Trivia # 7 : Peanuts

• Peanuts are used in the manufacture of dynamite.
• Peanuts originated in South America, where they were cultivated by Indians for at least 2000 years. As early as 1500 B.C., the Incans of Peru used peanuts as sacrificial offerings and entombed them with their mummies to aid in the spirit life.  
• Spaniards and Portuguese slave traders introduced them to Africa and Europe, and slaves introduced them to the American South.
• Chocolate manufacturers use 20% of the worlds peanuts (2008).
• Though there are several varieties of peanut, the two most popular are the Virginia and the Spanish peanut. The Virginia peanut is larger and more oval in shape than the smaller, rounder Spanish peanut.  Unshelled peanuts should have clean, unbroken shells and should not rattle when shaken.
• Dr. George Washington Carver researched and developed more than 300 uses for peanuts in the early 1900s; Dr. Carver is considered "The Father of the Peanut Industry" because of his extensive research and selfless dedication to promoting peanut production and products.  
• Adrian Finch of Australia holds the Guinness World Record for peanut throwing, launching a peanut 111 feet and 10 inches in 1999 to claim the record. 
• Historically, the largest producer of peanuts in the world was India, but production in China overtook Indian production in the mid-1990s.  For the period 1996 to 2000, China produced almost 40% of the world crop, and India almost 25%, with the U.S. in 3rd place with almost 6%
• 20%  of the world's peanut production is used in candy.
• March is National Peanut Month. National Peanut Month had its beginnings as National Peanut Week in 1941. It was expanded to a month-long celebration in 1974.
• Peanuts are also called goobers, goober peas, pindars, ground nuts, earth nuts, monkey nuts, and grass nuts. 
• What is supposedly the World's Largest Peanut is in Turner County. A 20 foot tall peanut, it is a monument to the importance of the peanut in Georgia history.