Peanuts. They belong at most public events. However, these tiny bundles of critical nutrition are making a massive march into our kitchen, thanks to African, Thai and Indian cultural influences.  Peanut butter was the first use for peanuts in the home, then snacks, now  chopped peanuts are turning up in soups, salads and entrees.  And, this on-the-go, nutrition-in-a-nutshell gem has a rich history, performs amazing agricultural capers and figure prominently as a worldwide crop! Americans consume 600-million pounds of peanuts and 700-million pounds of peanut butter each year.

 

Snack peanuts sell as  in-shell peanuts, raw peanuts, roasted & salted peanuts, roasted no-salt peanuts, Spanish peanuts with the redskins, blanched cocktail peanuts, honey roasted peanuts and Creole spiced, also Cajun  fried.  Sweets with peanuts appear as brittle, chocolate-covered peanuts and of course, as countless commercial candy bars.

 

Back in 3,000 BC, there’s evidence Peruvians ate peanuts.  Much later the peanut turned up in Europe, then in Africa. Slave ships brought them to the West Indies and North America. By 1845 peanut crops went on sale to the public in Nashville. Next confederate Civil War soldiers took a liking to them and carried them further north. It wasn’t long before P. T. Barnum presented the “new” food at his circuses.

 

By 1906,  an Italian immigrant opened a company in New York and named it  Planters Peanuts. Wanting more jobs for peanut farmers, George Washington Carver later developed over 300 uses for peanuts, from paint and plastics to face creams.

 

President Carter, himself a large-scale peanut farmer and processor, explains the remarkable antics of the goober in the growing field. “The peanut plant blooms above ground, then sends tiny, pointed tendrils about the size of a toothpick down to pierce the surface of the earth.  And, and after it is about two-inches deep, the pointed “pin” matures to become a peanut …”  The peanut, is not a nut but a legume, or a bean. Legumes enrich soils with nitrogen, and peanut-friendly soils are all located in the south.

 

PEANUT TRIVIA:

 

·       Georgia grows the most.

·       A St. Louis doctor invented peanutbutter for patients with few teeth.

·       Peanuts are also called ground nuts.

·       The Kellogg cereal people applied for the first peanutbutter patent in 1895.

·       Folks in the eastern U.S. prefer the smooth spread for bread. On the west coast they want chunky.

·       They contain 26 percent protein, higher than eggs, dairy products, many meats and fish.

·       Peanuts are rich in vitamins E and K.

·       Peanutbutter can be credited to protein foods necessary each day on the food pyramid.

·       They contain a high percentage of unsaturated fat, know as the “good” fat.

·       Certified cholesterol-free by the Peanut Advisory Board and American Dietic/American Diabetes Associations.

·       Two tablespoonsful contain 200 calories.

·       NEVER eat peanuts if you are allergic to them.

 

Peanutbutter tales contain many stickey, delicious confessions. What do you slip into your peanut butter sandwich? Raw carrots? Raisins? Bananas? Bacon bits? Marshmallow Fluff? Lettuce? Celery? Pickles? Perhaps you’d rather not say… We did learn of a few more guilty pleasures. Some, it seems, want ketchup and baloney, or just plain salami in theirs. Others think salted tomatoes do the most for the spread. We thought apple wedges smeared with peanut butter sounded very good.  However, a sandwich with anchovies or sardines didn’t sound tasty at all. And, we never even mentioned jelly or the endless types of jelly!

 

SOME USES IN TODAY'S KITCHENS:

• ·       Chop peanuts either by crushing them with a rolling pin  or spin them very briefly in the blender, processor or coffee grinder.

• ·       Use them in pasta, vegetable sauces, poultry stuffing, and sprinkle over soups, salads, casseroles and ice cream.

• ·       Garnish dishes with peanuts along with the other typical curry topings, namely shredded coconut, dried fruit and green onions.

• ·       Peanut butter thinned with chicken broth makes a great pasta sauce.

• ·       Cook small, finger-food-sized pancakes, add chopped peanuts and serve them topped with warmed peanut butter.

·       Make a tasty omelet by adding a sauteed green pepper and peanut butter to the egg mixture.

 

The following recipe comes to us from Africa:

 

RECIPE:

SAVORY PEANUT SOUP

• 1    tbsp             Olive oil
                                            

• 3    cups            Thinly sliced carrots

• 1    cup              Chopped onion

• 1    cup              Chopped celery        

• 1    cup              Coarsely chopped green pepper

• 5    cloves          Sliced garlic

• 1    cup              Dry roasted peanuts                    

• 6    cups            Chicken broth

• 2     tbsp            Tomato paste

• 1/2  cup             Smooth peanut butter              

• 2     tsp              Curry powder 

• 1/2  tsp              Nutmeg                  

• 1     oz                Sherry

• Dash                   Hot sauce (optional)                 

•                           Salt & Pepper to taste

 Saute vegetables in olive oil.

 Add peanuts and saute one more minute. 

 Add broth, tomato paste, peanut butter and spices. 

 Simmer until slightly thickened.  Make ahead and let rest for a few hours. 

 Reheat, serve and sprinkle with chopped, fresh parsley, and serve with crusty bread.

 Makes 4 servings.