[HN Gopher] A 1690s Peanut is Reborn
___________________________________________________________________
A 1690s Peanut is Reborn
Author : mooreds
Score : 136 points
Date : 2023-12-31 11:28 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (nationalpeanutboard.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (nationalpeanutboard.org)
| RetroTechie wrote:
| _"The Carolina African peanut is so tiny that when it runs
| through a shelling machine, only about 70% will make it into a
| pile of good seed, then the sheller has to throw the rest out,"
| Ward said._
|
| (in this case the remainder isn't thrown out, but hand shelled).
|
| Obviously that shelling machine is designed to process bigger
| peanuts. Would it be difficult to re-design it (or make
| adaptable) to handle smaller ones?
|
| That would seem inevitable if this peanut becomes more popular.
| Hand shelling 30% of a peanut harvest, in 2024? Come on...
| tudorw wrote:
| In the UK I quite often see peanuts sold in shells, I am sure
| there would be a market for these in our artisanal markets,
| people crave novelty!
| msrenee wrote:
| We get them in shells in the US as well. I'd definitely be
| interested in buying these still in the shell.
| joshspankit wrote:
| > Would it be difficult to re-design it
|
| The knee-jerk reaction is to say "no, just make all the parts
| smaller.", but at some point the peanut and the shell are the
| same weight and fragments of shell are the same dimensions as a
| single peanut. Throw in variation on both sides and it becomes
| a difficult problem most likely requiring a good optical
| recognition system.
| mkoubaa wrote:
| If there's a buyer for the tech, someone will invent it
| paganel wrote:
| Thought I was on the rs sub for a minute, this forum does indeed
| need a feel-good mascot like Peanut there is.
| tomrod wrote:
| What is the rs sub?
| kalbadia wrote:
| I guess it's the RuneScape subreddit ? for some reasons it
| seems that Jaggex, the RS parent company have partenered with
| a third-party company, Peanuts, that sells things to players.
| And it's quite controversial.
| paganel wrote:
| This [1]. There were a few HN readers there, so, yeah.
|
| [1] https://www.reddit.com/gallery/15skh75
| wil421 wrote:
| Peanuts are quite unique in many respects. They peg the soil
| after flowing above ground. The peg shoots down into the soil and
| forms the peanut.
|
| They are nitrogen fixing like most legumes. There are small
| nodules their roots that harbor nitrogen producing organisms.
|
| A few people in my community garden have grown a few smaller
| plants. I prefer planting snow peas early to give my summer
| plants a nitrogen boost.
| helsinkiandrew wrote:
| $3.95 for 25 Seeds: https://sowtrueseed.com/collections/direct-
| seed-in-spring/pr...
| exhilaration wrote:
| Can peanuts grow pretty much anywhere in the U.S.? I'm sure a
| lot of us here have grown "easy" plants like tomatoes, are
| peanuts... easy?
| bjorn2run wrote:
| That link says no to anywhere, looks like USDA zone 7 is the
| minimum for outdoor growing:
|
| Peanuts have a long growing season and require 100 to 130
| depending on the variety of frost-free days to reach
| maturity. USDA Zone 7 and above should plan on starting seeds
| for peanuts indoors 4-5 weeks before the last anticipated
| frost date. Zones 8 and above can start inside to get a head
| start, or sow directly into your garden beds after your last
| frost date.
| pvaldes wrote:
| I assume that this is the direct son of another post a few
| days ago.
|
| > Can peanuts grow pretty much anywhere in the U.S.?
|
| desert plants, so most probably not in snow or frost areas
|
| They are much better than strawberries for CA at least, but
| the winning strategy with water if you are a small farmer is
| not reducing its consume. This would benefit mainly your
| competitor companies that can use more water and push you off
| of the road at mid term. Is similar to the problem of not
| using a big server after having spent solid money building
| it. You are not saving money or energy, really, and your part
| of the cake is just reduced
|
| Either everybody saves water at the same time, or is just big
| fishes trying to convince the small ones to surrender part of
| its quote so there are more resources for them
| hansvm wrote:
| If you're not a bit selective with your technique, region, or
| breed, tomatoes aren't de facto easy. Any winter I'm not
| careful enough I lose mine. Other people struggle in dry
| summers, wet summers, or other adverse conditions.
|
| Peanuts are IMO similar. They require warm nights and a long
| growing season, so any northern or moutainous area will need
| _some_ extra considerations and can't rely on cold-weather
| breeds to paper over the problem. You might want a much
| longer stint indoors than other plants before tossing them in
| your garden. Like tomatoes, they're not crazy about excess
| moisture (and where tomatoes just die when they get fungal
| infections, there's a wide range of conditions where peanuts
| will still produce but the produce will be toxic). Otherwise
| they're pretty easy.
| mooreds wrote:
| I first heard about these when reading this book, Endangered
| Eating: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324004660
|
| If you would like to learn more about various foods on the edge
| of existence, check it out (no affiliation, just a happy reader).
