Peanuts were first grown by the Inca of ancient Peru.originated in South America (Bolivia and adjoining countries); The thin, tan, netted pods usually contains two seeds. However, depending on the variety, the number of kernels can vary from one or two to five and seven. A papery skin covers the oval creamy-tan seeds. The skin may be white, cream, brown, red, or piebald (red and white).Their sizes vary from the small Spanish and Valencia nuts, which are rounder and used mainly for peanut butter, to the larger oval Virginia variety that is usually roasted. In spite of its unusual growing habits, the peanut looks like the common garden pea when it stands in the field. Later, after it has flowered and pollination has taken place, the plant bends toward the earth.
Basic Botanical Data of Peanut: Peanuts:Arachis hypogaea L.(Groundnut)
Arachis hypogaea:Family Leguminosae)
Common Names:Peanut, Groundnut, earth nut, monkey nut, goober peas, anchics, pindars,goober, pindar, groundnut, and earth nut
Ancient Name from Incas of Peru:ynchic
The peanut is also called goober, pindar, groundnut, and earth nut. While peanuts are most valuable as an agronomic crop here in Florida, they also are grown quite frequently in home vegetable gardens.
The Peanut is the edible seed of the plant, Arachis hypogaea. Although called a nut, the peanut is a member of the pea family Fabaceae, and the fruit is not a nut, but a legume or pod. Peanuts develop underground in a woody pod, usually with two seeds to a pod. The peanut plant is a hairy, taprooted annual that measures 30-50 cm (1-1.5 feet) in height.
Peanuts are also known as Groundnuts (because they grow underground), Earthnuts, Goobers, Goober peas, Pindas, Pinders, Manila nuts and Monkey nuts (although the last of these is often used to mean the entire pod, not just the seeds).
Whole Plant Description of Peanut:
The peanut plant is a low-growing, annual legume with a central upright stem. The numerous branches vary from low-flat to almost erect. Peanut varieties are separated into bunch and runner types. The nuts,which are legume pods like peas and beans, are closely clustered at the base of the bunch type. The runner varieties have nuts scattered along their prostrate branches from base to tip.
The peanut has a well-developed taproot with numerous lateral roots that extend several inches into the ground. Most roots have nodules but bear very few root hairs.
The peanut plant is procumbent or semi-erect, with rather small compound-pinnate, smooth leaves. The seeds are enclosed in a rather fibrous pod. After the flowers are pollinated a short, thick stem at the flower base, termed gynophore, grows downward and penetrates into the soil, so the fruiting body develops entirely underground. Seeds, the edible part, are 1 to 4 per pod, 0.25 - to 0.75 -inch long and vary from near globose to elongated. In harvesting, the entire plant with adhering seed pods is lifted from the soil, mainly mechanically, dried in windrows or stacks, then threshed to remove the seeds.
Peanut flowers are borne in the leaf axils, above or below ground, singly or in clusters of about three. It is not uncommon to find the blossoms with their yellow petals 3 inches below the soil surface. After self-pollination, the ovary which produces the pods is pushed into the soil by "pegs" where the pod develops. The pods, containing usually from one to three seeds, develop only underground. Each seed is covered with a thin papery seed coat.
Distribution of Arachis hypogaea L(Peanut,groundnut):Eco-geographic Distribution
Native to South America; now widely cultivated in warm countries throughout the world. Introduced in pre-Columbian times to West Indies and Mexico, in early post-Columbian times to Africa and eastern Asia and during the colonial period to Atlantic North America. Known only in cultivation (Duke, 1981a).
Suitable for tropics, subtropics and warm temperate regions, grown from 40∼S to 40∼N latitude. Growing period 3 1/2每5 months ('Chico' matures in 80 days in South Texas). Frost sensitive. Thrives with 5 dm water in the growing season with most in mid-one-third of season. Grows on light, friable, well-drained sandy loams, but will grow in heavier soils. Ranging from Cool Temperate Moist through Tropical Thorn to Wet Forest Life Zones, peanut is reported to tolerate annual precipitation of 3.1 to 41.0 dm (mean of 162 cases 13.8 dm), annual mean temperature of 10.5∼C to 28.5∼C (mean of 161 cases 23.5∼C), and pH of 4.3 to 8.7 (mean of 90 cases = 6.5) (Duke, 1981a).
