That's Nuts!
Educator Resources
Are you a peanut fan? If so, you may already know this, but if you don’t, brace yourself…
In honor of peanuts everywhere, we wanted to share some fun facts with you, starting with….
PEANUTS ARE NOT REALLY NUTS. Yep, you read that right. Peanuts are actually legumes, and are related to beans and lentils. Personally, we prefer the peanut version…
In addition to that fun facts, here are a few more:
- Peanuts are also called groundnuts, because they mature underground.
- Most peanuts consumed in the U.S. are processed in some way before reaching the consumer, which could include as:
- Peanut butter
- Roasted peanuts
- Peanut oil
- Peanut flour
- There are four types of peanuts grown commercially in the U.S.:
- Runner (the primary commercial peanut, from which most peanut butter is made)
- Virginia (our personal favorite, grown mostly in Virginia and North Carolina.This variety accounts for about 15% of peanut production.)
- Spanish (grown mostly in Texas and Oklahoma)
- And Valencia (grown almost exclusively in New Mexico)
- The top peanut producing states are:
- Georgia
- Alabama
- Florida
- Texas
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Arkansas
- Virginia
- Mississippi
- Oklahoma
- Farmers can grow about 4,000 lbs. of peanuts per acre.That’s enough for 30,000 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
- It takes about 540 peanuts to make one 12 oz. jar of peanut butter
What’s your favorite way to enjoy peanuts? In a PB&J sandwich? Roasted? Covered in chocolate?
If you would like to download this graphic, click here.