Groundnuts

While many people still regard peanuts as a salty bar snack, the name groundnut is most commonly used in Africa, where it is an essential ingredient in cooking across the continent. A thick g-nut sauce accompanies dishes in Senegal, groundnut soup is famous in Ghana whereas in Nigeria, meat skewers are dusted in hot spices and ground peanuts. In Cote d’Ivoire you can buy a bottle of roasted g-nuts in a recycled plastic bottle by the side of the road and fresh g-nuts are ground to a paste in a traditional stone mill in Northern Uganda.

Peanuts migrated to the US during the slave trade, still confusing many today who think that peanuts originate in Africa. In reality, the peanut plant is said to have originated in Brazil or Peru. Peanut-shaped pottery was found in South America, especially in the Amazon valley and as old as 3,000 – 5,000 years. While jars filled with peanuts were left in graves of the ancient Incas to provide food in the afterlife.