George Washington Carver’s Peanut Soup – Tuskegee Institute, 1916 – Black Foodie Finder

A Creamy Peanut Soup From the Man Who Taught America to Cook With Peanuts

Before peanut butter sat in every pantry, George Washington Carver was writing down ways to get the peanut onto the family table. This is the very first recipe in his most famous bulletin: a simple, creamy soup made from milk, butter, flour and a cup of boiled peanuts. It is rich without being heavy, and it comes together in about half an hour once the peanuts are cooked.

Carver published the recipe in 1916 as part of his work at the Tuskegee Institute experiment station, where he pushed Southern farmers to plant peanuts to rebuild soil worn out by cotton. Convincing families to eat what they grew was the other half of the job. We have retyped the recipe as he printed it and added our own notes for the modern kitchen below.

Ingredients

• 1 quart whole milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup raw shelled peanuts
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Makes: about 4 servings (our estimate; the bulletin gives no yield)

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Cook the peanuts in water until soft. Raw shelled peanuts take about 45 minutes to an hour at a gentle boil.
2. Drain the peanuts, remove the skins, and mash or grind them until very fine. A blender or food processor does this in seconds.
3. Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy pot, add the ground peanuts, and cook for 20 minutes over low heat, stirring so the milk does not scorch.
4. Rub the flour into a smooth paste with a few spoonfuls of cold milk.
5. Add the butter to the peanuts and milk, then stir in the flour paste and cook until the soup thickens slightly.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

Pro Tips & Suggestions

• Use raw peanuts, not roasted. Carver’s instruction to “cook peanuts until soft” only works with raw shelled peanuts. Roasted peanuts will not soften and will make the soup taste like peanut butter.
• Keep the heat low once the milk is in. Milk scorches fast. A heavy-bottomed pot and a low flame keep the bottom from catching during the 20-minute simmer.
• Make the flour paste with cold milk. Hot milk turns flour lumpy. Whisk the paste smooth before it goes in, then let the soup bubble a minute or two to cook out the raw flour taste.
• Blend it if you want it silky. The 1916 kitchen had a mortar or a grinder. A quick pass with an immersion blender at the end gives a smooth, modern texture.
• Finish simply. A little black pepper and a few crushed peanuts on top are all it needs. This soup is a good first course before a fall supper.

About the Creator

George Washington Carver was born enslaved in Missouri near the end of the Civil War and became one of the most important agricultural scientists in American history. After earning his degrees at Iowa State, he joined Booker T. Washington at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1896 and directed its agricultural experiment station for the rest of his life.

His bulletins were written for farm families, not for scientists. Bulletin No. 31, first issued in 1916, is the one people still talk about: it lays out how to grow the peanut and then gives 105 ways to cook it, from soups and salads to bread, candy and mock chicken. This peanut soup is recipe number one.

Where to Find This Recipe

This recipe is retyped from page 10 of How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption, Tuskegee Experiment Station Bulletin No. 31 (1916), by G. W. Carver. The bulletin is in the public domain and can be read in full at the Internet Archive.

The photograph of Carver is by Frances Benjamin Johnston, taken at Tuskegee in 1906, from the Library of Congress. We show every historical image exactly as it appears in the source.