St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-16
HUMBLE PEANUT.
oNE OF THE CHEAPEST AND
MOST NUTRITIVE OF
FOODS.
HAS A GREAT MANY USES,
PEANUT FLOUR VERY GOOD FOR
CREDIBLE CAKES AND
MUFFINS.
A SUBSTITUTE FOR OLIVE OIL
The Value of the Peanut in Units
of Nutrition as Compared to
Some Other Foods.


humble and once despised peanut,
is destined to become one of our
principle articles of diet? The fol-
lowing interesting facts about 1t are
condensed from a bulletin of the de-
partment of agriculture, and If they
prove anything, it is that the pea
nut will play a conspicuous part in
the diet of the future:
The yearly production of peanuts
In this country is about 100000 bush
els of % pounds, the bulk of the crop
being produced in Virginia, Georgia,
Tennessee and North Carolina.
The largest part of the American
crop is sold by street vendors, but
small amounts are used by confec-
tioners, chocolate manufacturers and
,Or the manufacture of oil. Peanut
oil is used for lubricating and soap
making, and is a good substitute for
olive oil for salads and other culinary
purposes. and is a substitute for lard
and cOttolene and butter in cook
ing. The residue from oil making.
known as peanut cake" is a highly
1AllAONA OClllAS IOONI III JIlS OOulAb q IN1 VI
Europe. and is also ground into fine
-four and used as human food. 1t
makes good soup, griddle cakes, muf-
fins, etc, and is one of the most nu-
tritive of foods. The vines, when
dried, become a very nutrttVe hay,
readily eaten by stock, though re-
quire care in the feeding, lest it pro-
duce collie.
The present use of the peanut and
its products are likely to be greatly
extended and new channels of utility
be found for it, as has been the case
with cOttonseed. With better meth
DDS of tillage and a larger yield per
acre, the cost of production could be
greatly lessened. According to the
eleventh census the average yield of
peanuts in the United States in 1889
was 176 bushels per acre, the aver
age in Virginia being about 20, and
in Tennessee about 80 bushels per
acre. This appears to be very low
average, especially as official and
semi-off1cial figures give so or so
bushels as an average crop, and 100
bushels is not an uncommon yield.
AS regards food value, peanut ker-
nails, with an average of 29 per cent
of protein, 40 per cent of fat and IA
per cent of carbohydrates in the dry
material, take a high rank, and
should be classed with such concen-
trated foods as sofa beans, cotton
seeds, etc. The vines are shown by
lN@ 70 L.
hay as a feeding stuff, and but slight
ly inferior to clover hay. The food
value Of the hay is, of course, high
er the greater the percentage of nuts
left on the vines in harvesting. The
hulls also appear to possess consid-
cradle value as feeding stuff, being
much richer in valuable food constit-
uents (protein, fat and carbohydrates
than cotton hulls, which are extern
sively used in some localities in the
South as a coarse fodder, and about
equal to the poorer grades of hay.
The ground hulls are used to a
considerable extent as a coarse fod-
der in European countries. Peanut
meal, the ground residue from oil eX-
II dCllOII, 10 q Nc,luclDlC IOCulliS Slull ,
highly appreciated and extensively
used in foreign countries. 1t con-
tains, as the average of over 1000
analysis show, about so per cent OF
protein, per cent of fat and 27 per
cent of carbohydrates, and is one of
the most concentrated feeding stuffs
with which we are familiar, ranking
cnttn1ocnnH Inno1 lincna1
etc, and in some cases ahead of them.
In describing the use of peanuts it
is scarcely necessary to more than re-
fer tG..the use, which fully three
fourths of the American-raised crop
is devoted. The nut is sorted in the
factory into four grades, the first.
second and third being sold to venders
of the roasted peanut. either directly
or through jobbers, while the fourth
IS sold to confectioners to be used in
the making of burnt Almonds" pea
nut candy, and cheaper grades of
chocolates. The extent of the use of
the peanut by the American people
will be more fully appreciated when it
is remembered that they use 4,000 900
consumers of $10OO0,OO0), which do not
food, but are eaten at odd times.
Millions of bushels are being used in
the countries of the Old World for the
production of oil, in which the nuts
are very rich. This oil is regarded as
equal to olive oil and may be employed
for every purpose to which that is ap-
piled. This oil forms from 30 to so per
cent Cby weight) of the shelled nut; it
~ or nd cnop11 nd
Is more limpid than olive oil, which it
very much resembles. Examinations
of peanut oil manufactured in Ten
nessee show it to be very similar in
character to cottonseed oil and olive
oil. II is sweet, palatable, and clear,
and, in fact, great quantities are used,
unknown to the consumer, instead of
olive oil.
In India, Europe, Brazil and this