October 23, 2025 • 21 mins
In part one, Eva and Maite explore the peanut’s journey through Latin America, from its origins in Indigenous food traditions in South America to its spread into Mexico, the Caribbean, and eventually Asia and Africa. The tiny but mighty peanut became a key ingredient in local dishes wherever it landed, finally making its way to the American South and sparking a national obsession: peanut butter. Along the way, they talk Mexican snacks like crunchy Japanese peanuts and mazapán, and Maite is on a mission to convince Eva to become a full-on peanut lover.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
One of the best parts of doing this show is
how much even I learned when we dive into new
topic and the tiny but mighty peanut blew our minds.
Raw roasted, grounded to peanut butter, or paired with chocolate.
The peanut is endlessly versatile, highly nutritious, and a staple
in cuisines around the world and candies too. I am
(00:21):
so excited to kick off this two part episode of
Hungry for History, Nutty for peanuts, the Power of the peanut.
My name is Evil Longoria and I am Matra and.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that explores our
past and present through food.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
From our culture. So make yourself at home. Even look,
I gotta tell you you know how.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We start every episode going, I'm so excited about this episode.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I am not a fan.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
You're not.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I don't like peanuts. You don't like peanuts at all.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm not saying I'm not excited about the episode, but
I'm not a fan.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Well, I think by the end of this, because we're
doing a two parter, I know.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Vert you're going to be converted.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Two episodes about an ingredient. I'm not a fan of.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
A tiny, little ingredient, so you're going to be blown
away by how many stories this little peanut can tell
us about the world. Okay, because I'm very excited about
this episode, and I.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Actually don't love peanut butter.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I like a roasted peanut, or like like a fried
peanut with chilan with lime.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
But the peanut has a mighty story. We always talk.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
About how the Latino community is interwoven into every aspect
of American culture, right from a bag of ruffles to
your jar of peter Pan peanut butter. We're into grawl now.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
This is a two part episode, and it's so interesting
because it's an ingredient that's native to the Americas, and
we often talk about how hard it is to imagine
Italian food without tomatoes, or French pastries without vanilla, or
life without chocolate.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
But this one ingredient kind of gets lost in the shuffle.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
And this episode will dive into the origins of the
peanut and explores roots in Latin America, and then next
week the peanut hits the road and it'll be all
about how the peanut got.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
To the US.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Interesting, So is the peanut a vegetable or a nut?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
The peanut is a legome. Why they're not nuts. The
peanut is not a nut. You see, I told you
you're already excited about the peanut already. Why because oh,
they're grown underground. Exactly. They're grown underground, so it's not
a nut.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So basically they grow in this very unique way different
than nuts.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
They grow underground, so the plant it needs the warm,
sandy soil. The plant produces these green stems and leaves
and these little yellow flowers above ground. And then the
little flowers, after they're pollinated, they form these little pegs
and they start growing downward into the soil and that's
(03:20):
where they develop the pods and each contain like two
or four peanuts.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Oh my god, that's like Jack and the bean stalk.
So it's the same. Like it's a it goes.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Down, it goes yes, exactly, because it's a bean.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
It's a bean, right, So and you know it takes
about four to five months to mature and then farmers
are then pull it out of the ground. They let
it dry, they eat it raw, or they could roast
it or process it into peanut, butter or whatever.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
But they're kind of fascinating.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
But are they easy to grow or they like wild?
Speaker 4 (03:55):
They're very easy to grow and they live for a
long time without spoilage because it's this they have this
hard outer shell.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
So why the name peanut peanut because it's a pea
basically in a shell.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Or yeah, the part nut because they're commonly used ads
and thought of nuts, and then pea because they grow
in pots like peas, right, So the main difference is
that peanuts grow underground and peas grow above ground.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
But I still don't get where nut comes from. They
should be called the pea pod. Yeah, because they're eaten.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
They have the kind of the same texture as like
a walnut or a pecan, and they're eaten like nuts.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
You could eat them raw, you.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Know, it's bunny.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I remember flying Southwest Airlines a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I still fly Southwest Airlines.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
A lot, and one of my favorite things was to
get on the plane and eat a bag of peanuts.
And now they don't give those out anymore. It's pretzels
because of this peanut allergy thing. I feel like it's
so common, But when we were.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Kids, I never heard of a kid having a peanut allergy.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Has it gotten like worse or like what why why
is it such a thing now.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I know, it's so weird. I've never heard about it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And now we even say, you know, if something was
made near a peanut, they put it on the label.
