PEANUTS
Zgodovina
Peanuts originate from South America.
The oldest archaeological remains of peanuts dating back about 7,600 years were found in Peru.
Uporaba
Peanuts are often used as a cooking ingredient, but in Slovenia they are most popular as a snack.
Peanuts should not be eaten raw and should be heat-treated and oil-roasted or hot air roasted. Peanuts are also used in the production of peanut butter, peanut oil and peanut flour.
Pridelovanje
The cultivation of peanuts is most widespread in tropical and subtropical regions. In addition to South America, peanuts are also cultivated in North America and West Africa, with Asia being the absolute leader in the volume of production.
Botanically speaking, peanuts belong to the legume family. Peanuts are annual plants, which attain a height of 30 to 50 centimetres and develops fruits/pods underground. This is the reason why peanuts are also called groundnuts.
Zanimivost
Even though peanuts are a common food source, you can often find them on a list of cosmetic ingredients. They are used in the production of paints, lacquers and coatings for furniture or leather, and they can even be found used in the production of plastic materials.
20% of the world’s peanut production is used as a raw material for the production of sweets.
Two presidents of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter, were peanut growers.
