Gary Arndt (0:00)

One of the world's most popular snack foods is peanuts. Peanuts are consumed by themselves as a snack, processed in the form of peanut butter, and can be made into peanut oil. Hundreds of different products, including plastics, dyes, cosmetics, paper and soap have all been derived from peanuts. However, unlike other popular foods, for some people, the consumption of peanuts can actually be deadly. Learn more about peanuts, their history and their uses on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile. After years of fine print contracts and getting ripped off by overpriced wireless providers, if we've learned anything is that there's always a catch. So when I heard that all Mint Mobile wireless plans are $15 a month when you purchase a three month plan, I thought, what's the catch? Well, there isn't one. Mint Mobile's secret sauce is that they sell wireless services online. They don't have retail stores or salespeople. 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I got a cotton fisherman throw blanket from Quince and I literally use it when I am writing many of the episodes for this podcast. I also have some Turkish cotton bath towels from Quince that I absolutely love. By partnering directly with top factories and cutting out the cost of the middleman, Quince passes the savings on to you. Quince is also on the nice list. They only work with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices and they use premium fabrics and finishes for that luxury feel in every piece. Gift Luxury this holiday season without the luxury price tag, go to quince.com daily for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's quinc.com daily to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com daily. The first thing that you should know about the peanut is that it's not a nut. Even though peanuts are sold and served alongside other nuts, peanuts are not nuts because they do not grow on trees. Peanuts are legumes. They are more closely related to beans and peas than they are to nuts. So to this extent, you can sort of think of a peanut like a tomato. Tomatoes are fruit served as vegetables, and peanuts are legumes which are served as nuts. The scientific term for the peanut plant is arachis hypogia, and there are four main varieties of runner peanuts, Virginia peanuts, Spanish peanuts, and Valencia peanuts. The peanut has a very uncommon way of growing its fruit, known as geocarpi. They have a shoot that comes off the plant, known as a peg, that goes underground which develops the pods. The average plant will produce 25 to 50 pods, with each one containing one to four seeds. The peanut plant originally came from South America. Researchers from the University of Georgia, as part of the International Peanut Genome Initiative, successfully mapped the complete genome of the cultivated peanut, revealing its complex evolutionary history. Their findings indicate that ancient farmers in South America facilitated the hybridization of two wild species, Arrakis duransis and Arrakis epansis, leading to the creation of the modern peanut. We aren't exactly sure where the peanut was domesticated. We know that it was consumed early on in Peru, but there's also theories that it may have been domesticated in what is today Paraguay. Evidence suggests that indigenous people domesticated peanut sometime around 7 to 8,000 years ago. The plant's geocarpi likely played a role in its adaptability and domestication. What we do know is that the peanuts spread throughout South America and went as far north as Mexico. It was a more important food in Peru than it was in Mexico, where corn was the staple crop. Early uses included grinding peanuts into pastes, mixing them into stews, and just roasting them. As with so many food products from the Americas, peanuts first came in contact with Europeans. With the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese, they brought the peanut to Europe, but it didn't really catch on like other American crops did. Like the potato, Portuguese traders eventually brought peanuts to West Africa, where they became a staple due to their similarity to native legumes and their ability to adapt to local growing conditions. From Africa, peanuts were introduced to India, China, and Southeast Asia through trade routes, quickly integrating into regional cuisines and local agriculture. Africa and Asia turned out to Be much better climates for peanuts than Europe, and they were adopted quickly because of their similarity to other legumes. Peanuts were not always consumed like they are today. Peanuts were roasted and consumed directly, providing a portable and high energy food. But they were usually ground into a paste and used as a base for stews and sauces. A classic example is groundnut soup, a richly flavored dish still popular across West Africa. Peanut pastes were also blended with vegetables, spices and meat, offering a protein rich accompaniment to staple foods like rice, yams or millet. African slaves are believed to have introduced peanuts to North America where they became a staple in Southern cuisine. Two of the American nicknames for peanuts are goobers and pindars, and both of these names actually have West African origins. The word goober comes from the Kukongo and Kabundu word nguba which means peanut. And pindar comes from the Mandinka word pinda, which also means peanut. When peanuts arrived in North