Peanut Plant
The Peanut Plant: Bringing Peas And Nuts Just A Little Bit Closer
Of course it isn’t true that peanuts are both peas and nuts, but the texture of the edible seeds when raw and the nature of the peanut plant to give pods, though below ground, makes this mixed up name a more sensible term to accept. There are many names for the edible seeds of the peanut plant, though by any name they are generally considered as just plain tasty. The goober, the goober pea, the jack nut, the earthnut, the cocker nut, the monkey nut, the manila nut, the pinder, and the pinda nut are all code for the tasteful and hardy offerings of the peanut plant.
Where do they grow and how are they used? This interesting discussion will be well served below, so grab a bag of roasted goobers and let’s get started. The peanut plant is grown primarily in warmer climates, making it a key export product of Central America, Mexico, and South America. It can be grown in North America, though these are usually not produced in mass quantities for harvest and sale. We just don’t seem to have that perfect mix of dry sun and tempered soil that the peanut plant prefers, so we pay the price to have them shipped in by the tens of thousands of tons each month.
We use the nutritious fruit of the peanut plant for spreads, deserts, salads, snacks, toppings, flavorings, and just about anything else they will stand still for. Peanuts are actually legumes, which is to say that they are the fruit of the plant and are deposited beneath the soil in hard pods. They are most prominently found in sets of two, but can often allow just one, and as many as seven peanuts have been found in one pod shell.
This particular plant does flower, but the process following pollination and bloom is of quite a bit of interest. Unlike the typical flowering plant, which holds the seed and bares fruit from the area where the bloom was, the seed of the peanut plant begins to travel toward the ground as it grows. Once the ever growing seed pod reaches the surface of the soil it begins to burrow into it, and here it will remain while it matures and hardens. Within 150 days of laying seed the peanut plant will be ready for harvest. Because each plant will only fruit one time, harvest is best accomplished by pulling the entire stalk, roots and all, out of the ground. If harvest is right on time, the legumes will lift easily with the rest of the plant. If done too late the stalk will snap and leave the peanuts beneath the soil.