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Sometime ago, my son and I stopped at a convenience store looking for gas. I ran inside to get us a drink. Lo and behold, they had real glass, traditional cokes.
And then it hit me...
I had let him grow to a teen without tasting a treat from my childhood that I used to take for granted.
Not Coca Cola...we're not that far out in the country!
Rather, the sweet, salty, fizzy blending of peanuts and coke in a glass bottle. It HAS to be the waisted glass bottle of yore or it will NOT taste the same.
So, I dashed back to the JEEP with 2 bags of peanuts and 2 cokes. A quick demonstration of the proper procedure and a new convert was born.
So now I am wondering. We did this all the time growing up in the glass soda bottle era.
Is this a southern thing?
Is it a country thing and done all over in rural areas?
Is it an everywhere thing and even done in Metropolis?
How 'bout it?
31 comments:
Well way back when when I was about ten ( that's a long time ago too) I had the first one of those tasty treats while airboating around the Everglades with my German Immigrent turned cracker grandpa.
They called it a "Georgia Cocktail" and I took a liking to it.
Back in HS in Leesburg I remember when you could leave campus at lunch time, hot footing it to the Pure Oil Station around the corner for a nutrious and tasty Geogia Cocktail lunch with the ambiance of gasoline and lube oil.
You're right about the bottle it just doesn't work in a can.
Now my wife who's from Loisiana where all soft drinks are either a "Coke" or "RC" hates the combination and the "r" neck word comes up when I indulge myself. She speaks fondly of "RC & Moon Pies", something I never developed a tast for.
Then there are boiled peanuts, but that is a whole different subject...
Sorry, FC, I can only report that this is the first time I've ever heard of such a treat. I've lived in New Jersey, California, Colorado, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington. I don't think I can speak on behalf of all those states, but only on behalf of New Jersey and California :)
Definitely not a Minnesota thing, although I think The Hermit might be familiar with this concoction, either from growing up in Ohio or taking family vacations in South Carolina. I'll have to ask him.
By the way, my uncle is a manager at one of the last Coke bottling plants in the country to sell Coke in the original green glass bottles.
Fat Man,
Similar experiences. My buds in high school loved the Ray Charles (RC) and Moon Pie combo. I'd get a strawberrry Nehi and hunker down for their negatory comments about my masculinity. Kevin are you out there?
Tell your wife all soft drinks are cokes to me too.
RD,
You nomad! Thanks for the input from such a broad geographic background.
Deb,
Hooray for your uncle. It just tastes crisper in that ice cold glass bottle. Tell him to keep up the good work.
RD,
Yes we do.
Rd,
Yes we do.
To All,
Now get out there and try it!
I'm back! I've missed stopping by your site from time to time. So glad to read that Flounder is ok.. My dogs have had similar cysts as well.
And uh, I've never heard of this peanut/coke drink. ever! lol
actually, that should read "from day to day", not "from time to time".
I find myself checking in on daily basis! :)
peanuts and coke.. ewwww
Okay, this is strange...we were discussing this very topic at work today. Of course, we put our peanuts in a Pepsi, not a Co-Cola ;)
Laura,
Okay, you gotta try it before you pronounce it eewwww. I used to say the same thing about Chinese food and broccoli. Now I eat both whenever I get a chance and cook Chinese every Saturday night...it's in the prenuptual agreement.
Oh, and I am so glad you are back in the blogosphere!
TonyG,
Thanks for the info...the feedback has pretty much determined that this is more of a southern thing. Surely less of it now adays with glass coke bottles being scarce.
Wow, how do you keep all those blogs going???
Swampy,
Forgot to tell you I was psychic. That is weird tho...
I confess to not being able to tell the difference between Pepsi and Co-Cola, but I hardly ever drink any soda pop anymore. Well, some of that amber kind from time to time ;)
Yum Strawbeery Nehi perfect perfect with a Kings Ribs Rib sandwich ( three spareribs, bones and all with sauce between two slices of Wonder bread)...
Had a Prof at UF who had run coke taste tests every quarter for 30 years, found out only 5% of the volunteers could tell the differance and if you tossed in RC the figure dropped to 2%. He even ran a cola vs Sprite test and only 23% could tell the differance.
Fatman,
True southern cuisine at it's finest...or at least it's messiest. I had a BBQ chicken sandwich from a little roadside trailer in the Swamp area and got a thigh-leg quarter between two slices of white bread...bones and all.
I here. Yeah, Ray Charles was my perferred "Coke". I had a "Coke", actually a diet Pepsi and peanuts today. It was a canned drink so I didn't pour the nuts in. You're right, if it's not a glass bottle it's just not the same. There's nothing like pulling a glass bottle out of a cooler on a really hot day.