Wild Arachis species are endemic to South America, occurring in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Both Krapovickas (1969), (1973) and Gregory et al., (1980) postulated a planalto profile from Corumba to Joazeiro, Brazil, as the centre from which distribution of Arachis occurred. Distribution maps of species can be generated through the wild Arachis database, here. The geocarpic habit of peanuts (developing seeds underground) is an unusual feature of their life-cycle that has interesting consequences for dispersal and population structure. Seeds appear to be largely dispersed by water and species distribution co-incides to a large extent with the main river systems. Different sections are associated with different river basins (Gregory et al., 1973).
Taxonomy of genus Arachis:
The genus Arachis is a member of family Fabaceae (synonym: Leguminosae) subfamily Papilionoidae, tribe Aeschynomeneae and subtribe Stylosanthinae (Polhill and Raven, 1981). At the time Linnaeus first named the cultivated groundnut Arachis hypogaea L., it was the only member of the genus. One hundred years later Bentham (1841) produced the first taxonomic treatment of the genus. Subsequent taxonomic treatments include Chevalier (1933), (1934), (1936) Hoehne (1940) and Hermann (1954). These treatments are now largely outdated because of the number of new taxa that have been collected and described in the past forty to fifty years (Gregory et al., 1973). Unfortunately during this surge in germplasm collection, many new taxa were invalidly described, other unofficial names came into common use and different names were sometimes assigned to the same species and vice versa (Resslar, 1980). The basis for the confusion was a lack of recognised differentiating morphological descriptors, as well as fragmentary early collecting and the representation of species by seedling specimens.
The genus was in a state of chaos until 1994 when Krapovichas and Gregory published a taxonomic revision of the genus. This work took them nearly thirty-five years, and involved re-visiting and collecting specimens at the type locations of each known species. This taxonomic revision recognises 69 species in 9 sections. Distinctions are made on the basis of morphological characters and life cycle attributes, although eco-geographic distribution, crossability evidence, cytological information, plant form, as well as chromatographic and antigenic reactions were all considered in the groupings. The currently recognised classification of the genus Arachis can be found here, and a dichotomous key here. All species, except the cultivated species and A. monticola, in Section Arachis, and certain species in Section Rhizomatosae, are diploid (2n=2x=20).
Section Arachis contains the cultivated groundnut A. hypogaea, which is itself divided into two subspecies, subsp. fastigiata Waldron and subsp. hypogaea Krap. et Rig. Previously each subspecies was divided into two varieties (Gregory et al., 1973); subspecies hypogaea contained var. hypogaea and var. hirsuta, and subsp. fastigiata contained var. vulgaris and var. fastigiata. However in 1994, Krapovickas and Gregory proposed two new varieties of subsp. fastigiata in addition to the existing ones, namely var. peruviana and var. aequatoriana. A key to the currently recognised botanical varieties of A. hypogaea can be found here.
History and Origin of Arachis hypogaea L(Peanut,groundnut):
They were first grown by the Inca of ancient Peru.originated in South America (Bolivia and adjoining countries); The thin, tan, netted pods usually contains two seeds. However, depending on the variety, the number of kernels can vary from one or two to five and seven. A papery skin covers the oval creamy-tan seeds. The skin may be white, cream, brown, red, or piebald (red and white).Their sizes vary from the small Spanish and Valencia nuts, which are rounder and used mainly for peanut butter, to the larger oval Virginia variety that is usually roasted. In spite of its unusual growing habits, the peanut looks like the common garden pea when it stands in the field. Later, after it has flowered and pollination has taken place, the plant bends toward the earth.
