A legume
pretending
to be a nut.
Grown underground, roasted for flavor, and stubborn enough to fuel a snack industry worth billions. This is the peanut — unpeeled.
Small legume, large footprint.
Figures are illustrative averages gathered from common agricultural & nutrition references.
Mostly fat, mostly the good kind.
A macro breakdown per 100g, and how peanut protein stacks up against other popular nuts.
The peanut's underground journey.
Unlike almost any other crop, the peanut flowers above ground and fruits below it — a trait called geocarpy.
Sow
Seeds go into warm, sandy soil in late spring, roughly 5cm deep.
Flower
Yellow blooms appear above ground and self-pollinate within hours.
Peg down
A stem called a "peg" grows downward, burying the fertilized ovary.
Harvest
After ~130-140 days, plants are pulled and pods dried in the sun.
Roast
Dry or oil roasting develops the aroma compounds we know and crave.
Crack as many as you can.
Click the peanut before the combo bar empties. Chain clicks to multiply your score.
Things worth knowing at a dinner party.
Not actually a nut
Botanically, peanuts are legumes — closer relatives to beans and lentils than to almonds or walnuts.
Flowers underground
After pollination above ground, the plant buries its own ovary to mature the pod — a rare trait called geocarpy.
Butter came late
Peanut butter was popularized in the late 1800s, promoted early on as a protein source for people with no teeth.
Went to space
Flight director Gene Kranz's team ate peanuts in mission control for luck during Apollo missions — a NASA tradition ever since.
300 uses, one man
George Washington Carver catalogued over 300 industrial and food uses for peanuts, from dyes to cosmetics.
Elephants approve
Wild elephants can eat over 100kg of vegetation a day — and peanut plants are a favorite raid target on African farms.