Peanut

Also groundnut. The fruit of a perennial, Arachis hypogaea, which originated in South America, most likely Bolivia or Peru. The plant produces little, yellow flowers, which have the same life cycle as the morning glory. The buds open at sunrise; they're fertilized during the morning; and then wither before noon. A few days later, the floral stump will, on its own, extend, bend and penetrate the ground between 1 and 3 inches (2.5 and 7.5 cm). To harvest, the entire plant is extracted from the ground, laid to dry for a few days and then the nuts are separated from the bush. The Aztecs were already cultivating the peanut, which they called tlacacahuatl, in the 15th century, long before the arrival of the Spanish and the Portuguese. In the early 1500s, the Portuguese introduced peanuts to Africa and the Philippines.

The peanut's cultivation as a significant U.S. crop is rooted in African-American history. Slaves grew and ate peanuts, but their masters used them only as feed for swine. But the modest legume's profile would change drastically with the Civil War. Severe oil shortages soon led to the promotion of peanut oil for both human consumption and industrial use. Tasted and appreciated by Union soldiers, the peanut emerged from the conflict with an excellent reputation for good taste. Still, it wasn't until 1896 that the peanut was transformed by its champion, George Washington Carver (1864-1943), the African-American agriculturalist who began his studies on peanuts and revolutionized farming in the South by developing more than 300 products from the peanut, making it into a $200 million industry by 1938.

Today, Asia and Africa are responsible for 90 percent of the world's production of peanuts, followed by India, China, the U.S., Nigeria and Indonesia.

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