Peanuts were first introduced to the Portuguese slave traders who took them to Africa and elsewhere around the world. African slaves then brought them to the US, which explains why the first names used were of the Congo origin (pindar and goober). But it was not until early in the 20th century that the popularity of the peanut began to soar. In 1904, at the St. Louis World Fair, peanut butter was seen for the first time and promoted as a health food. Children quickly adopted this idea, which should have immediately made parents suspicious. Since then, about half of the peanuts produced in the US goes into making peanut butter. George Washington Carver (1864-1943), a major promoter of the peanut, is credited with developing more than 300 different uses for the peanut. Born to Missouri slave parents, he graduated from the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now Iowa State University). He became a research director of the now Tuskegee University, where he experimented with and developed many uses for, the peanut. He continually urged cotton farmers to switch to growing peanuts for a cash crop.
Peanut Origins:
The common peanut has become so universally enjoyed throughout the world that most people never connect it with South America, its place of origin. The ancient Incas of Peru first cultivated wild peanuts and offered them to the sun god as part of their religious ceremonials. Their name for the peanut was ynchic
Peanut cultivation was also active in Ecuador as well as Bolivia and Brazil. The Brazilian peanut farmers were Indian tribal women who wouldn't allow the men to tend the plants, believing the plants would only produce peanuts under their own care.
As evidence of the early existence of this legume, preserved peanut shells were found at many archeological excavations in Peru dating back to 2500 BCE. Scientists believe it was the dry climate of the region that kept the shells so well preserved.
During excavations of the Moche people's burial graves in Peru, archeologists discovered earthenware pots with carved replicas of peanut shells on the covers, indicating the importance of the peanut as a dietary staple. The pottery dated back from 100 to 800 CE.
The Ancon people, who lived on the Peruvian coast, believed in an afterlife and prepared the dead with items they recognized as necessary for their journey. Other archeological finds in the Inca burial sites were string pouches that contained peanuts along with maize, beans, and peppers, provisions to sustain the departed in the next world.
During the early 1500's South America was invaded by the Spanish and the Portuguese who were inquisitive about many new food plants they had never seen before, among them were peanuts the natives called mandi and mandubi.
Not long after, natives in the Caribbean were cultivating peanuts as an important food. A Spanish explorer's account from 1535 describes a plant called mani found growing in Hispaniola, an island in the West Indies. "They sow and harvest it. It is a very common crop . . . about the size of a pine nut in the shell. They consider it a healthy food."
When the explorers first encountered peanuts, they were hesitant to eat them. Bernabe Cobo, a Catholic priest living in Peru in the early 1600's, declared that eating peanuts caused the body discomforts such as dizziness and headaches. In general, these European conquistadors were rather skeptical about many of the "new foods." At first they thought peanuts were a substitute for almonds. Some even attempted to roast and grind them to create a new kind of coffee, but these did not gain acceptance. Eventually the Indians shared their knowledge of peanut cultivation with the Europeans and even traded peanuts for some Spanish goods.
When peanut plants were brought back to Spain and Portugal, they struggled to survive in a climate that was not warm enough. The few peanuts harvested did not earn an enthusiastic reception. Rather, they were considered bizarre.
Peanuts and the Slave Trade:
But, don't weep for the peanuts. They were well received in Africa when they arrived with the Portuguese who introduced the plants during their slave trading missions. India, too, met up with the peanut because of the Portuguese.
Spain's active trade business began in the 1500s with routes that connected the West Coast of Mexico across the Pacific to the Philippines. The galleons that left the port of Acapulco carried silver, peanuts and other precious New World items to Manila where they were traded to buy spices, silk, and porcelain. Via the trade routes, peanuts were soon familiar food items in China,and the East Indies.
By the late 1600s active slave trading brought black slaves to the American south to work the plantations, though it wasn't until the 1700s and 1800s that thousands of them were taken from their homes in West Africa to the Southern plantations. To keep the slaves nourished during the long voyage across the Atlantic, the captors took along peanuts and maize for their sustenance.
Once here in America, the slaves planted their familiar comfort food, the peanut, which they ate along with corn, beans and greens. The slave owners, however, only fed the peanuts to their cows and pigs, rejecting them as food unfit for humans to consume.
Peanuts Feed the Troops:
This snobbish attitude was completely reversed during the Civil War of the 1860s, when food shortages were a serious concern. Peanuts soon became appreciated as they nourished the soldiers from both the North and the South. Many days, there was nothing else to eat but peanuts. At other times troops ground and boiled them to create a substitute coffee.
