Weather a peanut is a nut or legume is heavily debated in the food world. According to most botanists a peanut is a legume while those in the culinary field consider the peanut a nut.

Peanuts originated in South America, possibly Brazil or Peru. In the United states peanuts mainly grow in the southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

George Washington Carver popularized peanuts in the United States when he learned that when farmers rotated their crops with peanuts helped restore soil to its rich natural state that crops such as cotton depleted the soil of. Carver also invented non food uses for peanuts such as gasoline, dyes and cosmetics.

A Harvard Research showed that Peanuts helped overweight adults and children loose weight and keep it off longer than a low fat diet group. Possibly because a diet of moderate fats that included peanuts offered more nutrition and was easier to stick to.

The fat in peanuts is monounstaurated (the good kind). They are also a good source of fiber, protein and vitamin E.

Peanut recipes: