Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Peanuts

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

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 peanut plants. 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. Sponsors Mint Mobile Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed MasterClass Get up to 50% off at MASTERCLASS.COM/EVERYWHERE Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! ButcherBox New users that sign up for ButcherBox will receive 2lbs of grass fed ground beef in every box for the lifetime of their subscription + $20 off your first box when you use code daily at checkout! Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Ben Long & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night and how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. 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 Arrakus Hypogia, and there are four main varieties of peanuts. Runner Peanuts, Virginia Peanuts, Spanish Peanuts, and Valencia Peanuts. The peanut has a very uncommon way of growing its fruit, known as Geocarpy.

They have a chute 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, Iraqis Duransus and Iraqis epansis, leading to the creation of the modern peanut.

We are exactly sure where the peanut was domesticated. 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 peanuts sometime around 7 to 8,000 years ago. The plant's geocarpy likely played a role in its adaptability and domestication. What we do know is that the peanut 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 paste,

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 ground nut soup, a richly flavored dish still popular across West Africa. Peanut paste 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 Cacongo and Kubungu word, Manguba, 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 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 disliked 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 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 steam 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 1904 St. 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 2001 in the Boston Cooking School magazine. Mr. Peanut, the iconic monocle-wearing mascot of Planter's Peanuts, was created in 1916, when the Planter's Nut and Chonkla Company held a logo contest to find a brand identity.

A 14-year-old boy named Antonio Gentilly 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 bowl 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, duration 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 produced 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 confectionaries. Pro tip, 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. 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 and 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 ingest peanuts, that they use an epinephrine auto-injector, 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 Kiever. 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 or 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.