The true test of your willpower is whether you can eat just one fresh roasted peanut. Recently, I flunked this test - repeatedly - while sampling the 1-pound packages sold by three local peanut roasters.

The allure of peanuts in the shell is both that they taste good and they make you work. Cracking open the shell and fishing out the nut has a certain amount of gustatory suspense; there is a chance that you might sink your teeth into a bitter one. This could leave a bad taste in your mouth, unless you immediately eat more.

The Nut Farm

Address --Greenspring Station, 2360 W. Joppa Road, Lutherville

Phone --410-824-7464

Hours --8 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays.

At $2.50 a pound, this was the best-looking pound of peanuts, with very few cracked shells in the 191 nuts. Hand-packed at a shop that roasts peanuts every other day.

Know of a good carryout place? Let us hear about it. Write to rob.kasper@baltsun.com.