Birmingham Rouge - Vintage Peanut Roaster

I love the Peanut Depot on Morris Avenue downtown. It's like stepping back in time. They have been roasting peanuts since 1907.  This beauty caught my eye of course!

Camo

The Peanut Depot on Morris Avenue has been roasting peanuts since 1907.  They roasts them all day long Monday through Friday.  Folks come from near and far to buy them in the old fashioned paper bags. Sometimes they're still warm.  It's hard to get out of the store before you start cracking those shells.  A bird buffet.

"It's A Great Day To Be a Peanut!"

Ms. Peanut, as we call her,  is the spokesperson for The Peanut Depot on Morris Avenue. Every Saturday she dons this great but WARM peanut costume and happily calls to shoppers that pass by her booth at the Pepper Place Market. No matter how hot and humid, she is smiling, cheerful and just adorable!  I don't know how much she gets paid to do this but whatever the amount.......it's not enough!  Oh that everyone loved their job as much as she does!

NOTE: Thanks to readers Harriet and Dystopos for supplying her name....Felicia Jackson and this information about her here!

Put a Little South in Your Mouth!

Alabama ranks third in the nation for peanut production.  400 million pounds a year to be exact.  The Peanut Depot on Morris Avenue in downtown Birmingham still roasts them  on site in some fine old roasters.  I've eaten my fair share.

100 Strangers Challenge - The Peanut Depot

Stranger # 96

Strangers # 97 & 98

A few weeks ago we paid another visit to the Peanut Depot here. Well while I was there, I met these nice ladies, who had stopped by to stock up on a BIG sack of peanuts. They were nice enough to pose on their cycles before they roared off down the cobblestoned Morris Avenue. Inside, this very friendly employee let me photograph him as well. My Strangers # 96, 97, and 98. We're almost there!!

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut!

As promised, Monday I hit the streets to make up for lost time. I got to Historic Morris Avenue and pulled over. The Peanut Depot was open for business! I usually photograph that area on the weekends and have posted an exterior photo *here. I don't know why I never thought about going on a weekday. The Peanut Depot has been right here, roasting peanuts the old fashioned way without oils or preservatives for over 100 years. Stepping inside is like going back in time. The old roasters are cranking away, and they still sell them in brown paper bags. You can get them roasted, salted, cajun and raw. And for you hard core southerners, they have boiled peanuts as well. Check their website and order some.

My thanks to the owner and friendly staff for allowing me to roam all over the place photographing . Oh, and I bought myself a paper bag full for the road. We'll come back here. This is a photographer's buffet as Bob Crowe likes to say.

Peanut Factoid: Approximately 1/2 of all peanuts grown in the USA are grown within a 100 mile radius of Dothan , Alabama, the Peanut Capital of the World!

* When I went back to find the URL for the previous post, I stopped to read the comments. That was shortly after I started my blog. How fun to read the comments and find that most of them are still with me, and I do miss those that aren't!

The Peanut Depot, a Birmingham Tradition

The Peanut Depot on Morris Avenue has been roasting peanuts  the old fashioned way  since 1907, in the same roasters the original owners used !!  Morris Avenue is a quaint cobblestone street that has the delicious aroma of freshly roasting  peanuts 6 days a week.  Outside the depot,  you can find the remains of shells in between the cobblestones, where customers just couldn't wait to crack some on their way out.