During times when they were camped, the soldiers roasted peanuts over the fire. When they were marching, soldiers often found raw peanuts the day's only meal; they even began to embrace them. It may have been the soldiers who corrupted the peanut's Bantu name nguba when they called them goobers or goober peas. Peanuts were also called pinders, ground peas, and groundnuts.
The painful period during the Civil War struggle inspired one Confederate soldier's poetic talents to create this verse:
Sitting by the roadside, on a summer day,
Chatting with my messmates, passing time away,
Lying in the shadows, underneath the trees,
Goodness how delicious, eating goober peas!
Peas! Peas! Peas! Peas! Eating goober peas!
Goodness how delicious, eating goober peas!
The Union soldiers who came back home introduced their friends and families to the joys of the peanut, and turned many a negative attitude around. Not long after the war, a number of soldiers who couldn't find work began roasting and selling bags of peanuts on the streets along with entrepreneurs who saw a financial opportunity.
Topping the list as a favorite snack food, roasted peanuts began to show up everywhere. In 1870, the famous Phineas T. Barnum of the renowned Barnum and Bailey Circus offered bags of roasted peanuts for sale at circus performances. People loved them. What followed brought the peanut fame and favor. Roasted peanuts appeared at baseball games. The "peanut gallery" was the name given to the cheap balcony seats at the theater where patrons snacked on voluminous quantities of peanuts in the upstairs seating.
Peanuts, a Sticky Business:
Peanut butter had its start as the all-American food in 1890 when a doctor in Missouri created it for his elderly patients in an attempt to offer them good nourishment that didn't require chewing and was easy on the digestive system. The doctor's recipe contained only roasted peanuts ground into a spreadable paste. Soon entrepreneurs began adding sugar and salt to enhance their product that quickly became popular. Peanut butter rose to fame when it met up with its ideal partners--jams and jellies, and the peanut butter and jelly sandwich was born. Moms loved its convenience and accepted it as healthful food for the kids.
Though we tend to think of peanut butter as an American innovation, it was actually the Indians in South America who ground peanuts into a gooey sticky paste, a practice that dates back about 3,000 years. Their peanut butter was made by hand and never reached the smooth creamy texture of ours. Today we create desserts that combine peanut butter and chocolate, but we weren't the first to create this combination either. The ancient Incas made use of their local resources and flavored their peanut butter with cocoa beans that were ground into a powder and pounded into the peanut mixture.
Today peanut butter is the end product of one half of the peanut crops grown in the United States. Interestingly, peanuts began their existence in the Americas and journeyed across oceans to Asia and Africa only to return to the Americas. The southern states of Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and North Carolina, where peanuts made their American return, still remain the U.S. peanut-growing center. More peanuts are eaten in the United States than walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts combined.
Think about the many ways peanuts have become connected to our culture--they are eaten at baseball games, fed to elephants at the zoo, munched on at the circus, served at beer parlors, and offered as airline snacks. At home we may include them as a typical party snack or pack a few peanut butter cookies in a kids' lunchbox. You can't get more American than fixing the occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich or snacking on chocolate covered peanuts. And if you enjoy cooking, you may have even prepared peanut soup, peanut sauce, peanut brittle, or even a rich peanut butter pie. Today, Americans top the list as the largest consumer of peanut butter.
The Planters Peanut Company began in the early 1900s. It was in 1916 that their mascot, Mr. Peanut, who stands tall with top hat, monicle, and cane, made his debut. Mr. Peanut was the winning entry in a contest the company's owner, Amadeo Obici, offered to school children.
Peanuts were thoroughly enjoying the limelight and appeared in many news headlines in 1977 when Jimmy Carter, a Plains, Georgia peanut farmer, became President of the United States.
If you were to combine all the peanuts grown in the world annually, you would have a grand harvest of more than 26 million tons of peanuts. China, India, and the United States are the world's largest growers. Here's a trivia tidbit you might try out at your next party: How many peanuts does it take to make a one-pound jar of peanut butter? The answer, 720.