| op00to wrote:
| Man I want these peanuts now!
| causality0 wrote:
| _Brought to the port of Charleston in 1690 by African slaves, the
| re-emerged Carolina African Runner peanut is known as the first
| peanut planted in the American colonies._
|
| Fascinating that a plant native to and very widely cultivated in
| South America made it to the American colonies by way of Africa.
| Were they not grown by indigenous peoples in the North?
| mytailorisrich wrote:
| According to Wikipedia it was available all the way North to at
| least Mexico since apparently that's where Europeans (Spanish
| conquistadors) encountered it.
| xhkkffbf wrote:
| One opinion is that it originated in either Brazil or Peru.
| Maybe the plants made it to Africa after the Europeans
| discovered America. Maybe they got to Africa by some other
| path.
|
| https://www.aboutpeanuts.com/all-about-peanuts/origin-
| histor...
| doctorhandshake wrote:
| There are a few stories like this related to revival of the
| Carolina Rice Kitchen heritage cuisine in the book The Third
| Plate by chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Anson Mills
| [1] in particular come to mind in regard to the revival effort -
| they're growing and selling Carolina Gold Rice, Graham Flour,
| Bennie seeds, etc, and I would not be surprised if they get
| involved in this peanut project as well.
|
| 1 - https://ansonmills.com/what_we_do_pages
| 7thaccount wrote:
| I've bought the rice based on someone touting it on HN. It is
| good.
| bullfightonmars wrote:
| I did too! Two years ago there was an article about Carolina
| Gold and I ordered from Anson Mills. I really enjoyed the
| aged/laurel brown rice. It has a deep fragrant flavor, great
| texture and was very good in baked rice dishes.
| 7thaccount wrote:
| Good to hear I wasn't the only one lol. I found the
| Carolina Gold to be extremely rich? It's hard to describe
| high quality rice other than it stood out to me and I'm a
| Louisiana man who has eaten a fair share of rice.
| doctorhandshake wrote:
| Perhaps it had been built up by Third Plate and also the
| expectation that comes with Anson's rather fussy recommended
| preparation but I failed to have my doors blown off by it.
| With that said, I regularly buy in bulk Anson's rice waffle
| mix (incredible), graham flour (for biscuits), and oats (the
| best oatmeal).
| doctorhandshake wrote:
| Ugh autocorrect - 'benne' seeds (sesame)
| orenlindsey wrote:
| Probably due to selecting for bigger peanuts, they've lost the
| flavor they used to have. I hope I can try these someday.
| dashtiarian wrote:
| If you like smaller peanuts, find an Iranian trail mix shop and
| ask for 'tiny peanuts from Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh'. They've been
| selected for small size and taste.
| earthling8118 wrote:
| What kind of place do you live where you can find a shop with
| such a niche on top of a niche? A trail mix shop doesn't
| exist in my city, let alone an Iranian one.
| flymasterv wrote:
| Maybe try Gorp of Persia, down in the granola district?
| mantas wrote:
| Probably yes. I got hold of some historical apple varieties.
| Historical as in 19th century. They're good. Not as sweet as
| many today's apples, but the taste is nice IMO.
| raincom wrote:
| Indian grocery stores carry both small peanuts (Indian variety)
| and large peanuts (American variety). 4 lbs small peanuts cost
| about $5.99; 4 lbs large ones cost about $6.99
| Solvency wrote:
| So would this 1960s peanut be more or less deadly to 2023 people
| with peanut allergies?
| PcChip wrote:
| 1690s, and I would assume so
| Solvency wrote:
| Assume more...or less...
| ksherlock wrote:
| There are 5 peanut proteins (Ara 1 1/2/3/5/8) that are
| associated with peanut allergies, with Ara h 1 being the most
| common (~90% of people with peanut allergies are allergic to h
| 1).
|
| This study --
| https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1034/j.1398-9995....
|
| "Quantification of major peanut allergens Ara h 1 and Ara h 2
| in the peanut varieties Runner, Spanish, Virginia, and
| Valencia, bred in different parts of the world"
|
| concluded:
|
| "The results suggest that peanuts of different varieties, and
| from different parts of the world contain similar proteins,
| including Ara h 1 and Ara h 2. Consequently, the IgE-binding
| properties are similar to a great extent. This indicates that
| differences in the serology of peanut allergy may not originate
| from differences in the allergen composition of the peanut."
|
| So probably no difference with 1690s either.
| ipcress_file wrote:
| I'd like to try one, but I'd limit my expectations.
|
| My wife and I stumbled upon a local group selling heirloom tomato
| plants a couple of years ago. We grew a few and soon realized why
| they became heirlooms. The nicest thing that can be said is that
| they must be an acquired taste.
| chubot wrote:
| Heirlooms are less consistent for sure. They can be more
| sensitive to their growing conditions too.
|
| But IMO commodity tomatoes are some of the "easiest" things to
| improve upon. Regular supermarket tomatoes are often
| flavorless, the farmer's market tomatoes are often better (e.g.
