were does peanuts cme from?

Answer 1

Peanut, groundnut, earthnut, cachuate, mani (Arachis hypogaea)

The peanut plant (Arachis hypogaea) hides its fruit in the ground--for what reason nobody seems to know--and therefore has been given names that refer to this strange event. Groundnut is a widely used common name, and the Aztecs called this plant tlalcacahuatl or "ground cacao." Linnaeus named this species hypogaea, which means "under earth." Surprisingly, there is another cultivated legume that forms fruits below-ground; but the Bambara groundnut (Voandzeia subterranea), a native of tropical West Africa, has largely been replaced in Africa by the peanut.

Natives in Africa has stated categorically that the peanut originated in Africa, where this crop plant is deeply integrated into their diets and cultures. Likewise, some have supposed that the peanut occurred in the Orient and India in ancient times, because these fruits are in common use, e.g., in many characteristic foods of Indo-China and Indonesia (peanut sauces). The truth of the matter is that Arachis is a genus endemic (restricted) to South America, and the homeland appears to have been the Andean foothills in Bolivia. From Bolivia this odd diploid plant (2n = 40) spread to coastal Peru, to southern and then coastal Brazil, and to tropical northern Brazil. Carl O. Sauer, a famous ethnobotanist, suspected that peanut was part of the manioc (cassava) cultivation complex in the New World. Earliest archaeological records of peanut come from fossilized fruits in Peruvian tombs (3000-2800 B.C.) and images on ancient pottery and textiles. The peanut also occurred in the Valley of Tehuacán in Puebla, Mexico before 100 A.D. and was widespread in tropical America before Columbus arrived.

Ethnobotanists once thought that hump-backed peanuts were present in southern China before Columbus, but this idea has not been authenticated. Instead, peanuts probably circumnavigated the globe with Portuguese sailors. For example, on his second voyage to the New World, Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon, Portugal to Brazil to the Cape of Good Hope to Goa, India. Several years later the Portuguese reached Canton, China (1516) and soon established the colony of Macao south of Hong Kong. During the 16th century, peanuts became a staple in African diets, especially within the Portuguese colonies, and African slaves took them to Virginia--back to the New World.

Today peanuts are cultivated throughout the tropical and subtropical world and even grow at 45 degrees N in Asia and Canada, where the summers are hot. The leading producers of this crop are China, India, the United States, Nigeria, and Senegal, and peanut production (over 20 million metric tons annually) ranks in the top 25th among world food crops. In the United States, most peanuts are grown in Georgia (remember Jimmy Carter!), North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and Virginia

Peanut plants can only grow where there are no freezing temperatures; they do not tolerate frost. Moreover, this crop is generally cultivated where the annual precipitation is 100-120 centimeters but where about half of that rainfall occurs during the growing season. The British government ignored these facts when in 1946 they proposed to plant three million acres of peanuts in East African colonies; that peanut project was abandoned in 1951, because rainfall was unreliable (also other problems). Peanuts must also be grown in light, sandy, well-drained, slightly acid soil (pH 5.5-6.5) that is rich in calcium and has moderate amounts of organic matter but no salt (NaCl). Light soil not only permits rapid root penetration (peanut has some very deep roots) and good water percolation, but also is crucial for fruit development. The crop may also need substantial fertilizer application.

The plant is a trailing, bushy annual 20 to 30 centimeters tall with (usually) quadrifoliate leaves, large stipules, and runners (stolons). The flowers, usually yellow, are small and tend to be self-pollinated. About a week after fertilization takes place in the ovary, a meristem at the base of the ovary is activated. This meristem forms a stalk beneath the ovary, called a carpophore or, simply, a "peg." The stalk is positively geotropic (grows downward) and pushes the ovary toward the ground (pegging); the ovary tip hardens and is pushed into the sandy soil 3 to 10 centimeters. Belowground the ovary develops into the fibrous, tannish, indehiscent pod, a legume. The small Valencia cultivars have up to five seeds per pod, but conventional forms have one to four seeds. Each seed, also called a kernel, has two large cotyledons--the two halves of a peanut--and a small embryo axis but no endosperm, and is covered by a papery seed coat. The corky fruit wall (pericarp), the shell of a peanut, is slightly constricted between the seeds. Peanuts are propagated from fresh (raw and untreated) seeds with intact seed coats and are removed from the shell to prevent rotting.

On peasant farms and in Third World countries, peanuts are frequently harvest by hand. Plants must be dug just beneath the fruits, and then plants are stocked by hand to dry before threshing, drying, and storing. Mechanical harvesting digs plants and may even strip off the pods. Fresh pod moisture (30-40%) must be reduced for storage (to 8-10%) to avoid mold growth. One serious disease is aflatoxin, a fungus-produced human toxin (Aspergillus flavus). Typical time for the process from planted seed to dried pods is about five months.

Seeds are important sources of vegetable oil and protein. The triglycerides (oil) are high in oleic acid and moderately high in linoleic acid but low in others; it is a nondrying oil, i.e., it remains liquid and does not form a surface film when exposed to air. Seeds contain 36-50% oil and usually 25-30% (to 40%) protein. Oil can be expressed simply by crushing or with hot or cold treatments. This product is widely used as a cooking oil and as a lubricant. In India peanut oil is hydrogenated to make ghee, a semi-fluid, clarified butter. The oil is also used to manufacture items ranging from shaving cream and soap to plastics. Seedcake had been used for livestock feed and fertilizer, and shells have been used as filler for wallboard and insulation. George Washington Carver was a great promoter of multiple uses for the peanut.

Of course, seeds can be consumed after being salted or roasted. In the United States more than 50% of all peanuts are used to make peanut butter, with the recent trend of lower fat products. Peanut butter was invented in 1890 by a St. Louis physician and was popularized in 1893 by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a health food faddist and creator of breakfast cereals, for patients with poor teeth! Peanuts are also used to fatten hogs.

Peanut cultivation still holds an honored place in modern agriculture, even though it is not the centerpiece of any diet. These seeds are an excellent protein source and are valuable for the malnourished peoples in Africa and Asia.

In the southeastern United States the peanut helped to save plantations when cotton was hit with boll weevils. Many Americans weekly, if not daily, eat peanuts or peanut-containing products (e.g., Snickers and Baby Ruth candies), which use mostly Virginia or smaller Spanish peanut cultivars. Farmers plant peanuts because in slightly acid soils they are nitrogen fixers; the plant is used therefore in crop rotation. Southeastern farmers use seeds that have been inoculated with rhizobium bacteria, so that they do not have to add nitrogen fertilizer. Well nodulated peanut plants are also resistant to drought. Most peanuts are rain grown, and do not need irrigation. The U.S. harvest is almost two metric tons of fruits per acre.

In tropical regions, peanuts grow well in soils that are not heavy; they also tolerate levels of aluminum in the soil that are toxic to most crops, and their roots can penetrate soil layers (horizons) that stop the root growth of most tropical crops. Finally, peanuts are an important cash crop for peasants in poor tropical countries--something they can sell and export--but this is often done at the expense of not growing the conventional crops needed to feed their hungry peoples.

Answer 2

They come from Brazil.They grow on peanut trees.

Answer 3

The grow in the ground and are roasted to bring out their flavor and oil. Nasty if eaten raw. Georgia (remember Prez. Carter)

Answer 4

peanut shells! lol, I don't know.