Item Specification: Salted PeanutsCopy Anchor Link

"Turning quickly to the barman he asked for four packets of peanuts.
'There you are, sir,' said the barman, slapping the packets on the bar, 'twenty-eight pence if you'd be so kind.'
Ford was very kind — he gave the barman another five-pound note and told him to keep the change."

— The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 3

Salted Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea) are small, crunchy, oil-roasted terrestrial legumes liberally coated in sodium chloride and sold in crinkly packets behind the bars of English country pubs such as The Horse and Groom.

The Twenty-Eight Pence Emergency PurchaseCopy Anchor Link

Seconds after Arthur Dent realized that the council's yellow bulldozers were actively knocking down his house and bolted out of the pub waving a nearly empty beer glass, Ford Prefect paused before sprinting after him to make one final, vital purchase:

• The Order: Four packets of peanuts, slapped onto the bar by the dignified old barman for a total price of twenty-eight pence (seven pence per packet).
• The Second Fiver: Paying with his second five-pound note (Small Green Pieces of Paper) of the lunchtime session, Ford told the barman to keep the change—while inadvertently broadcasting a subliminal stress signal across the bar communicating that he was 600 light-years from his birthplace near Betelgeuse.

Physiological Utility in Matter TransferenceCopy Anchor Link

While three pints of bitter serve as an indispensable pre-transit muscle relaxant that cushions the system, salted peanuts provide critical biochemical recovery immediately after hitching a ride via a starship's matter transference beam:

• Salt & Protein Restoration: As Ford Prefect explained while ripping open a packet in the dark Dentrassi galley cabin aboard Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz's Vogon Constructor Ship: "Here, have some, if you've never been through a matter transference beam before you've probably lost some salt and protein. The beer you had should have cushioned your system a bit."
• Post-Beam Recovery: Helping a groggy Arthur Dent to some peanuts in the pitch darkness—while Arthur muttered "It's dark... No light... Dark, no light" and reported feeling "like a military academy, bits of me keep on passing out"—stabilized his electrolyte balance enough for him to get to his feet inside the Vogon flagship.