Like the honeybee, the peanut plant is not native to North America. But it did originate in the Americas, just somewhere in South America, most likely Peru or Brazil.
Spreading the Peanuts
There is evidence that peanuts were around as far back as 1,500 BC. Explorers from Europe first discovered them in Brazil. The Spanish introduced them to Spain and from there they made their way to Asia and Africa. Peanuts didn’t arrive in North America, though, until the 1700s.
It was in the early 1800s, in Virginia, before peanuts became a commercial crop. Although growing and harvesting them wasn’t easy at the time, they could be used for food, oil, or as a substitute for cocoa. Before the Civil War, they mainly fed livestock and the poor. After the Civil War, the peanuts’ popularity increased, thanks to the union army soldiers who carried them home.
PT Barnum also helped spread the peanuts’ popularity. His circus vendors promoted “hot roasted peanuts!” all across the country.
George Washington Carver
Peanuts might not be as popular as they are today, if not for the help of the “father” or “grandfather of peanuts,” George Washington Carver. Born into slavery in 1864 during the Civil War, he loved nature, especially plants. In 1892, when the boll weevil destroyed the cotton crops, Carver showed farmers how to grow peanuts. Many of his farming methods are still used today.
Carver didn’t invent peanut butter, but he discovered more than 300 very diverse ways to use peanuts, including chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce, shampoo, shaving cream, face powder, hand lotion, charcoal, glue, paper, rubber, plastics, axle grease, insecticides, and nitroglycerine, just to name a few.
Quick “Did You Know” Peanut Facts
- Because they grow beneath the ground, peanuts are often called “ground nuts” or “ground peas.”
- Peanuts’ nickname, “Goober,” comes from the Congo word for peanut, “nguba.”
- There are four types of peanuts: Runner, Virginia, Spanish, and Valencia.
- Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter were both peanut farmers.
- There are six cities named “Peanut” in the U.S. [Note: A check of Google maps found only four: (1) the unincorporated community of Peanut, California; (2) Upper Peanut, (3) Lower Peanut, and (4) just plain ol’ Peanut, all connected with specific townships in Pennsylvania. There were no results for (5) Peanut, TN, or (6) Peanut, West Virginia.]
- There are more than 7,500 peanut farms in the U.S. Most range from 100-200 acres.
- Peanuts are the U.S.’s twelfth most valuable cash crop. (Source: American Peanut Council)
Come back next week for Part 2–Peanut Butter!
Resources:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/brief-history-peanut-butter-180976525/
https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/peanut-info/history-peanuts-peanut-butter.htm
https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/peanut-info/
https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/news/george-washington-carver.htm
https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/news/fun-facts.htm
https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/wellness/the-journey-peanut-butter-jar.htm
https://www.peanutsusa.com/about-apc/the-peanut-industry.html
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