Back in high school I financed my fuel habit with returnable glass bottles. A nickel a bottle and 50 cents a gallon for gas, it didn't take too many bottles to get you around.
I have never heard of this, but I think Tim McGraw makes a reference to it in one of his songs because I didn't know what he was talking about. I am from Indiana and I came to you via Kristi.
I am glad you like it. I think it sounds gross. :) Sorry.
Kevin,
I remember tooling around in the BAD DATSUN with bottles rattling in the truck bed.
Also sort of remember the keg in the back, but that's another story...
Teresa,
Welcome! Thanks for stopping by. I understand it may sound gross, but you might give it a try just to see for yourself...
Teresa,
One more thing...why doesn't Tim Mcgraw ever take that hat off?
FC-
I grew up in a small town in central Missouri, called Sweet Springs. When I say small, it's really small....population 1700. You brought back memories of sitting in the booths at Whittsit's Drug Store and having coke and peanuts! How about cherry phosphates and lime freezes, remember those? Ahhh, the good ole days of yore! (did I really say that?) Anyway thanks for the memories...uh oh gotta go, I'm seeing visions of Bob Hope now!
FC, It's not just a small town thing. This phenomenum has been witnessed in the big city of Kansas City while I was growing up! It could be a geographical thing limited to the central, south, and southeast.
Lightnin,
It was McCartneys's drug store for me. Fountain cherry cokes where the guy squirted cherry syrup, "Is that enough", into your classic coke-shape glass before adding the coke. Thanks for the input.
ThunderD,
Interesting...if it's been seen in Kansas City, we need some input from the sage of RoundRock.
That sage of Roundrock grew up in St. Louis, not Kansas City. And there is only one beverage of choice in St. Louis. (Three guesses.) I must confess that I have not seen the peanuts in the Coke bottle around KC since I've lived here the last 20 years. Maybe the swell folks at the country clubs and art museums drink this concoction. Of course, I'm astonished when Southerners tell me that Kansas City barbecue is not real barbecue. Ah, I think I'll just have another amber-colored drink!
(You know, this kind of regional, cultural conversation is really one of the wonderful things about blogging. Great stuff!)
Pablo,
I believe I have had more comments on peanuts and coke then any of my other postings.
FC & Pablo
Thunder and I were just talking about this on the phone when we came to the conclusion that it's not a geographical thing it's age! I told him the teens in the 50's & 60's were doing this before we did and that Barbara Mandrell sings about this also. I really think during the poodle skirt era is when this was started.
Well, that explains why I had never heard of it!
Lightnin,
I think what you are saying is very true. Just the glass bottle itself is a relic of the recent past. What I need to do is quiz my high school students when I go back to work in January.
Pablo,
You young whippersnapper!
This is so funny. I've never heard of the concoction myself and I've lived in rural California most of my life...except when I lived in San Francisco and LA and Milwaukee (no peanut cokes there either)...but I digress...
I'm game to try it...especially after forcing Pablo to try fish tacos...what a sport.
Nerd Boy found a six pack container of glass coke bottles at the grocery yesterday and he just had to have it. He doesn't like nuts, though, so I doubt he'll try your concoction.
FC, Sorry to break the string of conversation, but do you ever have issues uploading images to Blogger? I hope you're sitting down, but I'm actually working on a post about brewing! Somewhat inspired by Pablo's drink of choice!
Oh yeah, back to the subject. It's got to be linked to the bottles, althoght that doesn't explain the aboration in Texas.
Everybody in Alabama has heard of this. But I don't think people do it as often as they used to.
I was thinking that it had to be an RC, but maybe that's just with Moon Pies.
Hick,
Sorry Nerd Boy doesn't like peanuts...that puts a damper on this treat. Of course you'll give it a try?
ThunderD,
I usually upload from Picasa rather than use the blogger photo upload button. Just seems smoother and relatively trouble free. Yes, you should post again, it's been a week or so...
Rurality,
Definitely it has to be a cola, but it would taste good with any brand. RC and a moon pie are standard complementary foods in the south too.
peanuts in your coke convinent for those who shift gears while drinking coke with p-nuts.All should try it at least once its great.Kevin almost forgot about the Datsun. FC your scout look-a-like is still there but not for sale
Rick,
True,true.
That Scout would probably go for a pretty penny nowadays.
Astonishingly, I mentioned this taste treat to my boss, who is a good old boy from Louisiana, and he instantly knew what I was talking about, confessing that he had partaken of this many times as a youth. (Too many carbs for him now.)
ha ha ha I do this on my break at work every day and people are always coming in and asking me "what the heck are you doing?" I didn't even know it was a southern thing until my mom told me so a couple years ago.
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