Peanut: Phytochemicals and nutrients:
Peanuts are high in protein, but not complete. They lack the essential amino acids, tryptophan, methionine, and cystine. By combining peanuts with grains, the protein becomes complete -- which kids have instinctively known for years preferring peanut butter sandwiches to anything else! By eating that sandwich with a fruit high in vitamin C, the hard-to-absorb ferrous type of iron, found in these foods, will be changed to the easier-to-absorb ferric iron. The fats in peanuts are primarily unsaturated, and the content is about 50%. They are also good sources of vitamins E and the B complex (except B12), calcium, iron, and potassium. However, much of the thiamin and B6 is lost when they are roasted. Ounce for ounce, peanuts have nearly three times as much potassium as fresh oranges. They also have about twice as much starch as sugar and are a good source of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectins, and gums, as well as the noncarbohydrate food fiber lignin, which is found in stems, leaves, seeds, and seed coverings on fresh or roasted peanuts.
Shelled, uncooked, seeds are reported to contain approximately per 100 g: over 500 calories, 4每13 g moisture, 21.0每36.4 g protein, 35.8每54.2 g fat, 6.0每24.9 g total carbohydrate, 1.2每4.3 g fiber, 1.8每3.1 g ash, 49 mg Ca, 409 mg P, 3.8 mg Fe, 15 mg b-carotene equivalent, 0.79 mg thiamine, 0.14 mg riboflavin, 15.5 mg niacin, and 1 mg ascorbic acid. Roasted seeds contain in broad average figures per 100 g: 595 calories, 1.8 g moisture, 23.2 g protein, 50.9 g fat, 21.7 g total carbohydrate, 3.2 g fiber, 2.4 g ash, 42 mg Ca, 354 mg P, 0.45 mg thiamine, 0.11 mg riboflavin, and 15.3 mg niacin. Boiled seeds contain per 100 g: 235 calories, 44.6 g moisture, 16.8 g protein, 8.3 g fat, 26.3 g total carbohydrate, 6.1 g fiber, 4.0 g ash, 45 mg Ca, 260 mg P, 5.1 mg Fe, 0.44 mg thiamine, 0.16 mg riboflavin, and 1.4 mg niacin. Raw leaves contain per 100 g: 69 calories, 78.5 g moisture, 4.4 g protein, 0.6 g fat, 14.9 g total carbohydrate, 4.6 g fiber, 1.6 g ash, 262 mg Ca, 82 mg P, 4.2 mg Fe, 7,735 mg b-carotene equivalent, 0.23 mg thiamine, 0.58 mg riboflavin, 1.6 mg niacin, and 98 mg ascorbic acid.
The oilseed cake is said to be a good source of arginine and glutamic acid, used in treating mental deficiencies (Perry, 1980). Hager's Handbook (List and Horhammer, 1969每1979) states that seeds contain 20每30% nitrogenous matter, 2每5% cellulose, 8每21% starch, a-cephalin, xanthine, glutathione, D- and g-tocopherol, arginine, guanosine, chorine, lecithin, saccharose, conglutin, conarachin, L-(-)-cystine, sarkosine, biotin, thiamin, vitamin P, conenzyme A, a-ketoglutaric- and g-methylent-a-ketoglutaric acid, traces of 4-methyleneproline, allantoinase, phospholipase D, isocitratylase, fumarase, etc. Yoshida and Hasegawa (1977) report 2.14 nmol/g atizolamine (1-methyl-3-guanidino-6-hydroxymethylpyrazine-2-one) in the seeds. The testa contains arachidoside, leucocyanadin, and leucodelphinidin. Analyses of the haulms from South Africa showed 9.9% CP, 21.1% CP, 9.3% ash, 2.4% EE, 57.3% NFE, 1.48% Ca, and 0.08% P. The testa (skins from India) contained 12.1% CP, 7.1% CF, 16.7% ash, 46.3% EE, 0.24% Ca, and 0.14% P. Hulls from Nigeria contained 4.9% CP, 68.4% CF, 7.4% ash, 0.6% EE, and 18.7% NFE.
The so-called germ, a byproduct of the manufacture of peanut butter contains 3.0% CP, 2.0% CF, 3.0% ash, 46.0% EE, and 46.0% NFE, all these on a zero-moisture basis (Gohl, 1981).
Nutritional Information:
Peanuts pack more protein than tree nuts, consisting of 20 to 30% protein, 5 to 15% carbohydrate, and 40 to 50% oil or fat. In fact, they are so nutritious that producer Billy Rose survived on one 5-cent bag of peanuts a day for three days when all he had to live on was 15 cents.
Dry roasted, unsalted peanuts are a powerhouse of protein, though not a complete protein, providing 7 grams for only 1 ounce. While it's easy to indulge in peanut pleasures, keep in mind that each ounce has 170 calories and 14 grams of fat, 2 of them saturated.
Dry roasted, unsalted peanuts contain the important B vitamins, B1, B2, and B3. Niacin, vitamin B3, is extraordinarily plentiful with 1 ounce registering 3.80 mg., while folic acid measures in at a whopping 41.2 mcg. Even vitamin B6 appears with trace amounts measuring .07 mg.
The minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, copper, and zinc are all part of the nutritional make-up that give peanuts a thumbs up.
Raw peanuts also provide 7 grams of protein for 1 ounce, with the same fat content and 162 calories. This quantity provides 2.8 g of fiber, while the dry roasted offers 2.67 g. Raw peanuts also have a natural sodium content of 2 mg for 1 ounce, with the dry roasted peanuts registering less than .5 mg.
The B vitamins in raw peanuts register only minimally higher than the dry roasted with the exception of their folic acid content listed at 68 mcg for 1 ounce. Calcium, iron, and potassium are also slightly higher in raw peanuts than the figures for dry roasted.
Let's look at the numbers for peanut butter. A two tablespoon serving of the natural, unsalted, crunchy style piles up 190 calories, with 8 grams of protein, and 16 grams of fat. The saturated fat content varies between 1 and 3 grams in different brands.
Peanut butter's B vitamins are well endowed with niacin registering 4.40 mg and folic acid climbing to 29.4 mcg. While all the minerals show healthy quantities, potassium stands out at 214 mg for the two tablespoon serving.
Francis G. Benedict, author of The Energy Requirements of Intense Mental Effort, enlightens us with this, "The extra calories needed for an hour of intense mental effort would be completely met by the eating of one oyster cracker or one-half of a salted peanut."
Uses of Arachis hypogaea L(Peanut,groundnut):
Peanuts are found in a wide range of grocery products.Peanuts for edible uses account for two-thirds of the total peanut consumption in the United States. The principal uses are peanut butter (see peanut butter and jelly sandwich), peanut candy, salted, shelled nuts, and nuts that have been roasted in the shell. Salted peanuts are usually roasted in oil and packed in retail size, transparent plastic bags and hermetically sealed cans. Dry roasted, salted peanuts are also marketed in significant quantities. The primary use of peanut butter is in the home, but large quantities are also used in the commercial manufacture of sandwiches, candy, and bakery products. Boiled peanuts are a preparation of raw, unshelled green peanuts typically eaten as a snack in the southern United States where most peanuts are grown.
Low grade or culled peanuts not suitable for the edible market are utilized in the production of peanut oil, seed and feed.
Peanuts have a variety of industrial end uses. Paint, varnish, lubricating oil, leather dressings, furniture polish, insecticides, and nitroglycerin are made from peanut oil. Soap is made from saponified oil, and many cosmetics contain peanut oil and its derivatives. The protein portion of the oil is utilized in the manufacture of some textile fibers.
Peanut shells are put to use in the manufacture of plastic, wallboard, abrasives, and fuel. They are also used to make cellulose (used in rayon and paper) and mucilage (glue).
Peanut plant tops are used to make hay. The protein cake (oilcake meal) residue from oil processing is utilized as an animal feed and as a soil fertilizer.
George Washington Carver, an American teacher and agricultural researcher, identified more than 300 different uses for peanuts and is generally credited with introducing peanuts to the United States food market. He encouraged cotton farmers to grow peanuts instead of or in addition to cotton because cotton had leached so much nitrogen from the soil in Alabama, and one of the peanut's properties as a legume is to put nitrogen back into the soil(a process known as nitrogen fixation). His purpose in identifying a variety of uses was to encourage the growth of demand for the peanut so it could become a viable cash crop alternative to cotton.
