Smyrna times., 1908-12-30
POWDER ON PEANUTS.
Used to Make the Coolers Look
Clean and Pretty
LONG AND CAREFUL TOILET.

Besides Being Powdered, the Nuts Are
Brushed and Polished and Sized Be-
fore They Are Roasted-cooked at
the Mill by Experts.
There is not much to a peanut, to
look at it. 1t grows on farm and is
ready to eat after it has been roasted.
A careless deduction would link up
the farmer. the commission merchant,
then the grocer or Michelangelo
That would be mighty careless de-
duction, though. The first time a lot
OF unrOasted peanuts are encountered
rub one on piece of dark cloth and
observe the white mark it leaves. That
Is talcum powder. They powder pea
nuts to make them look pretty, which
is just why sister powders her face.
and in that particular peanuts and girls
are both alike.
Any farmer can grow peanuts. but
no farmer can sell them to the CON
sumer The peanut he grows is not fit
to put OF stand. at least not until it
has been touched up. Look at the pea
nuts on the next push cart and see
how even they run as to size. They
have all been sorted Observe how
clean they are and how white this lot
Is. how gray that lot is and how uni
form all the different lots are They
have been sorted.
When the peanut is grown it is gath
cred and carried to a miller. who puts
It in a great bin and later carries il
over to his mill, where he has a con
trivance just chOck full of brushes
These brushes get almost every leck
of sand and dirt out of the peanuts,
which is more than the farmer could
have done if he had spent the summer
trying. Then the brushed peanuts go
on to another sort of mill, and by
being tossed about they get their huls
polished. and while that is being done
they are peppered with talcum powder
so that by the time they come out Of
this machine they are as white as they
are to appear in public.
But the peanut is not ready for mar
or smaller ones, hurting the appear
ance of the larger ones, while it does
not enhance the value of the smaller
ones. To even up matters the output
of the talcum powder polishing ma
chine is run out on to a great canvas
belt. which travels for fifty feet or
more slowly. On either side of this
belt are boys and girls. These sort the
peanuts as they pass; this squad pick
ing out the biggest. that squad taking
the next largest. and so on down till
the smallest are left. Shells that have
lodged the powder rag are thrown
back into the mill. and broken hulls
are thrown away.
That is about all for the peanut now.
excepting the roasting. 1t has to be
roasted. There is a popular supersti-
tion that the Italian vender roasts the
peanuts in his little push cart. All he
does is keep them hot. They are roast
ed at the mill, tons at a time, cooked
to a nicely by experienced men. who
have thermometers and all sorts of
appliances to show them when 4 pea
nut is done" This roasted product is
the one that the Italian buys. and
when he gets it he pops it into his lit
tie fake roaster and warns it over. II
takes a long time and a lot of work
and hosts of boys and girls to get the
nicke's worth of hot roasted peanuts
in the red and blue striped bag. but
there is a reason for it all, and the
reason is that sack of even run smal
sized peanuts will find a buyer quick
er than sack of big and little ones
all mixed up together. The stomach
likes the eye to make a good report
and the peanut commission merchan
understands that a shining shell. will
indentations filled with talcum, please'
the eyes, and he has no cOmpunction
about the powder box. because he ha
found out that in roasting the hea
drives off the surplus talcum, so tina
is why If one wants to find out fo
true about this trick of the trade j
will be necessary TO get hold of an un
roasted and not roasted peanut.
BY way Of good measure it might b.
added that the shelled peanuts, geneT
ally sold salted, have been run through
q thrashing machine, which breaks tn
hull and blows it out of the way. Onl
Spanish she'll" nuts can be so treated
The tougher hulls have to 90 to SignO
Italiano.-Kansas City Journal.