50 Amazing and Interesting Facts about Peanut | Amazing Facts 4U
- Amazingly peanut is not a nut, but a legume related to Peas, beans, and lentils. Legumes are a group of foods that grow their seeds in pods that split open into the sides. Its scientific name is Arachis hypogaea.
- Peanuts, unlike other legumes, grow under the ground and have hard pods called shells and not soft pods.
- Peanuts are also called goobers, goober peas, groundnuts, ground peas, earth nuts, monkey nuts, and grass nuts.
- Peanuts originated in South America, where they were cultivated by Indians for at least 2000 years. As early as 1500 B.C., the Incans of Peru used peanuts as sacrificial offerings and entombed them with their mummies to aid in the spiritual life.
- Spaniards and Portuguese slave traders introduced them to Africa and Europe.
- Spanish traders brought the peanut plant to Africa from where it was transported to America on slave ships. Thus peanuts ended up in America as a result of the slave trade.
- Dr. George Washington Carver, American Botanist researched and developed more than 300 uses for peanuts in the early 1900s; He is considered “The Father of the Peanut Industry” because of his extensive research and selfless dedication to promoting peanuts. He promoted the use of peanuts in items such as shoe polish, shaving cream, toothpaste, grease, and ink, etc.
- India & China together produce almost 2/3rds of the world crop. China overtook Indian production in the mid-1990s. Historically, the largest producer of peanuts in the world used to be India. Currently, China produces almost 40% of the world crop, and India almost 25%.
- The first peanuts grown in the United States were grown in Virginia.
- Currently, the U.S. produces only about 6% of the world crop. Annual peanut production is about 1.5 million tons per year which often exceeds the production of beans and peas combined.
- The official state crop of Georgia is the peanut. Georgia produces about 41% of the total U.S. peanut crop followed by Texas 24%.
- The World’s Largest Peanut monument is in Turner County. A 20 feet tall peanut, signifies the importance of the peanut in Georgia history.
- Worldwide, about 2/3rds of the peanut crop is processed for peanut oil.
- Peanut oil, in fact, accounts for 8% of the world’s edible oil production.
- The peanut growth cycle from planting to harvest is about five months.
- The peanut plant is about 18 inches above the ground. It has yellow flowers. Peanuts flower above ground and then migrate underground to reach maturity.
- A mature peanut plant produces about 40 pods that then grow into peanuts.
- Like other legumes, peanut helps mitigate climate change by catching nitrogen from the air and putting it back into the soil.
- There are four types of peanuts grown in the USA – Virginia, Spanish, Runner, and Valencia.
- Currently, the two most popular peanut types are Virginia and the Spanish peanut used in snacks. The Virginia peanut is larger and more oval in shape than the smaller, rounder Spanish peanut. The Runner type is mainly used for the manufacture of peanut butter
- Unshelled peanuts should have clean, unbroken shells and should not rattle when shaken.
- Amazingly peanuts were originally used only to feed pigs.
- Peanuts account for 2/3rd of all snack nuts consumed in the USA. Americans eat about 2,80,000 Tons of peanuts and about 3,20,000 Tons of peanut butter each year.
- Peanut butter was introduced to the general public at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, MO in 1904.
- Peanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts most popular in the US. As per US regulations, it must contain at least 90% peanuts by weight. Artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, color additives, and chemical preservatives are not allowed in peanut butter. Under FDA regulations, peanut butter contains zero trans-fat.
- Peanut butter is the number one use of peanuts in the United States. It takes, on average, about 1200 peanuts to make a 1 Kg jar of peanut butter. Amazingly on one acre of a peanut crop yields about 1300 Kg crop enough to make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches!!
- Chocolate manufacturers use 20% of the world’s peanuts.
- In the manufacturing industry, Peanuts are included in the making of cosmetics, paints, dyes, plastics, and nitroglycerin.
- Besides being high in protein, peanuts are naturally cholesterol-free. They are also an excellent source of folate.
- Peanuts contain about 28% protein, 50% oil, and 18% carbohydrates. Peanuts have are good quality amino acids that are essential for growth and development.
- The kernels are an excellent source of vitamin E (a-tocopherol). Vitamin E is a powerful lipid-soluble antioxidant that helps maintain the integrity of the cell membrane of mucus membranes and skin by protecting from harmful oxygen-free radicals.
- Peanuts contain high concentrations of poly-phenolic antioxidants, primarily p-coumaric acid. This compound has been thought to reduce the risk of stomach cancer.
- Peanuts are an excellent source of resveratrol, another polyphenolic antioxidant. Resveratrol has been found to have a protective function against cancers, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and viral/fungal infections. It also decreases stroke risk.
- Studies suggest that roasting/boiling enhances antioxidant bio-availability in peanuts. It has been found that boiled peanuts have a two and a four-fold increase in antioxidants.
- Peanuts are one of the crops that are susceptible to fungal (mold) infection, especially by aspergillus flavus which produces aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a very powerful and dangerous known carcinogen that may cause liver cirrhosis and cancer. Roasting helps reduce toxin levels in these nuts.
- The peanuts are packed with many important B-complex groups of vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B-6. The nuts are a rich source of minerals like copper, manganese, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium.
- Just a handful of peanuts per day provides enough recommended levels of phenolic anti-oxidants, minerals, vitamins, and protein.
- Peanuts have sufficient levels of mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), especially oleic acid. MUFA helps lower LDL or “bad cholesterol” and increases HDL or “good cholesterol” levels in the blood.
- A single cup of peanuts has 900 calories in it. Try to limit yourself to 30 peanuts and stick with the raw ones, not the processed, glazed or salted ones.
- Peanut-milk is also popular in lactose-free milk as a healthy drink. Peanut “chutney” or paste, made from these nuts, chili peppers, salt, coriander leaves, garlic, and mustard seeds, is popular among south Indians and Sri Lankans.
- Peanut oil is another healthy source of edible cooking oil widely employed in cooking for its aromatic flavor, especially in many South Indian states, and Sri Lanka.
- Unshelled groundnuts can be placed in a cool dry place for many months, whereas shelled (without the shell) nuts should be placed inside an airtight container and kept inside the refrigerator to avoid them turn rancid.
- Four of the top 10 candy bars manufactured in the USA contain peanuts or peanut butter.
- Two peanut farmers have been elected president of the USA – Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.
- Astronaut Allen B. Sheppard took with him a peanut to the moon.
- The world’s largest reported peanut was four inches long. It was grown in North Carolina by Mr. Earl Adkins.
- Amazingly, Tom Miller, a Colorado student pushed a peanut to the top of Pike’s Peak (14,100 feet) using his nose in 4 days, 23 hours, 47 minutes, and 3 seconds.
- The farthest distance to throw a peanut is 37.92 meters (124 ft 4 in), achieved by Colin Jackson (UK) at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, the UK on 20 February 2008.
- The term “Peanut Gallery” became popular in the late 19th century and referred to the rear or uppermost seats in a theater, which was the cheapest seats from which people throw peanuts, at those seated below them. It also applied to the first row of seats in a movie theater as the occupants of those seats could throw peanuts at the stage, stating their displeasure with the performance.
- There are six cities in the U.S. named Peanut: Peanut, California; Lower Peanut, Pennsylvania; Upper Peanut, Pennsylvania; Peanut, Pennsylvania, Peanut, Tennessee; and Peanut West Virginia.
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