MARKETING PEANUTS 
47 
HOW PEANUTS REACH THE CONSUMER 
PEANUTS IN THE SHELL 
Not many years ago the only way the public came in contact with 
peanuts was in the shell, and the word " peanut " was associated 
almost exclusively in most minds with the street vender who had a 
small, whistling peanut stand, heated by gas or charcoal, where the 
raw peanuts were roasted slowly and irregularly. Now the small, 
whistling stand is becoming gradually less conspicuous, and is used 
more as a place to keep peanuts warm than for roasting. Street 
venders (fig. 20) or retail grocers, who sell peanuts in 5 and 10 cent 
bags, now usually buy them of the jobbers or wholesale grocers 
already roasted. A more uniform degree of brownness and 
improved flavor are assured by the use of large-scale roasters. 
an 
Fig. 20.— Street vender selling roasted peanuts. Often, as in this case, peanuts have to meet 
competition from pop corn, candy, and raisins 
Venders at circuses, fairs, ball games, and summer resorts, as well 
as street venders and grocers still sell large quantities of roasted 
peanuts. Dealers look forward hopefully to the opening of the 
"summer season/' which usually occurs in early spring, as an oppor- 
tunity for increasing their sales. The litter caused by purchasers 
throwing around peanut shells, however, has been so undesirable 
that many cities, some parks, and other places of amusement, have 
prohibited the sale of peanuts in the shell, and for several years 
interest in cleaned peanuts among the trade grew constantly less. 
This tendency was encouraged by the high prices charged by venders, 
many of whom have not appreciably increased the number of peanuts 
they sell for 5 cents since the war, although wholesale prices have 
fluctuated greatly since then and have at times fallen to one-third 
the war prices. During the past two or three years, sales of peanuts 
