Peanuts are a popular food that is eaten as both a snack and it is also sometimes used as ingredients in things like Asian cooking, however, one of the more unusual questions that is asked about peanuts is what is it exactly classified as. Is it a fruit? Is it a vegetable? How do you actually classify it?
How you classify a peanut largely depends upon the definition that is used for vegetables. If you use the definition in the context of animal, mineral or vegetable it would be classified as a vegetable being something that is from plant matter.
However, this plant matter is further reclassified into fruits and vegetables with fruits being the seed-carrying part of the plant or the fruiting body which typically means things like apples, pears, tomatoes, zucchinis, and pumpkins. Whereas vegetables are generally accepted to be the parts of the plant that excludes the fruiting body which would include things like the stem. flower, or root of the plant.
The problem with these definitions is it doesn’t really define exactly what a peanut is, which is the seed of the plant. This doesn’t really fit into either one of these definitions. The best description of a peanut is a legume which basically means that it is an edible seed.
Plants within the legume family include things like peas, beans, and lentils. This particular family has a few very useful properties for gardeners which also extend to peanuts. Legumes are referred to as nitrogen fixers which means that they have the unique property of being able to take nitrogen from the air and store it in the roots with the help of a bacteria that is found in the soil. This is highly beneficial for the fertility of the soil and therefore these plants are often used as green manures as well.
Problem with the definition of fruits and vegetables
The definitions that are commonly used above by many people do have a couple of problems associated with them that it is worth pointing out. The most significant of these definitions is the fact that whether something is considered a fruit or a vegetable is dependent on how the food is consumed.
For example, peas could be considered both fruits and vegetables depending upon the sections of the plants that are actually consumed. Pea shoots are the leaves of the plant which are often consumed as part of a salad and therefore can be considered a vegetable in this context.
However, it is much more common for the pea pods to be consumed whole which means that you are consuming the fruiting body of the plant which contains the seeds and in this context, peas can be considered a fruit.
Additionally, you could be growing a shelling variety of peas where only the seeds are consumed. which means that peas in this context could also be considered legumes. So the general use of these terms does have a few problems in terms of causing confusion about what is considered a fruit, a vegetable, or a legume.
How Are Peanuts Grown
As peanuts are not a plant that is commonly grown by home gardeners many people may not have ever seen the plant. The plant that peanuts are produced on is a small shrub that typically only reaches a height of approximately 2 to 3 ft tall. The peanuts are actually grown underground within their hard shells and need to be harvested by pulling the plant up when it is mature.
Due to the nuts being produced underground they are also sometimes referred to as the groundnut or the monkey nut.
The peanuts themselves typically have 2 to 3 seeds per pod which is a relatively hard woody pod that can generally be cracked open by hand using your fingers. These pods are virtually never seen in mainstream supermarkets, however, I do remember as a child visiting your market and purchasing peanuts in the shell as a snack.
If you purchase them in these conditions they can be planted in the ground and they will grow relatively easily grown at home.
Can Store Bought Peanuts Be Planted?
Whether store-bought peanuts can be grown is greatly dependent upon how they are treated prior to being packaged. If they are raw then there is a possibility that they will grow and the safest way to purchase them is in the shell as mentioned above to ensure that you know that they haven’t been treated with anything or cooked. If they have been cooked it is unlikely that they will grow.
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