Groundnut is relatively inexpensive and is therefore used extensively in the tropics. It has a high content of proteins, fats, carbohydrate and calories. It has a high content of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and calories, the preponderant protein of groundnut is deficient in methionine. The peanut is fruit of the somewhat unusual peanut plant. Its pods develop underground, which is why peanuts are also called groundnuts. It is a common belief that the peanut originated in Africa, but evidence suggests that South America ~Bolivia~was probably its first home. From there, through colonisation; the use of peanuts spread throughout colonisation, the use of peanuts spread throughout the world. Soon, they came to be valued for their oil.
But over the years, changes in eating habits, diets and fears about oil and fat have caused people look as once at peanuts. In fact, there is a wealth of nutrition in just that small handful of hard to resist nuts.
Peanuts contain reservatrol which may reduce the risk of heart disease. A study conducted in United States showed that diets high in good monosaturated fat (MUFA), obtained from foods like peanuts, peanut oil and olive oil were superior to low~fat diets for heart health. The presence of peanuts, peanut oil and peanut butter in the diet reduced the risk of heart disease by 21 per cent.
The fatty acid percentage weight composition of groundnut oil is saturated 20, monosaturated 50 and unsaturated 30. One of the main advantages of using peanut oil is its high level of MUFA and low level of linolenic acid. Too much of latter oxidises the soil and can produce undesirable flavours in it. Pure peanut oil contains less than 0.1 of linolenic acid while some of other Vegetable oils contain about 7% linolenic acid has been indicated as a cause for tumours.
The temperature at which an oil begins to smoke is one of the most reliable indicators of its quality for deep frying. The higher the smoke point, the better it is, as firstly, you can fry foods without foiling the oil and secondly you can reuse the oil a few times. The lower the smoke point, the sooner it has to be discarded. Peanut oil has a very high smoke point and allows food cook faster. This in turn preserves the flavour and prevents excess absorption of oil.
Peanut oil is used in a variety of cooking methods; from deep frying to sauteing. It is easy to measure and pour. Always store oil in a cool place and always seal the container tightly as exposure to air causes oil to lose its quality.
Folk Medicine and Medicinal Uses of Peanut:
Duke and Wain (1981) cite folk useage for aphrodisiac, cholecystosis, decoagulant (but see below), inflammation, and nephritis. Peanuts play a small role in various folk pharmacopoeias. In China the nuts are considered demulcent, pectoral, and peptic; the oil aperient and emollient, taken internally in milk for gonorrhea, externally for rheumatism (Duke and Ayensu, 1985). In Zimbabwe the peanut is used in folk remedies for plantar warts. Hemostatic and vasoconstrictor activity are reported (List and Horhammer, 1969每1979). The alcoholic extract is said to affect isolated smooth muscles and frog hearts like acetylcholine. The alcoholic lipoid fraction of the seed is said to prevent hemophiliac tendencies and for the treatment of some blood disorders (mucorrhagia and arthritic hemorrhages) in hemophilia.
Medicinal Uses:Before 500 BCE peanuts had been brought to Mexico. There the Aztecs cultivated peanuts as a medicine. From the Log of Christopher Columbus translated by Robert H. Fuson, Friar Bernardino de Sahagun describes the Aztec marketplace medicine seller who was considered a "knower of herbs, a knower of roots, a physician." The Aztecs used ground peanuts mixed with water to cure fever.
Historians have noted that the Aztecs were applying peanut paste to soothe aching gums about 1500 CE.
Toxicity: Of greatest concern is possible contamination of damaged or spoiled seeds with the teratogenic, carcinogenic aflatoxins. Two principal toxins, aflatoxins B, and G, and their less toxic dihydro derivatives, aflatoxins B2 and G2 are formed by the aflatoxin producing moulds (Aspergillus flavus et al). Prevention of mould growth is the mainstay, there being no satisfactory way to remove the toxins from feed and foods (however, peanut oils are free of aflatoxins because of alkaline processing). LD50 for aflatoxin for sensitive organisms may be less than 1 mg/kg body weight. "Aflatoxin B1 appears to be the most potent hepatocarcinogen known." Rats receiving only 15 ppm aflatoxin in the diet have high cancer incidence (NAS, 1973). Arachin, with 4 antigens and conarachin with 2 antigens are also reported.