So for so many years peanuts were kept away from kids,
and this may have prevented kids immune system.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
From learning this tolerance.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
And also we have these like super clean lifestyles that
you know, make our immune systems kind of overreact, and
so they're prepared.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Like if you if you roast.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Peanuts, which is the main way that they're produced in
the US, this makes proteins and peanuts more allergenic.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
And when you boil them like they do in.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Most of Asia, that reduces that allergenicity. And so and
there's also environmental factors, right, like so many pesticides may
also play a role, and.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
So I don't know. I feel like I always had
peanuts growing, Like at the house, we had peanuts around,
and it was just you know, for a big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
In Texas, I went to a lot of baseball and
so you would get a bag of those peanuts and
then you would like break them open and eat them
and throw.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
The shells everywhere. The shells were just all over the
baseball field.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, so I feel like they people handed them out
like candy. Like it wasn't a really big thing.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
It wasn't a really big thing at all. But now
forget it. Everything has a oh forget about or it.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Could be sued.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
You could be sued if you take cookies to school
and they were made near a peanut.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
You know, it's so crazy, it's so weird. So things
are so different, things are so different.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Well, here's something I did not know because I don't
know why. I don't associate peanut with the Latino culture.
But peanuts are from Latin America. They're native to South America.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
They are they've been domesticated over seventy five hundred years
in what is now present day Bolivia, Paraguay, nor they're
in Argentina. So we even see them on the Peruvian's
northern coasts that date back to about two hundred BC.
Archaeologists have discovered charred peanut remains and elite tombs and
(07:12):
ceremonial contexts, and they even we see them depicted in
ancient pottery. And they used to also make these gold
and silver beads in the shape of peanuts that were
found in tombs.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
So they were super important.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
For the elite, like for royalty, like.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Ink and royalty exactly, not for the regular folk, but yeah,
for royalty.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
So when did it spread to Mexico or basically meso America,
When did it become part of the cuisine. Well, eventually
it's not as popular as mais or frequently.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
No yeah, no, no no, it's definitely not part one
of those sort of main ingredients.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
But it did make its way up.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
The earliest evidence of peanut cultivation dates back to the
first century in Buelin, but also from South America. The
peanut made its way to the Caribbean and in lots
of Latin American they call the peanut money and this
is the word of Taino origin.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Oh Puerto Rican.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
But it also in pre Hispanic cultures, the peanut had
deep religious significance because it grows underground, so they were
associated with the underworld and death and fertility, used in
rituals and placed its tombs. And even today in modern
day Day of the Dead altars in Mexico, a peanut
is is a big part of them.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Of altars really yes, I've never seen it.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
It's there, definitely.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Pepe like does not like peanut, peanut butter.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Peanut butter? What about peanuts?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
No vocal.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
But you know what he does like is those they're
Japanese peanuts.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Those are the best. We're gonna get to those a
little bit later.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Okay, Yeah, that's what he likes.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
That's the only thing he'll maybe eat.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Up next, how the peanut took root in Asian and
African cuisines? And who gets credit for inventing peanut butter?