| in California)
|
| So heirlooms have higher highs and lower lows
|
| IMO commodity tomatoes are consistent, but consistently "meh"
| ...
| ipcress_file wrote:
| My experience is that contemporary varieties of tomatoes
| grown at home are much better than those grown by the big
| producers. I'm not sure why, but our tomatoes are always red
| all the way through. The ones from the store are often whiter
| and coarse-grained inside. Actually, the same thing happens
| with strawberries.
| Texasian wrote:
| The tomatoes and strawberries you grow at home don't need
| to hold up to long distance shipping. Not to mention, the
| mass market fruits and veg don't have somebody personally
| motivated by getting something at the peak of ripeness.
|
| Like most things, it's a different set of priorities and
| incentives that drive different results.
| JoeAltmaier wrote:
| Conventional wisdom says they've been bred for resiliency,
| predictable ripening, long lasting. Not flavor.
|
| One clue is, the gene that ripens tomatoes is also the one
| that causes the skin to split. So the seeds get spread. But
| not useful for commercial use, as split tomatoes are
| worthless to sell. So they use varieties that don't express
| that gene. So they don't ripen much. So they are tasteless,
| no matter how long on the vine.
|
| Definitely grow your own, if you care about tomatoes at all
| and have the room@!
| throwup238 wrote:
| It's not just conventional wisdom, there have been
| genetic studies:
| https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1222218
|
| A mutation of the SlGLK2 gene results in significantly
| less sugar in the fruit while slowing down ripening for
| transport.
| buildsjets wrote:
| Commercially grown tomatoes are harvested while they are
| hard and green, transported and stored in that state,
| artfically reddened by exposing to them to ethylene in a
| gas chamber, then presented for sale in the marketplace as
| "ripe."
|
| Would you like to know how "Not From Concentrate" orange
| juice is manufactured? It may not be concentrated, but it
| involves many industrial processes and can be up to a year
| old when you buy it.
|
| Fake food.
| MostlyStable wrote:
| I'm someone who very much believes in home grown food
| whenever possible. I have a very large garden (larger
| than probably 80%+ of the country could even hope to
| have, thanks to living in the country) and I grow a very
| large proportion of all the vegetables I eat. So I'm
| someone who is sympathetic to your view.
|
| But I can't disagree strongly enough with calling store-
| bought and/or industrialized food "fake".
|
| It's different. It has different tradeoffs. It's worse in
| some ways (and better in others), but what it most
| definitely is _not_ is "fake".
| salad-tycoon wrote:
| There isn't one variety of heirloom. There are many.
| Personally, I like the purple ones. A deeper, smokier flavor.
| Also pineapple tomatoes are delicious sweet little treats with
| a subtle pineapple taste. Bakers creek/rare seed has a great
| catalogue. That said, we've had duds. Only have two growing
| seasons under my belt.
| ipcress_file wrote:
| Definitely a fair comment. I didn't mean to imply that I'd
| attempted to grow all of the heirlooms out there!
| phyzome wrote:
| They're heirlooms because they worked really, really well for
| one family in one location for many years. But if you grow them
| in different conditions, you may get vary different results.
| jackfoxy wrote:
| What is the take on peanut oil from the _seed oil bad_ crowd?
| IIRC it is usually missing from both the _good oil_ and the _bad
| oil_ columns.
| smt88 wrote:
| I've seen it in the "bad oil" column but never the "good oil"
| column. Apparently it has good fats, but also bad fats.
|
| I personally use avocado oil for anything that peanut oil would
| be useful for (like high-temp cooking).
| xeromal wrote:
| Peanut oil is used pretty extensively in GA, the state, and I
| tend to love the flavor it imparts. I'm curious how it sits on
| the healthiness chart. My gut feeling is that it's somewhere
| above canola but below avocado.
| sowbug wrote:
| _Flooding and a GPS error greatly reduced the yield..._
|
| That is surprising. How would a GPS error affect crop yield? I
| know about plant hardiness zones, but that's it.
| SAI_Peregrinus wrote:
| Probably a GPS-guided tractor went off into the peanut field
| when it shouldn't have.
| tdrnl wrote:
| Or a GPS problem could have resulted in misapplication of
| chemicals -- herbicide sprayed onto desired plants instead of
| between rows for example
| justinl33 wrote:
| https://youtu.be/g9Slg2s06hw?si=JqqPjWuC46M_lAhl
| dotancohen wrote:
| Please don't post memes to HN.
| Kon-Peki wrote:
| I did some web searching after reading this but didn't find an
| answer to my questions:
|
| This particular cultivar was brought from Africa to North America
| and was considered "extinct" once it was no longer planted in
| North America. But what about Africa? Is it no longer grown in
| Africa? Why not?
| xhkkffbf wrote:
| My understanding is that peanuts originated in either Peru or
| Brazil. At least that's what some claim:
|
| https://www.aboutpeanuts.com/all-about-peanuts/origin-histor...
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2023-12-31 23:00 UTC)