My mother grew up in a small town on the Maine coast, Eastport. We would spend many a summer vacation growing up visiting my grandmother who still lived in town. A highlight for us was the trip up to Calais, Maine on our way into Canada for the day. We would always stop at a little shop not too far from the border crossing for fresh roasted peanuts. These were always the best peanuts you could buy; salty, freshly roasted and absolutely delicious. BERNARDINO’S NUTS came to existence over 100 years ago when Luigi Bernardini emigrated from Lucca, Italy to Calais, Maine. Luigi began the legacy of deep frying extra large Virginia Redskins in vegetable oil and they quickly became a local staple. A recent trip to Maine I was disappointed that I could no longer find the shop in Calais. On returning home I did a quick google search for “Calais, Maine Peanuts” and found the web site. The founder’s great grandchildren still run the business and although no longer located in Calais still provide the same high quality product through mail order.
Alex loved them and my nostalgia was not misplaced they were delicious.