Cooking Peanut:
Raw peanuts provide a nutritious boost to vegetable stews and soups.
For garnishing, chop roasted peanuts and sprinkle over salads, casseroles, stir fries, and desserts.
Chopped peanuts offer diverse texture in cooked or dry cereals.
Peanut butter adds thickening as well as distinctive flavor to soups and sauces.
Homemade Peanut Butter :You can easily make your own natural peanut butter at home by putting small amounts of dry roasted peanuts into the blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. For the chunky style, simply chop roasted peanuts to a coarse texture and stir into the creamy peanut butter. It's best to make your peanut butter in small quantities to prevent rancidity.
Optimization of extraction methods for identification of selected phytochemicals in peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.)
Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a highly nutritive oil seed from the plant family Leguminosae. Additionally, it is reported to contain non-nutritive bioactive phytochemicals, particularly, isoflavones. Peanut consumption is associated with reduced risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer occurrence. Although complete elucidation of their mechanisms of action have not yet been accomplished, it was suggested that the health benefits from peanut consumption maybe due to the presence of these non-nutritive but bioactive compounds. There are limited data regarding the approximate levels of these compounds in peanuts and peanut products. Further, there are variations in methods of extraction and quantification of these compounds from peanuts.
Our objective was to optimize current method for identifying and quantifying specific isoflavones in peanuts.
Several modified hot and cold extraction methods, based on previously reported methods, were used to extract isoflavones from peanuts. HPLC (C18 column) was then used for the identification and estimation of levels of the isoflavones daidzein, genistein, biochanin A (at A285) and resveratrol (at A306) in the peanut extracts.
The results showed that daidzein was undetected in both hot and cold ethanol extracts. Genistein was present in both extracts but at a slightly higher level (0.29 ?0.02mg/100g dwb) in the hot extract compared to the cold extract (0.20 ?0.00mg/100g dwb). Biochanin A was undetected in the cold extract but was present in the hot extract (0.24 ?0.14mg/100g dwb) while resveratrol was undetected in the hot extract but present in the cold extract (1.18 ?0.19mg/100g dwb).
Optimal methods that extract different phytochemicals in peanuts and peanut products will facilitate obtaining the phytochemical composition of peanuts and thus furnish nutrition scientists with information necessary for studies regarding the establishment of peanut consumption levels necessary for improving health status and reducing disease risk.
Scientific References:
1.Peanut history and it's phytochemicals...
Claims & Warning:
Claims: Information this web site presented is meant for Nutritional Benefit and as an educational starting point only, for use in maintenance and promotion good health in cooperation with a common knowledge base reference...Furthermore,it based solely on the traditional and historic use or legend of a given herb from the garden of Adonis. Although every effort has been made to ensure its accurate, please note that some info may be outdated by more recent scientific developments......
Pharmakon Warning: The order of knowledge is not the transparent order of forms and ideas,as one might be tempted retrospectively to interpret it; it is the antidote....(Dissemination,Plato's Pharmacy,II.The Ingredients:Phantasms,Festivals,and Paints;138cf. Jacques Derrida.).
And as it happens,the technique of imitation,along with the production of the simulacrum,has always been in Plato's eyes manifestly magical,thaumaturgical:......and the same things appear bent and straight to those who view them in water and out,or concave and convex,owing to similar errors of vision about colors, and there is obviously every confusion of this sort in our souls.And so scene painting (skiagraphia) in its exploitation of this weakness of four nature falls nothing short of witchcraft (thaumatopoia), and so do jugglery and many other such contrivances.(Republic X,602c-d;cf.also 607c).
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Serie No.:R062.Basic Data Sheet Download
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seminal trace...Peanut.Arachis hypogaea L..10:1Extract.Groundnut,goober peas.earth nut, monkey nut, goober peas, anchics, pindars,goober, pindar, groundnut, and earth nut,ynchic...
Basic Botanical Data of Peanut:
Peanut Origins:
Scientific References:
Claims & Warning:
