A Peanut is Neither a Pea nor a Nut. Discuss.

Today, we’re going to discuss the humble peanut.

The peanut (also known as the goober pea) is a New World crop, thought to have first been cultivated by humans over 7,000 years ago in what is now Peru. Before the conquistadores brought them back, no European (or Asian or African, for that matter) had eaten a peanut.

The United States produces the most peanuts in the world. The state of Georgia produces the most peanuts, but it’s a huge crop in several states, including Texas.  My dad grew up on a farm that primarily grew peanuts…which could explain why he never grew peanuts in his garden.

The peanut is very inaptly named. The “pea” part is because it’s roughly the size of a pea (except that it isn’t).

As for the “nut” part, that’s ENTIRELY wrong.  Botanically speaking, that is.

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The botanical definition of a nut is “a fruit whose ovary wall becomes hard at maturity”.  But peanuts grow underground so, technically, that makes them a legume.  That’s right…peanuts are closely related to beans.

The peanut is also known as Arachis hypogaea…as well as “’groundnut”, “pindar” and, in the U.K., “monkey nut”.

The ancient Peruvians called the legume by its Aztec/Nahuatl name,” tlalcacahuati.”  The conquistadores adapted that name which is why the Spanish word for peanut is “cacahuate”, which is a very fun word to say out loud. Try it!

Thanks to the pioneering agricultural work of Dr. George Washington Carver, the peanut has been used to make rubber, glue, mayonnaise, and coffee.  In fact, GWC came up with over there HUNDRED applications for the lowly peanut. This is a fact I know thanks to an Eddie Murphy bit on Saturday Night Live from the early eighties.