Black Peanuts and Bambara Groundnuts

  / seedkeeping   This is a story that starts in the valleys of Paraguay, travels to the West African coast, and then to North Carolina. It involves look-alike groundnuts, adopting familiar foodways far from home, and a beautiful purple-black underground bean. These peanuts were given to me by William Woys Weaver. I manage his Roughwood Seed Collection in Devon, PA. Will got them from a man in Seagrove, North Carolina, where they have been grown in African American kitchen gardens for many generations. Peanuts likely originated in in the valleys of Paraguay or in and around Bolivia. The oldest specimen (~7500 years old) was found in Peru. Peanuts traveled with Portuguese and Spanish ships, which carried enslaved Africans, and first arrived in Africa in the 16th century and in the American South in the 18th century. They were popular with West Africans on both sides of the ocean because of their similarity to Bambara Groundnuts. Enslaved African Americans would likely have been growing peanuts, if not also groundnuts, in their own gardens. George Washington Carver (1864-1943), scientist, botanist, educator, inventor, was head of the Department of Agriculture at the Tuskegee Institute. His most popular of 44 bulletins for poor farmers included 105 recipes for peanuts. He also developed over 100 products from peanuts useful for the house and farm, including dyes, paint, plastics, and gasoline. At the time, he was one of the first African Americans to address white audiences in the south at agricultural conferences and programs - and was very popular. Now, the black peanut (known as 'Cacahuete Negro' in Latin America), and bambaras of all types are somewhat hard to find. My partner Chris and I are looking forward to increasing our seed supply and sharing more of these seeds and their stories with folks who would like to reconnect with these important ancestral crops. Sources: 100 Vegetables and Where They Came From, by William Woys Weaver What We Eat: African Foods in America #110, Burt Wolf, with Jessica Harris, Hasia Diner, and Andy Smith (http://www.burtwolf.com/program-blog/...) Thanks to my sister Sara Taylor and also to Jaclyn Pryor for filming, and to my partner Chris Bolden-Newsome for the history lessons and everything else.