"Oh how wonderful, eating goober peas."

I had so much fun recording an episode about goober peas (peanuts) for HealthyLife.net last night. 
It airs next month. 
 

Goober comes from Bantu "nguba." But peanuts originated on the slopes of the Andes in Brazil, and probably in the Peruvian Andes, too. How did they get an African name?

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In 16th-century Mexico, the Nahuatl word for peanut was tlalcacahuatl, meaning "earth-cacao." Spanish and Portuguese explorers took tlalcacahuatl across the Atlantic in the 1500s, where it was "enthusiastically" adopted in West Africa, and soon integrated so deeply into local agriculture that subsequent generations believed the peanut was native to Africa. In the 1600s enslaved Africans transported goober peas to North America and established them as a staple in Southern cuisine. 

 

The botanical species name — Arachis hypogaea — means "underground"
Hypo = under
Gaea = the earth

 

In South America, where peanuts have been cultivated for 6,000 - 7,000 years, they symbolize the underworld, and the afterlife. The Moche, who flourished in northern Peru from about 100 to 800 AD, included peanuts in graves, so the dead would "not starve in the underworld." One notable Moche grave included a necklace of solid gold and solid silver peanuts. 

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In Brazil, it is believed that peanut plants require the "careful, nurturing hands of women" to thrive. Traditionally, only women were permitted to plant and harvest the crop. If a man attempted to handle or tend to the peanut plants, it was believed the crop would wither and fail.

 

American eat a huge amount of peanut butter. And it's just as healthy as peanuts, perhaps a bit healthier,
so long as it's fresh and just peanuts. By law, peanut butter need only be 90% peanuts. That leaves a lot of room for additives like Hydrogenated cottonseed oil (to prevent separation), sugar (to increase use), mono and diglycerides (preservatives).

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A reference librarian, Lisa Karen Miller, writes: "Peanuts are called ground nuts in West Africa. When I lived there, I would buy a pound of roasted nuts in the open-air market and take them to the woman in the village with a mechanized grinder. She would grind them on the spot, adding only a little salt. The result was the best-tasting and freshest peanut butter I have ever eaten. You can make it with your food processor, but it's just not the same somehow. You don't get to hold her baby on your lap and hear how much weight he's gained since you were last there. Have plant lore to share? Email lisalisa13131313@gmail.com."

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While the average European eats less than 1 tbsp of peanut butter a year, Americans eat enough peanut butter yearly to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon, or about 3000 peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a lifetime. 

"When I was young, I said to God, 'God, tell me the mystery of the universe.' But God answered, 'That knowledge is for me alone.' So I said, 'God tell me the mystery of the peanut.' Then God said, 'Well, George, that's more nearly your size.' " – George Washington Carver

 

George Washington Carver created more than 300 products from peanuts, ranging from foods, to paper, cosmetics, soaps and wood stains. Carver offered recipes that were highly nutritious and accessible for everyday home cooks. His foundational recipe for Peanut Soup:
  *. 1 Quart Milk
  *. 2 tablespoons Butter
  *. 2 tablespoons Flour
  *. 1 Cup Peanuts 
Instructions:
  1. Cook the peanuts until soft, remove their skins, and mash or grind them until very fine.
  2. Let the milk come to a boil and add the mashed peanuts. Let it cook for 20 minutes.
  3. In a separate pan, rub the flour into a smooth paste with a little milk.
  4. Melt the butter and stir in the flour paste.
  5. Stir this thickened mixture into the hot milk and peanuts, season, serve hot.

Peanuts are a great source of resveratrol, CoQ10, and arginine. 
* All parts of the peanut contain resveratrol from the roots to the skin and even the shell.
* Resveratrol content in peanut butter is very close to grape juice with about three times more resveratrol than roasted peanut with skins.
* Peanuts have the highest level of arginine among foods. "Arginine or L-arginine is an amino acid that keeps the liver, skin, joints, and muscles healthy. Arginine regulates hormones and blood sugar and promotes male fertility. Arginine increases the output of T lymphocytes (T cells) from the thymus gland. It is a semi-essential amino acid."

 

Peanut are very digestible, high in protein and fiber, and nourish deeply. 
* 100 grams (3.5 ounces, two tablespoons) of peanuts provides 75% RDA of niacin, 60% RDA of folate, 53 % RDA of thiamin, 10 % RDA of Riboflavin, 35 % RDA of pantothenic acid, 27% RDA of pyridoxine, and a whopping 55.5 % RDA of vitamin E.
* Plus 127 % RDA of copper, 84 % RDA of manganese, 57 % RDA of iron, 54 % RDA of phosphorus, and 42 % RDA of magnesium.

 

By the time I was done with the show, I found I had convinced myself, so I made a peanut sauce for dinner,
and smeared it on everything. 

Incredible Peanut Sauce
3 Tablespoons peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
3 Tablespoons tamari
1 Tablespoon mirin (rice vinegar)
1 Tablespoon coconut sugar (or maple syrup)
2 Tablespoons roasted sesame oil
1 Tablespoon Lion's Mane powder
1 Tablespoon gomasio (or roasted sesame seeds)
 

Mix ingredients well. 
If too stiff, add a little broth or water. 

In a high-pressure environment, peanut butter can be turned into diamonds.