Nuts about peanuts (+recipes)

Peanuts originated from Peru more than 3500 years ago. Photo / The Aucklander

Today is my day to act nutty and why not, I am crossing the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland; dodging wallaby road kill, losing count of the number of termite hills on the roadside, and singing along to Tom Petty's Free Falling.

I am in the mood for a little adventure after going to the Jaques Coffee Plantation near Mareeba with the crazy desire to fly strapped into a bucket seat of a gyrocopter.

Hovering 1000m up, staring down over a mango winery and a crocodile farm, I listen to the Tanzanian pilot bragging about the best peanut butter he has ever eaten.

Safely landed and intrigued, I zoom to The Peanut Place in Tolga and discover Chinese gold diggers first planted peanuts in Australia, in 1870 near Cooktown.

Peanuts originated from Peru more than 3500 years ago and are also known as earthnuts, ground nuts, goober peas and monkey nuts.

Peanuts are planted in December and take 22 weeks to mature, at which stage the nut's skin (mesocarp) changes from white to a reddish brown.

The entire plant is removed from the soil during harvesting. The plant is cut off through the soil just below the level of the peanut pods, the "bush" is shaken, inverted and left upside down on the ground to keep the peanuts out of the soil and allow the peanuts to dry slowly over three or four days.

Once the peanuts have dried sufficiently, they are threshed to remove the peanut pods from the rest of the bush.

To roast the nuts, I recommend either spraying with oil and tossing frequently in a hot oven until they smell aromatic (tasting them as you go) or simply deep-frying them, draining on a kitchen towel, and warming in the oven to release any excess oil.

To remove the papery skin around the nut, tip into a coarse sieve and roll the nuts around; the abrasive action will lift the skins.

A quick, crunchy topping to an icecream sundae is peanut rocca; made by tossing peanuts with sieved icing sugar bound lightly with triple sec. Push the mixture close together on a silicon sheet pan and bake at160C until crystallised. Once cool, break into clusters.

Because of increasing allergies, this addictive snack has taken a bit of a hit in the popularity stakes in recent times, but I must admit I am rather nuts about them.