Unexpected food find: CVS' Country Style Virginia Peanuts

A few months ago, we stumbled upon these gems at my office. One of my cohorts made a stop at CVS and picked these up on a whim, after he saw them on the shelf. We'd had some excellent Virginia peanuts before from Virginia Diner.com but I have to say that these were every bit as good, and coming from CVS, a very pleasant surprise . . .



Here's what the package looks like.



Some of the CVS nuts measure nearly 1" in length.

Above, you can see the CVS peanuts on the bottom row, nearest the ruler and some conventional cocktail peanuts above them. The nuts from the CVS product measure nearly 1" in length. And while not all the nuts in the CVS container are this large, they generally run pretty big and their average size appears to be much larger than the average-size cocktail peanut in the can we bought. Their texture is excellent -- firm, smooth and very crunchy. These nuts carry a nice amount of salt that's clearly there but doesn't overwhelm. Their roasted aroma is compelling and their flavor is rich and satisfying. Otoh, the conventional cocktail peanuts were bland, oily, over-salty and nearly mushy in texture; not even worth eating by comparison.

Interestingly (or not), CVS has many varieties of nuts on their shelves and after stumbling upon these, we tried several of the other ones. Unfortunately, these were the only ones we thought were exceptional. Return trips to CVS for more of them have been mostly successful but I must not be the only person who's discovered them, because occasionally they are out of them and rarely do I ever see more than a few cans on the shelf. Fwiw, on one occasion I bought some cans that tasted rancid, even though they were nowhere near past their expiration date. I took them back to the store and they were replaced without delay or hesitation.

The cost for an 11-ounce can is $3.99, which is definitely a premium by percentages but even that doesn't amount to a whole lot of cash. Considering the quality, I think these nuts are a great value. But really, at any price, peanuts of this caliber are tough to come by (in Chicago retail) in my experience and these are a real pleasure to eat. I've certainly got no stake in CVS (in fact, I have an indirect interest in one of their competitors) but I really like these nuts and I think that if you like good peanuts, you might want to give these a try.

=R=

Thanks Ronnie, I love a good peanut.

I have seen peanuts nearly this long from Trader Joe's. Their boiled peanuts (also mentioned here) some in salt and salt & pepper varieties, cost $1.99 for 12 oz (I think) and are the crispiest peanuts I've ever tried. I prefer the salt & pepper but could only find the salt a few weeks back.

I'll have to pick up the CVS can to give them a try too.

i was going to mention the trader joe's "blister" peanuts, which i think is what you're referring to above, gastro gnome, but you called them "boiled" peanuts, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

are you talking about the "blister" peanuts, which are, in fact, super crispy and similar in size to the cvs ones ronnie posted about?

elakin wrote:..but you called them "boiled" peanuts, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Clearly a Yankee.

seebee wrote:

elakin wrote:..but you called them "boiled" peanuts, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Clearly a Yankee.

Being from Virginia, I can attest that Virginia grows some damn fine (and large) peanuts and that there's no better way to spoil that splendor than to boil them. Yuck.

For those who are curious, Wikpedia has a page on boiled peanuts

If you feel the need to try them, Big Jones in Andersonville (see the Big Jones thread )serves them as a pre-dinner snack (instead of bread or olives or what-have-you).

-Dan

seebee wrote:

elakin wrote:..but you called them "boiled" peanuts, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Clearly a Yankee.

Yes on both counts. TJ Peanuts = blistered; I = Yankee.

That "Clearly a Yankee" was pointed towards elakin.
Boiled peanuts are a southern, though not solely southern, kinda thing. Throughout the deeper south, (I can vouch for central Mississippi) there are roadside stands, and roadside pickup trucks selling bags of "boiled peanuts" all over the place. Papa and Gramps seebee are huge fans of the boiled peanut. I don't think I've ever had one. Looks like Dansch is familiar, though not a fan, of this peanut cooking method.

During watermelon season, Baylor's sells boiled Mississippi peanuts at their stand on Halsted.

That "Clearly a Yankee" was pointed towards elakin.

yeah, i'm a yankee, although i am familiar with the nastiness that is boiled peanuts. my m-i-l lives in south carolina.

however, i'm also familiar with the TJ peanuts gnome was referring to, which is why calling them boiled didn't make any sense to me. i'm pretty sure they're deep-fried.

