Peanuts

     Peanuts probably originated in Brazil or Peru, although no records exist to prove this, but it is known that they were grown as far north as Mexico by the time the Spanish began their exploration of the New World in the early 1500s. 

     The explorers took peanuts back to Spain where they are still grown today. From Spain, traders and explorers took peanuts to Africa and Asia. And, it was the Africans who were the first people to introduce peanuts to North America. Eventually, peanuts were grown throughout the Southern United States. 

     Today nine states in the US grow most of the peanuts with Georgia growing nearly half of all the peanuts in the United States, followed by Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia, Florida, South Carolina and New Mexico. When I lived in North Carolina in the 1960s peanuts were generally referred to as “ground peas.” 

     There is evidence that ancient South American Inca Indians were the first to grind peanuts to make peanut butter. A Canadian chemist named Marcellus Gilmore Edson patented an early version of peanut butter in 1884. In the United Sates Dr. John H. Kellogg (of cereal fame) invented a version of peanut butter in 1885. However, peanut butter was first introduced to the general public at the Universal Exposition (World’s Fair of 1904) in St. Louis, Missouri. 

     Many are surprised to discover that the peanut is actually not a nut at all, but a legume and belongs in the pea family. Hences, the North Carolina term, ground pea. Some other names given to peanuts are goobers, ground nuts, monkey nuts and earth nut. 

     Peanuts are unusual because they grow on a plant which flowers above the soil but the fruit (the peanut) grows below the ground. Peanuts are usually planted in April or May. Once planted, peanut seeds grow into a green, oval shaped plant which reaches about 18 inches in height when fully mature. 

 

 

     Small yellow flowers appear on the lower part of the plant as it begins to grow. These flowers pollinate themselves and then lose their petals as the fertilized ovary begins to enlarge. 

     The enlarged ovary is called the peg and it grows down and away from the plant forming a small stem which extends to the soil. The peanut embryo is the tip of the peg and the peanut begins developing once underground, growing into a peanut. 

     George Washington Carver (1864-1943), a botanist, began his research into peanuts in 1903 at Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama. He recognized the value of peanuts as a cash crop and proposed that peanuts be planted as a rotation crop in farmers’ fields. This was especially important in cotton growing areas when boll weevils threatened the cotton crops. As a result, peanut production flourished.

     According to Carver’s biographer Rackham Holt, Carver had long mused over the problem of what to do with all the peanuts that were the result of crop rotation and he ultimately got his answer in prayer. 

     According to Carver, he had asked God what the universe was made for, but was told his mind was too small to understand and he should ask for something smaller. So, eh asked what was man made for. Again, the answer was to ask for something smaller. 

     Finally, Carver asked God to teach him all about the peanut, but even that was too high a request for the human mind. God reminded Carver that He’d given mankind peanuts and other plants for their use. So, Carver went into his laboratory with a supply of peanuts and began breaking them down into their various parts: water, fats, oils, gums, resins, sugars, starches, petoses, pentosans, amino acid. 

     Then he mixed the ingredients in various ways, sometimes applying heat or pressure to the mixtures. As a result, he discovered literally hundreds of products developed from peanuts, everything from chili sauce, butter, milk, shampoo, glue, dye, ink, shoe polish and shaving cream. In the end, he came up with over 300 uses for peanuts. 

     That’s why today George Washington Carver is respectfully known as the Father of the peanut industry.