America, they were initially considered a food for livestock or for the poor. They were easy to grow, affordable and nutritious, making them a practical option for sustenance. The livestock that they were most commonly fed to were pigs. In the 18th and 19th centuries, peanuts were grown primarily in small gardens and subsistence farms. They provided a reliable source of protein and fats in the diet of enslaved people and poor farmers. During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate soldiers relied on peanuts as a portable, high energy food. They were easy to store and transport, making them an ideal field ration. The war also increased the visibility of peanuts as soldiers returned home with an appreciation for the crop. After the Civil War, peanuts became an increasingly important crop in the south, particularly for African American farmers and sharecroppers. They were relatively inexpensive to cultivate and provided a marketable product. In a struggling post war economy, peanuts were also becoming popular as a snack food. In the later half of the 19th century, peanuts were a popular and inexpensive snack sold in theaters during this period. Patrons sitting in the upper gallery frequently ate peanuts and they were sometimes known to throw the shells or even the peanuts themselves at performers they dislike, liked or found boring. These people became known as the peanut gallery. Peanuts were also sold at circuses as a snack during this period, which is how peanuts became associated as a food that elephants enjoy. Circus goers would literally be able to feed peanuts to elephants. Zoos and other animal sanctuaries no longer sell peanuts to feed elephants as it's not part of their natural diet. The late 19th century also saw the development of one of the most popular peanut based products. Peanut butter. In 1884, Marcellus Gilmore Edson, a Canadian chemist, patented a process for creating peanut paste. His invention involved milling roasted peanuts into a smooth consistency, primarily intended as a food for people who had difficulty chewing solid food. While Edson received a patent for peanut butter, he certainly wasn't the first person to make it. There is evidence of Peruvians grinding up peanuts for thousands of years. And if you have ever ground peanuts, there really isn't much to making a simple peanut butter. Literally, just put some peanuts in a food processor and you will get a type of peanut butter. In 1895, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the same guy who invented corn flakes, patented a process for producing peanut butter. His version, designed for patients at his Battle Creek Sanitarium, was made from steamed peanuts rather than roasted peanuts, making it much more less flavorful. Around the same time, George Bale, a food manufacturer in St. Louis, Missouri began selling peanut butter as a protein rich snack, further popularizing its consumption. Peanut butter gained widespread attention when it was Showcased at the 1904St. Louis World's Fair, sparking consumer interest. The first mention of peanut butter being used on bread dates Back to an 1896 article in Good Housekeeping magazine. And the first mention of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches appeared in 1901 in the Boston Cooking School magazine. Mr. Peanut, the iconic monocle wearing mascot of Planters Peanuts, was created in 1916 when the Planter's Nut and Chocolate Company held a logo contest to find a brand identity. A 14 year old boy named Antonio Gentilli submitted a drawing of a peanut with human like features, which was then refined by a commercial artist who added the signature top hat, monocle and cane. In 1922, Joseph Rosefield revolutionized peanut butter production by introducing hydrogenated oil which prevented the natural separation of peanut oil and solids. This innovation led to the creamy shelf stable peanut butter that we recognize today. He licensed his process to Swift and Company, the makers of Peter Pan peanut butter, and then later started his own brand, Skippy in 1932. At this point, it's a good time to introduce the man who is perhaps the most important single figure in the history of peanuts, George Washington Carver. Carver was born into slavery in 1864 in the last months of the Civil War, and he became one of the most respected scientists of his time. He spent much of his career at the Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University in Alabama, where he focused on helping poor farmers, particularly African American farmers in the south, improve their agricultural practices and economic self sufficiency. Many people think that George Washington Carver invented peanut butter, but he did not. But he did pretty much invent everything else that has anything to do with peanuts. Carver's groundbreaking research led to the development of over 300 different uses for peanuts. These included food products such as peanut based substitutes for milk, peanut oil, peanut flour and peanut based candies. He also made industrial products like peanut based dyes, plastics, paints, soaps and cosmetics, and also medicinal products such as peanut derived antiseptics and massage oils. Not all of his ideas caught on, but many of them did and they showed the great versatility of the peanut. Carver became one of the most famous scientists of his era and a notable celebrity. Perhaps his biggest contribution, however, was encouraging farmers, especially poor farmers in the south, to rotate peanuts as a crop with cotton. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, southern agriculture was heavily reliant on cotton, which had depleted the soil of nutrients, especially nitrogen. This over reliance also left farmers vulnerable to pests like the boll weevil, which devastated cotton crops. Carver advocated crop rotation and diversification to restore soil health and reduce dependence on cotton. Peanuts are nitrogen fixing legumes and as such can rejuvenate soil depleted by cotton farming. During World War II, peanut butter was included in military K rations because it was high in protein, calories and essential nutrients, making it an ideal food for sustaining soldiers in demanding conditions. Its long shelf life, portability and lack of refrigeration requirements added to its practicality. Soldiers enjoyed peanut butter because it was familiar, comforting and easy to eat. It became a favorite food item even among the limited options available in their rations. After the war, soldiers brought their taste for peanut butter back home and its familiarity contributed to its widespread adoption in households. During the post war economic boom, peanut butter became a staple in American diets thanks to its low cost and high nutritional value, making it especially appealing to families with children. The end of the Second World War also saw peanut production explode around the world, especially in India and China. North America saw increased production in the peanut belt. In the south, post war advances in agricultural machinery made planting, harvesting and processing peanuts more efficient, reducing labor demands and thus cost. Research into drought resistant and pest resistant peanut varietals also improved global yields. Today, the worldwide peanut industry is worth over $90 billion annually and it's expected to reach over $100 billion by the year 2029. The world's largest peanut producing country is China. In 2021, they harvested 18.4 million metric tons, representing a third of the world's peanut harvest. The next biggest country is India, which produce 10.2 million metric tons of peanuts annually. They're followed by Nigeria, the United States, Sudan, Senegal, Myanmar, Argentina, guinea and Chad. The list illustrates just how important of a crop it is in Africa and how well suited it is to that climate. Approximately 60 to 70% of global peanut production is for direct human consumption and this includes roasted or boiled peanuts in shell peanuts, peanut butter, candy bars, peanut brittle and other confectioneries. When buying mixed nuts, the term fancy or deluxe usually means that there are no peanuts in the mix. Peanuts are cheaper, which is why they're usually added to mixed nuts to bring down the price. About 20 to 25% of global production goes to peanut oil, which is used for cooking and industrial use. 10 to 15% goes towards animal feed, which is mostly byproducts from peanut oil production, and the remainder is for seeds and other industrial uses. I've covered the history of many different foods on this podcast, but there's one thing that separates peanuts from all the other foods I've covered. Some people have severe, possibly even deadly allergies to peanuts. A peanut allergy is a type of food allergy that occurs when the immune system mistakenly identifies proteins in peanuts as harmful substances. When a person with a peanut allergy consumes even a small amount of peanut or peanut containing products, their immune system overreacts by releasing chemicals like histamine causing allergic symptoms. This triggers an immune like response that can range from mild to severe, sometimes leading to life threatening anaphylaxis. Symptoms of anaphylaxis include difficulty breathing, swelling of the throat, a sudden drop in blood pressure and loss of consciousness. The number of people in developed countries with a peanut allergy is only about 1 to 2% of the population, but that number has tripled over the last 20 years. There is no cure for a peanut allergy. The only remedy is that if someone with an allergy ingests peanuts that they use an epinephrine autoinjector, aka an EpiPen. There is some research that suggests that early exposure to peanuts, either during pregnancy or in the first four months of life, can teach the immune system not to overreact to peanut proteins. However, the jury is still out on this. The simple peanut actually has had an incredible journey. What began in South America has traveled around the world to become a staple on every inhabited continent. George Washington Carver showed it to be an incredibly versatile product that has hundreds of uses for most of us. However, it's a natural snack and something that we might enjoy in a sandwich. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel, the associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Keever. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon, including the show's producers. Your support helps me put out a show every single day and also Patreon is currently the only place where Everything Everywhere Daily merchandise is available to the top tier of supporters. If you'd like to talk to other listeners of the show and members of the Completionist Club, you can join the Everything Everywhere Daily Facebook group or Discord server. Links to Everything are in the show Notes.