Views Askew and I were wandering about Pilsen one Saturday last fall when we came upon a street vendor selling boiled peanuts. They were served in a zip top bag and were topped with Valentina hot sauce, lime juice and vinegar. Absolutely delicious! In fact, I even stopped by again for another bag as I was driving out of the neighborhood. I can't remember on what street the woman was selling them though.

I've been a fan of boiled peanuts since I was a kid. We would take family roads in the south and boiled peanuts were often available at roadside stands. Mmm!

seebee wrote:Boiled peanuts are a southern, though not solely southern, kinda thing. Throughout the deeper south, (I can vouch for central Mississippi) there are roadside stands, and roadside pickup trucks selling bags of "boiled peanuts" all over the place. Papa and Gramps seebee are huge fans of the boiled peanut. I don't think I've ever had one. Looks like Dansch is familiar, though not a fan, of this peanut cooking method.

While I did my time in Suffolk, VA, around where the Planters grow many of their peanuts (and supply a lot of peanuts to Smithfield), a lot of the best top grade peanuts per roasted until they were very crunchy. I never saw a boiled peanut in VA.

I have encountered boiled peanuts in So. Georgia, So. Alabama (around Point Clear), and in So. Mississippi, in and around Biloxi and Hattiesburg.

Several years ago, I bought a 25# bag of raw peanuts off the Amish in Arthur, IL. Top Grade A Fancy peanuts from Suffolk, and roasted them off pan by pan over a year. Haven't seen a peanut that compared since.

I bought 'bolledpINNits' from the back of a truck a couple of times near Gulf Shores AL. Must say, I kind of enjoyed them. Wouldn't sacrifice my roasted ones for them, but if the opportunity arrived again, I'd buy a sack or two.

Geo

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Stopped by my local CVS and got a can -- the first of many, I suspect.

For years, The Wife has been getting Planter's Dry Roasted. It's our default nut, and for some things (like smashing into a satay sauce), they're serviceable. For munching, I'm switching teams: these CVS goobers are delicious and I am crazy about their crunch.

Who knew we'd have a thread singing the praises of CVS products, but let me add one to the list. They've got a house brand of cookies called "Absolutely Divine," and they're way better than your average packaged cookie. Shortbread tastes like real butter and isn't overly sweet, and lemon-gelatin filling is really quite lemonny and natural-tasting. There are many other flavors that I've not tried. I'd be unashamed to serve CVS' Absolutely Divine cookies to company, or to snack on a couple as I have tonight.

elakin wrote:however, i'm also familiar with the TJ peanuts gnome was referring to, which is why calling them boiled didn't make any sense to me. i'm pretty sure they're deep-fried.

I realize that I introduced a measure of off-topicness to the CVS product, but it's all in the name of great peanuts!

I was curious and searched around. The description of the TJ blistered peanuts does not seem to state that these are fried, just soaked and roasted.

Generations ago folks soaked peanuts in water to removed the red skins prior to roasting. This caused the peanuts to 'blister' during roasting, resulting in an incomparable crunch.

Kennyz wrote:Who knew we'd have a thread singing the praises of CVS products, but let me add one to the list. They've got a house brand of cookies called "Absolutely Divine," and they're way better than your average packaged cookie.
...
There are many other flavors that I've not tried.

The chocolate ones are really good.

-Dan

LTH,

Bought a can of CVS Country Style Virginia Peanuts on the way to lunch at Deta's yesterday, in all deference to Ronnie_S, and the other enthusiasts in the thread, I was not enamored. I may have got the odd off can, the peanuts, while very crunchy, had an over-roasted flavor verging on, but not quite crossing over to, burnt.





I will definitely try them again, I have much faith in Ronnie_S's recommendations, not to mention the others in this thread, but yesterday CVS Country Style Virginia Peanuts missed the mark.

Enjoy,
Gary

GWiv, it's possible the incredible crunchiness that I find so appealing is due to pushing the roasting of these nuts a little past the usual levels. These are more roasted than other Virginia style peanuts I've had, and it's possible you did get a batch that went too far, and it's most likely that, as in some few other cases, our tastes differ.

That peanut should be the new smiley emoticon.

Picked up a can of these yesterday (how could I not?). The "flavor profile" (there's that dreaded phrase) was immediately redolent to me of the peanuts you get at the ballpark, which is no bad thing. I can't think of other peanuts I've had outside a ballpark that conjured up in a Proustian way "essence of ballpark" as these did.