That's after the break, don't go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
So oh my god.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Well now no, this is now making sense because chocolate
comes from Mexico. Peanuts arrived to Mexico. Did they invent
chocolate with peanuts? So?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
The Nawa word for peanut goca watta in Spanish is
laka wattle, which means cacaosi that grows underground.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
So they did it.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
There's no evidence that they were putting the two together,
which is like this sort of perfect marriage, right, chocolate
and peanut butter.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, I do like peanuts in my ice cream and
in chocolate. Yeah, oh okay, I just don't like.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Them by themselves.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I'm the opposite.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I don't like them in my desserts, but I do
like them by themselves. Always always the opposite. So there's
no evidence that they were putting them together, but they
are kind of joined linguistically. This idea, the marriage of
hoop of peanut butter in my chocolate doesn't emerge until
the twentieth century in the US, and we'll get into.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
That next week. But we see them all over like right,
they're super nutritious, they have it.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Are they nutritious?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
They are?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
They have nias and they have vitamin E, they have
antioxidants in protein.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
They're easy to grow, they're easy to store. You can
eat them wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I see peanuts and a lot of Asian dishes, but
is there any in the Latino cuisine.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
There's a Peruvian stew with ancient roots.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Called cara, and it has freeze dried potatoes papasca with
pork and chicken thickened with toasted peanuts. And then there's
a dish chicken and peanut soup from the Peruvian Amazon
with yuga and called in Chicapi. There's also Bolivian soup
soap and maani, which is boiled peanuts and potatoes which
(11:00):
it sounds so good. And there's different sauces, like Ecuador
has sauces that they use for different stews, so we
do see them a lot more as a thickener.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So the Europeans didn't initially get peanuts. Portuguese conquerors in
South America found the peanut in like the fifteen hundreds
and then carry them back to Europe Africa. It went
to Asia, which is you know, now it's a big
ingredient in Asia.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yes, peanuts took off in Asia. They thrived in the climate,
they supported local economies, and we even see them carrying
symbolic meanings like longevity and prosperity.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
And I love food idioms.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
We're going to be talking about peanut related food idioms
next week. But the phrase long life like the peanut
is used in Asia, reflecting the symbolic importance of the peanut.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Is the European peanut different or is it the same?
Is it the same race, same lineage? Like are there
different types or is it the same?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, it's the same. Yeah, it's the same. They they
took the peanuts over. The Portuguese brought it over and
then it eventually you know, spread, But they took them
the Portuguese took them to Africa, and in Africa they
totally spread like it. They became so much a part
of African, the African diet, that some botanists believe that
(12:26):
they were native to Africa, right, So African people were
familiar with similar plants, and so they quickly adopted it,
and they called them ground nuts, and theyve ground nuts.
They thrived in these local soils and they became part
of the cuisine. They ground them into sauces and stews.
(12:47):
And then from Africa, the peanut made its way.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
To the US.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Oh interesting, they didn't keep going.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
So from South America they made their way to meso
America and to the Caribbean, but not into what is
now the US. That came from Africa with enslaved Africans,
and they became integral to southern food traditions. And we'll
get more into that next week as well.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So it was the enslaved Africans that brought them to
North America.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So it was a big part of the African diet.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
It was a big part of the African diet, and
it was oftentimes one of the few rations that they
had on the ships that were coming over from West Africa,
and when they were in these plantation kitchens, they transformed
them into you know, they had them to stews and porridges,
and they kind of preserved these African culinary traditions in
(13:41):
the American South.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
So the peanut made its way into Mexican cooking.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
And even though the peanut isn't in like codises, they're
they're in the chronicles that describe them in the Denotchichlands market,
which is modern day Mexico City, but that these markets
peanut vendors selling some sort of version from a cart.
But even to this day, they're still sold in the
(14:06):
markets in Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
They're all over, right, they're all over in there, and
they have roasted peanuts. They're also used a lot in
salta macha, which is the spicy, you know sauce. It
consists of dried chi less peanuts, you know, sometimes pepitas
and sesame seeds.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
And I love a good salta macha, right.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I love the salta macha, But I take out the peanuts,
do you really? I do, because I like the bag
and seeds and the sunflower seeds, and then I'm like,
stupid peanut and I'm like, try to get out of
the but salsa macha is really good.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Oh my god, this is so true. It's in Malay.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Peanuts are such a big It's like an important ingredient
in mollet.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
It's a super important ingredients. It really serves it as
a thinner.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I forgot I made and you see and you.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And it has the peanuts. It's kind of a hidden
and hidden ingredient. Palanquetta's those are all over in markets.
It's like a bar almost like a peanut brittle, and
that is a bar that has pre Hispanic roots. It's
peanuts bound together originally with a little bit of toasted
maize mixed with honey, and then that honey was replaced
(15:18):
with sugar bilong ceo during the colonial era.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
But it's they're super popular all over.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Oh I do remember now that you're saying that I
have seen that, I have seen that.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Are there any beverages to.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Do you have the torito when you were in Venezuelan
in Veracruz? Did you have toto when you were in Veracruz.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
It's a cane liquor like a nowadente liquor that's splendid
with evaporated milk.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Lying I did. Oh my god, I did have a dorito.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh my god, I have like yeah, it's like, uh,
it almost looks like a like kolua, Like it almost
looks like a coffee drink because it's like condensed milk
and peanut butter and and yes, I remember this, and
only in Beta Cruz do they have it.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I have never had it, but yeah, they're called Torito's
bulls because they were re invigorating for workers who drank it.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Did you like it? I did?
