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Seeds of Change Garden

PEANUTS

Peanuts were first grown in South America. It is thought that early Spanish and Portuguese explorers took peanuts with them back to their own countries. Peanuts were brought with traders to North Africa, and years later, slaves brought peanuts along on ships because they were nutritious, and they didn't take up much storage space. Africans called them "goobers" which means "groundnut."

However, peanuts are not nuts at all. They belong to the family of legumes (just like peas and beans).

[Peanut] George Washington Carver is credited for finding over 300 uses for the peanut and the plant, but it is John H. Kellog who invented the first peanut butter in the 1870's. Kellog recommended that his patients who were "suffering from vegetarianism" eat the peanut butter.


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