Many years of immunotherapy (as a child, then later, again, as an adult, still doing it now) and various daily meds, have kept at least the normal allergies and asthma in check.  So much better stuff available now than when I was a kid.  Montelukast and Fexofenadine, for examples, were MAJOR game-changers for me.

[VirginiaJim]

I'll be visiting Feridies outside of Franklin VA for some peanuts this weekend.  They are a subsidiary to the Virginia Diner.  Coincidentally one of my clients.

[maxtog]

They are a subsidiary to the Virginia Diner.  Coincidentally one of my clients.

Virginia Diner is a place I have been to twice (I think).  The first and only place I had ever heard of "peanut soup", which I had, and it was good.  I am told it is also offered in historic Williamsburg, but I don't remember it being on the menus when I ate there a few times.

[DC Concours]

I love nuts.
I love the taste of a little salt on my nuts.
And the only nuts I can find with a little salt are Hampton Farms salted nuts. Does anyone have any other recommendations? Hampton are not readily available.

[maxtog]

And the only nuts I can find with a little salt are Hampton Farms salted nuts. Does anyone have any other recommendations? Hampton are not readily available.

What do you mean "with a little salt", do you mean "with salt" or "with less than typical amounts of salt" (or "low salt")?  I can't answer that, since most are just salted or unsalted.  Never seen "Hampton Farms" products and don't see any "low salt" options on their product pages.

Otherwise, Virginia Diner has their own brand of high-quality Virginia peanuts in all kinds of varieties, and they ship. https://www.vadiner.com  (the site seems really slow)

[BruceR]

Look up the Peanut Shop in Williamsburg, VA.  I've seen their products for sale in Bed Bath & Beyond, if you can find any stores open.  But they also will ship peanuts to you.  I think the only restriction is they do not ship chocolate-covered goods in Summer.  But that place is like a Baskin Robbins of peanuts.
Oh, and Max, boiled peanuts seems to be more of a Georgia mountains thing.  Haven't really seen a lot of boiled peanuts in my travels anywhere else.  I personally do not like them but some people do.

[Strawboss]

Like I said, south of the Manson-Nixon Line, I've had them in GA, AL,NC,SC. Raw peanuts are exactly that, raw. Not roasted, salted, dried, treated, soaked or otherwise sullied in any way with anything else, just raw peanuts. You gotta really like peanuts to enjoy raw peanuts, if you like peanuts, you know about raw peanuts, especially GA and AL.

The Mason-Dixon Line is a special thing for some, especially northerners, it's a line that says, you are now in the south, a different place. It was a marker of history, of war, of freedom for many, a thing of the distant past that reminded us of our country's start and creation and how it was surveyed by George Washington. When you crossed over it, you were now in what was a different country at one time. Things looked different, people sounded different, it was warmer, towns were smaller and people were friendlier. For me, it's still that way when I go to GA and AL to visit friends and family.

[DC Concours]

I should have said, lightly salted, preferably boiled or roasted in salty brine/oil. I've have had a few different brands where I find a lot of loose salt in the bottom on the pack. I  like to eat the roasted shells. The Virgina peanuts are crappy. They are large and bland.  Hampton farms seems to be ok for everyday use and snacking. There are other brands my gf gets me but they are fancy and expensive and she orders them from somewhere. I'm too lazy and cheap to do all that.

[Strawboss]

Now cashews are not nuts at all.

[maxtog]

Now cashews are not nuts at all.

Nope, they are drupes.  Very strange thing, with an edible, fleshy "false fruit" that grows ABOVE it, called a "cashew fruit."  I am not sure there is anything else like them.  So a false nut below a false fruit.  Truly, nature has produced some strange inconsistencies.

[Strawboss]

You never met my idiot sister-in-law who is an idiot. Oh, and she is certifiably nuts and an anomaly of nature.

[VirginiaJim]

I've been told that eating cashews helps with protection against Poison Ivy..

[Big Red]

Did front and rear lexan on the front and rear of my Camaro.

[Strawboss]

I've been led to believe that eating large amounts of celery helps to produce larger quantities of the little guys that make babies.