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I wish it had more liquor.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Because that cane.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Liquor, the distilled cain liquor like isn't very strong.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And I'm like, okay, this beeds a shot of tequila's
so strong.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
The flavor was good though, the flavor was good.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Okay, so you do like so you're you see your
You're you're being converted slowly.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Beta.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
You know what I didn't realize.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I forgot it was in molt and I forgot it
was in salsa macha and I love those things.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And Massa bun, the massapan is we're more familiar with
the De la Rosa brand. They come wrap these little
circles that come wrapped in a little clear cellafene wrapper
with a little rose.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yes, I love the rosa is the most popular one.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
The spam Ish brought over their almond marzipan, and almonds
were so expansive that in the New World they started
making them with peanuts that was sort of familiar, and
then it became this very distinct Mexican version de la
rosa was the most popular.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
But you know, it's funny that you said almonds, because
when I did searching for Spain, there are so many
recipes that they use almonds to thicken a sauce because
of the Moors and the Arabic influence, So almonds was
like the nut of choice in these ancient times. A
years do, I made a meatball dish that is super
(17:37):
Arabic in Andalusia with grounded almonds.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Oh, that sounds really good.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
In the nineteen forties, a Japanese immigrant adapted mama kashi,
a Japanese confection of beans or nuts coated in a crunchy,
sweet or savory shell, to suit Mexican taste.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Creating Geka white. This kaponisis or Japanese peanuts.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
So though these peanuts are inspired by a Japanese snack.
They have since become deeply rooted in Mexican culture and
its tradition of culinary fusion.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Let's talk about the Japanese peanuts.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Oh my god, Okay, so let me say this now.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So the only time I actually will eat peanuts that
it's not in something like I don't like to just
eat them by themselves, is these Japanese peanuts because they're
like coated in something. I don't know what they're coated,
but they're very popular in Mexico. And when I did
searching for Mexico, you know, there's a huge Japanese influence,
specifically in Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
It's so popular. They're crunchy, they're kind of slightly what's
sweet crunch on the outside, it's like a soy flavored
rice shell, and so they're super crunchy, they're a little
bit sweet, they're a little bit sour. And they were
created by a Japanese immigrant named yoshi Hei Nakatani who
settled in Mexico in their early nineteen thirties and married
(19:04):
a Mexican woman, Emma Arila, and he adapted this Japanese
snack called mamakashi to Mexican teaste in the nineteen forties
and they began selling it at the La Merced market
in Mexico City, packaged in these small paper bags under
the name me Bon and that people started calling them
got what Joris Japanese peanuts.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
And it became this the shell was just addictive.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And then he founded his own company in the nineteen
fifties because there were so many knockoffs, and now they're
all over Latin America.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Like they're so they're so popular.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I think people think they're Mexican even though they're called,
you know, Japanese peanuts. It's like people they're so linked
to Latin America and Mexican food totally.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Immigrants make everything taste better.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Right, always, always, always.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
But you know, it's so funny because the peanut now,
right now that you've reminded me about all these things
that use peanuts and have peanuts in Mexico, peanut butter
is not that famous in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
We can't talk peanuts without talking peanut butter.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
That's true, but it's not really. It didn't really become
popular in Latin America until the twentieth century. But even
though peanuts have been ground into a paste for thousands
of years the ground. The modern concept of peanut butter
as a spread was created by a kind of a
nut job in the US, a man named, Oh God,
don't tell me, John Harvey Kellogg Kellogg.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Wasn't he a doctor quote unquote doctor Kellogg? Yep?
Speaker 2 (20:37):
He was that that guy ke that guy. That guy
made the spread. This is all starting to make sense.
So wasn't it until the twentieth century interesting? When the
peanut hit the road and made it to the US,
(20:58):
they were dismissed as poor people food or animal fodder.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
The Civil War in eighteen sixty one began to boost
peanut consumption because soldiers on both sides relied on them
for energy.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
And the eighteen eighties streetcart vendors traveling circuses, we're offering
hot roast of peanuts to fair goers and audiences across America.
