Sunkist squeezes out creative ideas for lemons

Everyone knows that if life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. But Sunkist has some other suggestions:

Place votive candles in lemon shells and float them in an elegant, water-filled bowl.

Use fresh lemon juice to clean copper pots.

Fertilize roses or other plants needing acidity with lemon skins.

Try lemon juice as an antidote to nausea.

Grind lemon skins in the garbage disposal to keep it smelling fresh.

Toss a little lemon peel into the fireplace for a zesty fragrance.

Book looks at history of ‘culinary icon’

“Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober Pea” (University of Illinois University Press, $29.95) by Andrew S. Smith tells the back story of one of the wonders of the national food scene.

“Peanuts help define what it means to be an American,” Smith says.

Quite a definition bearing in mind that in antebellum America the peanut was shunned by Southern aristocrats and Northern elite, considered ungenteel, fit only for the poor and slaves to eat. Thereafter, it soared in public esteem, of course. Fresh roasted peanuts soon found a wider popular fan base, and now peanuts and peanut butter are part of the food mainstream.

“Nowhere else in the world are peanuts consumed in so many ways or in such quantities as in the United States,” Smith writes. Its long social history has converted the peanut into a culinary icon, he says.

The book surveys that long history, drawing from many scholarly sources. Among Smith’s offerings is a chapter titled Historical Recipes. He found thousands, he says and chose some to include here, pointing out they’re quite different from modern recipes.