Peanuts

I LOVE PEANUTS!

Although I've been working for peanuts all my life, I still love peanuts. I've been binging on peanuts (I like them boiled) since I got my gift of big bag of peanut from Georgia this month.

Peanut is not a nut, it's a pea! They don't grow above the ground but grow on the ends of their flower stalks, which have dug into loose soil. Buds at the ends of the stalks enlarge to form peanut pods. Peanut plants bear many small, yellow, pealike flowers near the base. The plant blossoms continuously for about 2 to 3 months. It's an annual plant. The flower stalk or peg is its most distinctive feature and it may be 15 inches long.
Jars of peanut seeds found in ancient graves in Peru have been proof of their American origin, not African. Peanuts were one of the first gifts the Indians gave to the first white settlers in Virginia. Suffolk, VA, is called the Peanut Capital of the World. The 10 leading peanut States - Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, New Mexico and Mississippi.
The peanut is very nutritious - one pound of roasted nuts or peanut butter contains more calories, protein, minerals, and vitamins than a pound of beefsteak.
Some peanut products: salad oil and dressings, packing oil for fish, illuminating oil, massage oil, deep-fat cooking, margarine, soap, cosmetics (face powder, shampoo, shaving cream), medicines, explosives (used in nitroglycerine), plastic filler, insulation and sweeping compounds. The vines, hulls, and peanut skins make livestock feed. Peanuts are food for humans except to those who are allergic and can be deadly to them when eaten.