We eat 40 percent of our yearly consumption of nuts between November and January. South American Indians cultivated peanuts over 1,000 years ago. George Washington Carver developed more than 300 uses for peanuts, including paper made from shells, and he is credited with expanding the peanut industry. Georgia grows 42 percent of the nation's peanuts. Each American eats 7.1 pounds of peanuts a year, compared with 0.52 pounds of walnuts, 0.46 pounds of almonds, 0.31 pounds of pecans, and 0.09 pounds of filberts.
Walnuts are America's favorite ingredient nut.
Spreading the word. About half the peanuts in the United States go into peanut butter. Carver and a St. Louis doctor are each credited with inventing peanut butter in the late 1800s. Its first use was as an easily digested food for the elderly. It takes 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.