And then there's the nutjob, John Harvey Kellogg on Part
two of Peanuts.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
So yes, And next week we're diving into peanut butter
and chocolate, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and so
much more.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Our journey continues next week with the peanut who knows
such a tiny ingredient could have such an impact on
the world.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
We love hearing from you leave us a message.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Hungary for History is a Hyphene media production in partnership
with Iheart's Michael Bura podcast network.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
One of the best parts of doing this show is
how much even I learned when we dive into new
topic and the tiny but mighty peanut blew our minds.
Raw roasted, grounded to peanut butter, or paired with chocolate.
The peanut is endlessly versatile, highly nutritious, and a staple
in cuisines around the world and candies too. I am
(00:21):
so excited to kick off this two part episode of
Hungry for History, Nutty for peanuts, the Power of the peanut.
My name is Evil Longoria and I am Matra and.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that explores our
past and present through food.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
From our culture. So make yourself at home. Even look,
I gotta tell you you know how.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We start every episode going, I'm so excited about this episode.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I am not a fan.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
You're not.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I don't like peanuts. You don't like peanuts at all.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm not saying I'm not excited about the episode, but
I'm not a fan.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Well, I think by the end of this, because we're
doing a two parter, I know.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Vert you're going to be converted.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Two episodes about an ingredient. I'm not a fan of.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
A tiny, little ingredient, so you're going to be blown
away by how many stories this little peanut can tell
us about the world. Okay, because I'm very excited about
this episode, and I.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Actually don't love peanut butter.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I like a roasted peanut, or like like a fried
peanut with chilan with lime.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
But the peanut has a mighty story. We always talk.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
About how the Latino community is interwoven into every aspect
of American culture, right from a bag of ruffles to
your jar of peter Pan peanut butter. We're into grawl now.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
This is a two part episode, and it's so interesting
because it's an ingredient that's native to the Americas, and
we often talk about how hard it is to imagine
Italian food without tomatoes, or French pastries without vanilla, or
life without chocolate.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
But this one ingredient kind of gets lost in the shuffle.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
And this episode will dive into the origins of the
peanut and explores roots in Latin America, and then next
week the peanut hits the road and it'll be all
about how the peanut got.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
To the US.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Interesting, So is the peanut a vegetable or a nut?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
The peanut is a legome. Why they're not nuts. The
peanut is not a nut. You see, I told you
you're already excited about the peanut already. Why because oh,
they're grown underground. Exactly. They're grown underground, so it's not
a nut.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So basically they grow in this very unique way different
than nuts.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
They grow underground, so the plant it needs the warm,
sandy soil. The plant produces these green stems and leaves
and these little yellow flowers above ground. And then the
little flowers, after they're pollinated, they form these little pegs
and they start growing downward into the soil and that's
(03:20):
where they develop the pods and each contain like two
or four peanuts.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Oh my god, that's like Jack and the bean stalk.
So it's the same. Like it's a it goes.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Down, it goes yes, exactly, because it's a bean.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
It's a bean, right, So and you know it takes
about four to five months to mature and then farmers
are then pull it out of the ground. They let
it dry, they eat it raw, or they could roast
it or process it into peanut, butter or whatever.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
But they're kind of fascinating.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
But are they easy to grow or they like wild?
Speaker 4 (03:55):
They're very easy to grow and they live for a
long time without spoilage because it's this they have this
hard outer shell.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
So why the name peanut peanut because it's a pea
basically in a shell.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Or yeah, the part nut because they're commonly used ads
and thought of nuts, and then pea because they grow
in pots like peas, right, So the main difference is
that peanuts grow underground and peas grow above ground.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
But I still don't get where nut comes from. They
should be called the pea pod. Yeah, because they're eaten.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
They have the kind of the same texture as like
a walnut or a pecan, and they're eaten like nuts.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
You could eat them raw, you.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Know, it's bunny.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I remember flying Southwest Airlines a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I still fly Southwest Airlines.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
A lot, and one of my favorite things was to
get on the plane and eat a bag of peanuts.
And now they don't give those out anymore. It's pretzels
because of this peanut allergy thing. I feel like it's
so common, But when we were.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Kids, I never heard of a kid having a peanut allergy.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Has it gotten like worse or like what why why
is it such a thing now.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I know, it's so weird. I've never heard about it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And now we even say, you know, if something was
made near a peanut, they put it on the label.
