From Ancient Peru to the Modern Crisp: The Remarkable History of the Peanut
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With National Peanut Day falling on Sunday 13 September, here’s a little history of the peanut — and how this surprisingly versatile legume has been reinvented by cultures around the world.
What is a peanut — and where did they come from?
The peanut is one of food’s great oddities. It isn’t actually a nut, it’s a legume (related to beans and peas). And while its yellow flowers form above the ground, something rather unusual happens after they are pollinated: the flower stalk bends downwards and pushes the developing ovary into the soil, where the peanut pod grows underground.
The peanut genus Arachis is native to South America, and the cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea) emerged from this region thousands of years ago. [1]
But the peanut’s story didn’t stay in South America.
As it travelled around the world, different cultures found their own ways to use it — from West African groundnut dishes to Southern US boiled peanuts.[2] In China, its name, luòhuāshēng (落花生), literally translates as “born from a fallen flower”, a wonderfully poetic description of the way the fruit develops underground. [3]
The peanut also acquired cultural meanings along the way. In ancient Peru, peanut imagery appears in Moche art, with its unusual underground growth contributing to associations with regeneration[4]. In China, peanuts later became associated with fertility and auspicious wishes for newly married couples.
How did peanuts become popular in America?
Peanuts reached North America during the colonial period, but their commercial importance in the United States grew particularly rapidly from the late 19th century.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, roasted peanuts had become a familiar American snack, reportedly popularised by PT Barnum’s travelling circus.
And peanuts were becoming much more than something to eat straight from the shell. One manufacturer alone used enough shelled peanuts to produce around six million small jars of peanut butter in 1911.
The humble peanut was becoming an increasingly versatile ingredient.
What did George Washington Carver do with peanuts?
Few people are more closely associated with the history of the peanut than George Washington Carver, the agricultural scientist and educator who worked at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Carver wasn't the inventor of peanut butter, nor did he single-handedly introduce peanuts to America. Instead, his importance lay in demonstrating the potential of peanuts and other crops as alternatives to cotton, particularly for farmers whose soil had been depleted by intensive cotton cultivation. His work explored agricultural, industrial and culinary uses for crops including peanuts and sweet potatoes.
And he certainly wasn't short of ideas. In 1917, Carver published How to Grow the Peanut: And 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption.
His recipes and suggestions included everything from peanut soups and breads to peanut coffee and peanut-based meat substitutes. His wider research also explored uses for peanut oil and peanut meal[5].
In other words, Carver was asking a question that we’re still asking today: What else can you do with a peanut?
How has the peanut been reinvented as a food?
The answer, as it turns out, is quite a lot.
Today, peanuts are used in everything from peanut butter and cooking oil to flour, confectionery, sauces and protein-rich foods. The peanut has become a staple ingredient in cuisines around the world as well as a familiar snack in its own right.
And the reinvention continues.
At Earthnutz, we’ve taken peanuts in an even more radical direction by turning them into crisps.
Our Peanut Protein Crisps are made using peanuts and deliver 14–16g of protein and 5g of fibre per 32g pack, depending on the flavour. They’re designed for people who want the crunch of a crisp with the nutritional benefits of nuts.
So perhaps the question Carver was asking a century ago is still worth asking today:
What else can the peanut become?
Now, it’s a crisp 🙂
Peanut FAQs
Are peanuts actually nuts?
No. Peanuts are legumes, botanically related to beans, peas and lentils rather than tree nuts. They are unusual because their pods develop underground after the flower has been pollinated.
Where did peanuts originate?
The peanut genus Arachis is native to South America. The cultivated peanut, Arachis hypogaea, emerged from wild Arachis species in South America and was subsequently domesticated. The precise details of its domestication are still being studied using archaeological and genetic evidence[6].
Why do peanuts grow underground?
After pollination, the peanut plant produces a structure called a peg, which grows downwards into the soil. The peanut pod then develops underground. This unusual process is known as geocarpy.
Why are peanuts called groundnuts?
“Groundnut” is one of the common names for peanuts, reflecting the fact that their pods develop underground. Other historical names include goober (originating from ‘nguba’, the Kimbundu language of Angola)[7], pindar, ground pea and earth nut. The name Earth Nuts had great synergies with my desire to grow a sustainable, healthy food brand. We added the 'z' to create Earthnutz, in recognition of the way we supercharge our nutz to make them even more nutritionally powerful.
What does the Chinese name for peanut mean?
The Chinese name 落花生 (luòhuāshēng) literally means “born from a fallen flower”. It refers to the unusual way that the peanut develops underground after the flower forms above the soil. A Chinese text from 1503 records the name and describes cooked peanuts as delicious.
What did George Washington Carver do with peanuts?
George Washington Carver researched and promoted peanuts as an alternative crop and explored numerous culinary and industrial uses for them. His 1917 publication How to Grow the Peanut: And 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption documented 105 ways of preparing peanuts as food.
Did George Washington Carver invent peanut butter?
No. Peanut butter predates Carver's most famous peanut work. Commercial peanut butter was already being produced in the United States by the early 20th century. USDA historical records show significant commercial production by 1911.
What are peanuts used for?
Peanuts are used in a remarkably wide range of foods, including peanut butter, snacks, sauces, confectionery, flour and cooking oil.
Are peanuts a good source of protein?
Yes. Peanuts naturally contain protein as well as fats, fibre, vitamins and minerals. The amount of protein in a peanut product varies considerably depending on how it is made. Earthnutz Peanut Protein Crisps, for example, provide 14–16g of protein per 32g pack, depending on flavour.
[1] Boiled peanuts - Wikipedia
[2] 4 essential West African dishes and how to make them | National Geographic
[3] Peanut: From Luxury Food to Livestock Feed | Plant Humanities Lab
[4] Moche artist(s) - Stirrup-spout bottle with peanut figure - Moche - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
[5] George Washington Carver|Peanut Butter|National Agricultural Library|USDA
[7] Peanut: From Luxury Food to Livestock Feed | Plant Humanities Lab