Peanut Month

March is National Peanut Month, a time to celebrate one of America’s favorite foods! Roasted in the shell for a ballpark snack, ground into peanut butter or tossed in a salad or stir-fry, peanuts find their way into everything from breakfast to dessert.
National Peanut Month had its beginnings as National Peanut Week in 1941. It was expanded to a month-long celebration in 1974.
Coincidentally, March is National Nutrition Month – a great time to recognize the nutritional value of peanuts. One serving of peanuts is a good source of protein, Vitamin E, Niacin, Folate, Phosphorus and Magnesium. Peanuts are naturally cholesterol-free and low in saturated fat.
Americans eat an average of about 6 pounds of peanuts per person, per year, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Most of our peanuts come from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and South Carolina. Almost half of the U.S. peanut crop is used to make peanut butter. It is no surprise that peanut butter is one of America’s favorite foods!
Peanut butter was first created by blending together ground shelled peanuts, vegetable oil and salt. The peanuts are first shelled, then roasted and the skins removed. Then they are ground into a smooth butter spread. Peanut butter must be at least 90 percent peanuts with no artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives to officially be labeled peanut butter.
Who invented peanut butter? Some speculate that peanut butter was first introduced in the United States in 1890, when a St. Louis physician invented peanut butter to provide his patients with an easy-to-digest, high protein food. Others still believe it to be the ‘father of the peanut industry’, George Washington Carver who invented more than 300 uses for peanuts.
Show your Peanut IQ by sharing some of these fun facts with your friends this month:

• Peanuts are not actually nuts at all! They are legumes, like beans, peas and lentils.
• Americans eat 3 pounds of peanut butter per person every year. That’s about 700 million pounds, or enough to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon!
• It takes nearly 850 peanuts to make a jar of peanut butter.
• Peanuts may be a favorite food, but we’ve found many uses for their shells too! You might find peanut shells in kitty litter, wallboard, fireplace logs, paper, animal feed and sometimes as fuel for power plants!
• Recent findings show that eating peanuts, or peanut butter, can reduce the risk of heart attacks and type 2 diabetes.
• Two peanut farmers have been elected President of the United States: Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.
• One acre of peanuts will make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches. 

Do not forget to check our peanut butter cookie recipe.

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