Thanks @bobwhite for this extremely informative post!
I love to boil peanuts in hot spices and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
It's often used as a ground-cover crop to condition the soil.
Needless to say, I will never look at the peanuts I buy the same.
All said, they are an extremely yum product!
Thanks again.
Peace.
Most definitely so! There's so many different things you can do with them, it's a wonderful plant.
You reminded me of the one thing I forgot to include in the post as well - using the leftover shells as soil amendments. They work great as an organic fertilizer.
I put the shells as a mulch in containers. I didn't know they were a fertilizer.
Of course, that brings the question of whether, if commercially grown, they are high in pesticides?
Peace.
They're not a super strong fertilizer. According to a site I just checked, they're supposed to be a 3.6-0.7-0.45 fertilizer while in shell form, but take a while to break down. Peanut ash is more common and has lower fertilizer values, but is more readily available to the plants immediately.
I wouldn't eliminate the possibility of pesticides, but I wouldn't think there would be much chance of it being present since they grow underground. Most peanuts don't require pesticide, but fungicide treatments is common in commercial growing.
Many thanks for the update! Let's just enjoy the food of the earth; and, pray for the discernment if something works against the good for our health.
Peace!