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Made in S.A.: Lil Red's Boiled Peanuts

A man brings a bit of south Florida to San Antonio in this week's Made in San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO — Roaster or made into peanut butter is usually how we eat peanuts in South Texas.

But in parts of Florida, they’re boiled in brine water and eaten warm.

“This is just a common snack that was shared throughout generations," Lil Red’s Boiled Peanuts, owner Michael McAndrew said.

Michael McAndrew grew up in southeast Florida and came to Texas for the oil boom.

When black gold took a dip he had some extra time on his hands and went back to Mom’s recipe.

"Once I realized you couldn't come across boiled peanuts here in Texas, that's when it kind of dawned on me that I should start sharing some boiled peanuts with some other folks," McAndrew said.

McAndrew quickly learned the boiled peanut was a foreign object in these parts.

"That threw me for a loop. It was something that I grew up with known as a traditional snack and people hadn't even heard of it," said McAndrew.

So two years ago he came up with Lil Red’s Boiled Peanuts.

To get the perfect batch, it can take up to a half day to boil the traditional salted, Cajun and habanero flavored peanuts.

"To get that tenderness and all that flavor inside the peanut- yeah it can take some time. You have to be patient for a good thing,” said McAndew.

He also says it’s not like eating a traditional roasted peanut.

There’s a method to consuming them that McAndrew gets to show people when selling at farmers markets.

The flavor and texture nothing like eating a traditional roasted peanut either.

Although he may not have chosen the traditional path, just like his peanuts the wait is paying off.

"It can be scary, but you have to keep your blinders on at times. Just whenever you know that it's a good thing you just have to keep pushing it,” McAndrew said.

Pushing forward with one goal in mind.

"To make sure every Texan has tried a boiled peanut,” McAndrew said.

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