National Peanut Month

Texnik / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

March is National Peanut Month in the United States.

The peanut, also known as the groundnut and the monkey nut, is, like so many things with "nut" in the name, not a nut in the botanical sense, only the culinary one. Peanuts are actually a type of legume. Peanuts are high in oil and are also classed as an oil crop. Peanuts, of the wild type, have probably been eaten for over 8,000 years, as evidence stretches back 7,600 years and they have probably been eaten for longer.

Peanuts have many different uses. They are a popular snack food, are made into peanut butter, peanut oil and peanut flour. They are a staple of the cuisine of many different countries. Nutritionally, peanuts are rich in essential nutrients of many different types. They are also high in calories, and some of their nutritional value is rendered less relevant when used in snack foods, as such tend to also contain less healthy materials.