Peanuts Are Not Actually Nuts

The name "peanut" is one of food's great misnomers. While we eat it like a nut, botanically it belongs to the legume family, making it a close cousin to beans and lentils. The real giveaway is its unique growing process, a botanical marvel known as geocarpy. After the peanut plant's yellow flower is pollinated above ground, its stalk, called a "peg," elongates and curves downward, burrowing the developing ovary several inches into the soil. It is here, protected underground, that the familiar pod and its seeds mature.

This subterranean journey is the complete opposite of how true nuts, such as hazelnuts and acorns, grow on the branches of trees. A true nut is technically a hard-shelled fruit that contains a single seed. The peanut, by contrast, develops in a pod that contains multiple seeds and is designed to split open, just like a pea pod. The confusion arises almost entirely from its culinary role. Because we roast them, salt them, and grind them into a paste, their use in the kitchen perfectly mimics that of tree nuts like almonds and walnuts.

Originally domesticated in South America thousands of years ago, the peanut was spread across the globe by European traders. Its status as a major crop in the United States was cemented in the early 20th century, largely thanks to the work of scientist George Washington Carver. He discovered over 300 uses for the versatile legume, helping to establish it as a profitable and sustainable staple for farmers. So, despite its nutty reputation, the humble peanut is a world-traveling legume with a fascinating life cycle.