So for so many years peanuts were kept away from kids,
and this may have prevented kids immune system.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
From learning this tolerance.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
And also we have these like super clean lifestyles that
you know, make our immune systems kind of overreact, and
so they're prepared.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Like if you if you roast.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Peanuts, which is the main way that they're produced in
the US, this makes proteins and peanuts more allergenic.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
And when you boil them like they do in.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Most of Asia, that reduces that allergenicity. And so and
there's also environmental factors, right, like so many pesticides may
also play a role, and.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
So I don't know. I feel like I always had
peanuts growing, Like at the house, we had peanuts around,
and it was just you know, for a big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
In Texas, I went to a lot of baseball and
so you would get a bag of those peanuts and
then you would like break them open and eat them
and throw.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
The shells everywhere. The shells were just all over the
baseball field.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, so I feel like they people handed them out
like candy. Like it wasn't a really big thing.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
It wasn't a really big thing at all. But now
forget it. Everything has a oh forget about or it.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Could be sued.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
You could be sued if you take cookies to school
and they were made near a peanut.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
You know, it's so crazy, it's so weird. So things
are so different, things are so different.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Well, here's something I did not know because I don't
know why. I don't associate peanut with the Latino culture.
But peanuts are from Latin America. They're native to South America.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
They are they've been domesticated over seventy five hundred years
in what is now present day Bolivia, Paraguay, nor they're
in Argentina. So we even see them on the Peruvian's
northern coasts that date back to about two hundred BC.
Archaeologists have discovered charred peanut remains and elite tombs and
(07:12):
ceremonial contexts, and they even we see them depicted in
ancient pottery. And they used to also make these gold
and silver beads in the shape of peanuts that were
found in tombs.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
So they were super important.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
For the elite, like for royalty, like.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Ink and royalty exactly, not for the regular folk, but yeah,
for royalty.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
So when did it spread to Mexico or basically meso America,
When did it become part of the cuisine. Well, eventually
it's not as popular as mais or frequently.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
No yeah, no, no no, it's definitely not part one
of those sort of main ingredients.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
But it did make its way up.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
The earliest evidence of peanut cultivation dates back to the
first century in Buelin, but also from South America. The
peanut made its way to the Caribbean and in lots
of Latin American they call the peanut money and this
is the word of Taino origin.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Oh Puerto Rican.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
But it also in pre Hispanic cultures, the peanut had
deep religious significance because it grows underground, so they were
associated with the underworld and death and fertility, used in
rituals and placed its tombs. And even today in modern
day Day of the Dead altars in Mexico, a peanut
is is a big part of them.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Of altars really yes, I've never seen it.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
It's there, definitely.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Pepe like does not like peanut, peanut butter.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Peanut butter? What about peanuts?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
No vocal.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
But you know what he does like is those they're
Japanese peanuts.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Those are the best. We're gonna get to those a
little bit later.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Okay, Yeah, that's what he likes.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
That's the only thing he'll maybe eat.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Up next, how the peanut took root in Asian and
African cuisines? And who gets credit for inventing peanut butter?
That's after the break, don't go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
So oh my god.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Well now no, this is now making sense because chocolate
comes from Mexico. Peanuts arrived to Mexico. Did they invent
chocolate with peanuts? So?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
The Nawa word for peanut goca watta in Spanish is
laka wattle, which means cacaosi that grows underground.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
So they did it.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
There's no evidence that they were putting the two together,
which is like this sort of perfect marriage, right, chocolate
and peanut butter.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, I do like peanuts in my ice cream and
in chocolate. Yeah, oh okay, I just don't like.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Them by themselves.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I'm the opposite.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I don't like them in my desserts, but I do
like them by themselves. Always always the opposite. So there's
no evidence that they were putting them together, but they
are kind of joined linguistically. This idea, the marriage of
hoop of peanut butter in my chocolate doesn't emerge until
the twentieth century in the US, and we'll get into.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
That next week. But we see them all over like right,
they're super nutritious, they have it.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Are they nutritious?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
They are?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
They have nias and they have vitamin E, they have
antioxidants in protein.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
They're easy to grow, they're easy to store. You can
eat them wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I see peanuts and a lot of Asian dishes, but
is there any in the Latino cuisine.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
There's a Peruvian stew with ancient roots.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Called cara, and it has freeze dried potatoes papasca with
pork and chicken thickened with toasted peanuts. And then there's
a dish chicken and peanut soup from the Peruvian Amazon
with yuga and called in Chicapi. There's also Bolivian soup
soap and maani, which is boiled peanuts and potatoes which
(11:00):
it sounds so good. And there's different sauces, like Ecuador
has sauces that they use for different stews, so we
do see them a lot more as a thickener.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So the Europeans didn't initially get peanuts. Portuguese conquerors in
South America found the peanut in like the fifteen hundreds
and then carry them back to Europe Africa. It went
to Asia, which is you know, now it's a big
ingredient in Asia.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yes, peanuts took off in Asia. They thrived in the climate,
they supported local economies, and we even see them carrying
symbolic meanings like longevity and prosperity.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
And I love food idioms.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
We're going to be talking about peanut related food idioms
next week. But the phrase long life like the peanut
is used in Asia, reflecting the symbolic importance of the peanut.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Is the European peanut different or is it the same?
