Check out these “spread-worthy” facts!
- Peanuts are not actually nuts at all! They are legumes – like beans, peas and lentils.
- Americans eat three pounds of peanut butter per person every year – enough PB to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon!
- One acre of peanuts will make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches.
- Two former U.S. Presidents were peanut farmers: Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.
- March is National Peanut Month; November is National Peanut Butter Lovers Month.
- The peanut plant is unusual because it flowers above the ground, but fruits below the ground.
- Runner peanuts are preferred for peanut butter, and are grown primarily in Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.
- Peanut shells are used to make kitty litter, wallboard, fireplace logs, paper and animal feed, and are sometimes used as fuel for power plants.
- Africans ground peanuts into stews as early as the 1400s; Chinese have crushed peanuts into creamy sauces for centuries; and Civil War soldiers dined on “peanut porridge.”
