Peanuts (Groundnuts)

Peanuts originate in South America, in what is now the Bolivia and Argentina Border, near the Andes mountains.

People in South America made pottery in the shape of peanuts or decorated jars with peanuts as far back as 3,500 years ago.

After their initial domestication, peanuts quickly spread to the rest of South America and Central America through trade, they were grown as far north as Mexico.

The arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese and the Columbian Exchange brought peanuts to Spain and Portugal during the fifteenth and sixteenth century.

Traders spread them to the rest of Europe, Asia and Africa.

"The peanut is first noted in the writings of Bartolomé de las Casas, who came to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1502. Called mani by Native Americans, the peanut was considered a healthy food by the Caribbean islanders, but the Spanish considered it beneath their station to make it part of their own diet." (Poplar Grove Plantation)

During the early seventeenth century, Spanish trade ships carried the peanut to the Pacific Islands, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

At around the same time, Portuguese sailors began taking peanuts to the coast of West Africa. 

The crop was well received in Africa due to its similarities to the native Bambara groundnut.

During the eighteenth century, peanuts were brought to the United States through the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

"At this time, peanuts were regarded as a food for livestock and the poor and were considered difficult to grow and harvest." (National Peanut Board)

Production grew during the nineteenth century when peanuts became a prominent snack among Civil War soldiers.

Peanuts became a significant agricultural crop when the boll weevil (a beetle which feeds on cotton) threatened the South’s cotton crop and following suggestions by scientist Dr. George Washington Carver to use them as a rotation crop.

Peanuts were then commodified after research discovered its multiple uses and following acceptance by the general public.

The twentieth century turned peanuts into a billion dollar industry with the assistance of corporations.

Peanuts are grown worldwide in the warm climates of Asia, Africa, Australia, and North and South America.

Peanut seeds are planted about two inches underneath the soil, about three to four inches apart when the soil temperature is warm (65-70 °F).

They require long, warm and moist growing season and a dry harvest season. Depending on the variety of peanut, 120 to 160 frost free days are required for a good crop.

When the soil is neither too wet or dry, a farmer will drive a digger along the peanut rows. The digger pulls up the peanut plant with the roots, flips it upside down and sets it back down.

When dug, peanuts contain 25-50% moisture, which must be dried to 10% or less for storage.

They're left to dry for about five to seven days.Then they're picked up by a shaker or a picker and the peanut pods are separated from the rest of the plant.

Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates the 1862 Battle of Puebla is celebrated with great passion in the state and city of Puebla. A grand parade is carried out every year. The parade is accompanied by numerous dishes.

The state of Puebla (along with Oaxaca) claim to be the origin sites of mole. Mole is now considered a national Mexican dish. This was achieved through an attempt to characterize mole poblano as a culinary symbol of Mexico's mestizaje (racial mixing) of the indigenous peoples and Europeans.