Is it the same race, same lineage? Like are there
different types or is it the same?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, it's the same. Yeah, it's the same. They they
took the peanuts over. The Portuguese brought it over and
then it eventually you know, spread, But they took them
the Portuguese took them to Africa, and in Africa they
totally spread like it. They became so much a part
of African, the African diet, that some botanists believe that
(12:26):
they were native to Africa, right, So African people were
familiar with similar plants, and so they quickly adopted it,
and they called them ground nuts, and theyve ground nuts.
They thrived in these local soils and they became part
of the cuisine. They ground them into sauces and stews.
(12:47):
And then from Africa, the peanut made its way.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
To the US.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Oh interesting, they didn't keep going.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
So from South America they made their way to meso
America and to the Caribbean, but not into what is
now the US. That came from Africa with enslaved Africans,
and they became integral to southern food traditions. And we'll
get more into that next week as well.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So it was the enslaved Africans that brought them to
North America.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So it was a big part of the African diet.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
It was a big part of the African diet, and
it was oftentimes one of the few rations that they
had on the ships that were coming over from West Africa,
and when they were in these plantation kitchens, they transformed
them into you know, they had them to stews and porridges,
and they kind of preserved these African culinary traditions in
(13:41):
the American South.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
So the peanut made its way into Mexican cooking.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
And even though the peanut isn't in like codises, they're
they're in the chronicles that describe them in the Denotchichlands market,
which is modern day Mexico City, but that these markets
peanut vendors selling some sort of version from a cart.
But even to this day, they're still sold in the
(14:06):
markets in Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
They're all over, right, they're all over in there, and
they have roasted peanuts. They're also used a lot in
salta macha, which is the spicy, you know sauce. It
consists of dried chi less peanuts, you know, sometimes pepitas
and sesame seeds.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
And I love a good salta macha, right.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I love the salta macha, But I take out the peanuts,
do you really? I do, because I like the bag
and seeds and the sunflower seeds, and then I'm like,
stupid peanut and I'm like, try to get out of
the but salsa macha is really good.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Oh my god, this is so true. It's in Malay.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Peanuts are such a big It's like an important ingredient
in mollet.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
It's a super important ingredients. It really serves it as
a thinner.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I forgot I made and you see and you.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And it has the peanuts. It's kind of a hidden
and hidden ingredient. Palanquetta's those are all over in markets.
It's like a bar almost like a peanut brittle, and
that is a bar that has pre Hispanic roots. It's
peanuts bound together originally with a little bit of toasted
maize mixed with honey, and then that honey was replaced
(15:18):
with sugar bilong ceo during the colonial era.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
But it's they're super popular all over.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Oh I do remember now that you're saying that I
have seen that, I have seen that.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Are there any beverages to.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Do you have the torito when you were in Venezuelan
in Veracruz? Did you have toto when you were in Veracruz.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
It's a cane liquor like a nowadente liquor that's splendid
with evaporated milk.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Lying I did. Oh my god, I did have a dorito.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh my god, I have like yeah, it's like, uh,
it almost looks like a like kolua, Like it almost
looks like a coffee drink because it's like condensed milk
and peanut butter and and yes, I remember this, and
only in Beta Cruz do they have it.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I have never had it, but yeah, they're called Torito's
bulls because they were re invigorating for workers who drank it.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Did you like it? I did?
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I wish it had more liquor.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Because that cane.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Liquor, the distilled cain liquor like isn't very strong.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And I'm like, okay, this beeds a shot of tequila's
so strong.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
The flavor was good though, the flavor was good.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Okay, so you do like so you're you see your
You're you're being converted slowly.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Beta.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
You know what I didn't realize.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I forgot it was in molt and I forgot it
was in salsa macha and I love those things.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And Massa bun, the massapan is we're more familiar with
the De la Rosa brand. They come wrap these little
circles that come wrapped in a little clear cellafene wrapper
with a little rose.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yes, I love the rosa is the most popular one.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
The spam Ish brought over their almond marzipan, and almonds
were so expansive that in the New World they started
making them with peanuts that was sort of familiar, and
then it became this very distinct Mexican version de la
rosa was the most popular.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
But you know, it's funny that you said almonds, because
when I did searching for Spain, there are so many
recipes that they use almonds to thicken a sauce because
of the Moors and the Arabic influence, So almonds was
like the nut of choice in these ancient times. A
years do, I made a meatball dish that is super
(17:37):
Arabic in Andalusia with grounded almonds.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Oh, that sounds really good.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
In the nineteen forties, a Japanese immigrant adapted mama kashi,
a Japanese confection of beans or nuts coated in a crunchy,
sweet or savory shell, to suit Mexican taste.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Creating Geka white. This kaponisis or Japanese peanuts.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
So though these peanuts are inspired by a Japanese snack.
They have since become deeply rooted in Mexican culture and
its tradition of culinary fusion.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Let's talk about the Japanese peanuts.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Oh my god, Okay, so let me say this now.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So the only time I actually will eat peanuts that
it's not in something like I don't like to just
eat them by themselves, is these Japanese peanuts because they're
like coated in something. I don't know what they're coated,
but they're very popular in Mexico. And when I did
searching for Mexico, you know, there's a huge Japanese influence,
specifically in Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
It's so popular. They're crunchy, they're kind of slightly what's
sweet crunch on the outside, it's like a soy flavored
rice shell, and so they're super crunchy, they're a little
bit sweet, they're a little bit sour. And they were
created by a Japanese immigrant named yoshi Hei Nakatani who
settled in Mexico in their early nineteen thirties and married
(19:04):
a Mexican woman, Emma Arila, and he adapted this Japanese
snack called mamakashi to Mexican teaste in the nineteen forties
and they began selling it at the La Merced market
in Mexico City, packaged in these small paper bags under
the name me Bon and that people started calling them
got what Joris Japanese peanuts.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
And it became this the shell was just addictive.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And then he founded his own company in the nineteen
fifties because there were so many knockoffs, and now they're
all over Latin America.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Like they're so they're so popular.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I think people think they're Mexican even though they're called,
you know, Japanese peanuts. It's like people they're so linked
to Latin America and Mexican food totally.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Immigrants make everything taste better.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Right, always, always, always.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
But you know, it's so funny because the peanut now,
right now that you've reminded me about all these things
that use peanuts and have peanuts in Mexico, peanut butter
is not that famous in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
We can't talk peanuts without talking peanut butter.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
That's true, but it's not really. It didn't really become
popular in Latin America until the twentieth century. But even
though peanuts have been ground into a paste for thousands
of years the ground. The modern concept of peanut butter
as a spread was created by a kind of a
nut job in the US, a man named, Oh God,
don't tell me, John Harvey Kellogg Kellogg.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Wasn't he a doctor quote unquote doctor Kellogg? Yep?
Speaker 2 (20:37):
He was that that guy ke that guy. That guy
made the spread. This is all starting to make sense.
So wasn't it until the twentieth century interesting? When the
peanut hit the road and made it to the US,
(20:58):
they were dismissed as poor people food or animal fodder.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
The Civil War in eighteen sixty one began to boost
peanut consumption because soldiers on both sides relied on them
for energy.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
And the eighteen eighties streetcart vendors traveling circuses, we're offering
hot roast of peanuts to fair goers and audiences across America.
And then there's the nutjob, John Harvey Kellogg on Part
two of Peanuts.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
So yes, And next week we're diving into peanut butter
and chocolate, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and so
much more.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Our journey continues next week with the peanut who knows
such a tiny ingredient could have such an impact on
the world.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
We love hearing from you leave us a message.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Hungary for History is a Hyphene media production in partnership
with Iheart's Michael Bura podcast network.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
MAITE GOMEZ-REJÓN
Eva Longoria
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.