Raw Peanuts cooking time

by Mike
(Philippines)

We boil our raw peanuts about 25 minutes. The nuts are then soft on the inside of the shell and very tasty. These are peanuts in the Philippines. Longer cooking times will destroy the health benefits of the peanuts.

Comments for Raw Peanuts cooking time

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Feb 26, 2013

Cooking time
by: Bret

Mike,
Thank you for writing to us from the Philippines about boiling peanuts. You must be boiling immature green peanuts if you are boiling them for about 25 minutes.

In the USA, raw green peanuts are usually boiled for at least 1 hour, up to 4 hours, but it depends on the maturity of the peanuts and the preferred texture.

Reduced cooking time for many raw vegetables does help retain nutrients. However, raw peanuts, like other raw legumes, contain some antinutritional factors that become diminished with increased boiling time. Boiling peanuts also increases their isoflavone and trans-Resveratrol content.

Per the Alabama A&M publication "Changes in the Phytochemical Composition and Profile of Raw, Boiled, and Roasted Peanuts": "Legumes are inexpensive sources of proteins; however, they contain antinutritional factors such as tannins, phytates, and trypsin inhibitors, which if ingested can reduce the nutritional quality of the food and lead to undesirable physiological effects. Therefore, they need to be processed prior to consumption to reduce the levels of these antinutritional factors."

"The peanuts were placed in a 6 quart stainless steel stockpot, and 2 L of water containing 50 g of salt was added. The stock pot was covered and boiled for 2 hr after which an additional 2 L of water was added and brought to a boil for an additional 2 hr. The peanuts were allowed to cool to room temperature and then shelled."

"Biochanin A was detected in both the raw and the processed peanuts; however, the levels were significantly higher (twofold) in the boiled peanuts compared to those in the raw and roasted peanuts."

"Boiling had a significant effect on the phytochemical composition of peanuts compared to oil and dry roasting. Boiled peanuts had higher total isoflavone content with a two and fourfold increase in biochanin A and genistein content, respectively. trans-Resveratrol was detected only in the boiled peanuts, with the commercial peanuts having significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher concentration. Also, other UV absorbing compounds were detected in the boiled peanut extracts. These may be products of the hydrolysis due to boiling, may have migrated into the peanut kernels from the hull during boiling, or may be components of the skin."

When cooking peanuts, it appears that boiling them both reduces antinutritional factors, and enhances total isoflavone content and trans-Resveratrol content, with respect to eating them raw, roasted, or fried.

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