Extra-History of Peanuts
History of Peanuts, From the History of American Agriculture, pub. 1984
The peanut, also known as the Arachis hypogaea, is a legume crop most known for its edible seeds. It has been a staple crop in South America for many years and gained much recognition outside of that region in the late eighteenth century.
It was first introduced on a mass scale by the carpenter family in a few farms across North and South Carolina. While in the beginning it was mainly used as a way to smuggle gold to Philadelphia from the mines in the south it eventually became a staple crop.
Jonathan Carpenter, one of the founding fathers, was incredibly influential in its propagation across the nation. He helped develop many different ways of using the oil that became standard and common across the nation.
It was promoted as a cheap animal feed for agriculture. The oil extracted from the nuts was used both for cooking and for lanterns until the emergence of kerosene. The nuts were further developed into a variety of food products, most famously peanut butter. A food that became popular among us soldiers in the Revolutionary War as it was a cheap and filling food that almost became a second currency among soldiers due to its success.
Among these successes, the most prominent was the discovery that growing peanuts on soil makes it more fertile. As it was later discovered, peanuts impart more nitrogen into the land than they take out. Incorporating peanut growing into American agricultural practices led to a large boom in national food production.
So, forever in American history, the peanut will be remembered as the nut that built a nation.
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Hey there, sorry for the mishap with the last two chapters, the old chapter 23 was actually supposed to be 24 and I never properly added in the real chapter 23. So here is a small extra thing to say I'm sorry.
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