September 13th is National Peanut Day - Here are SomeFun Facts!

Tomorrow is National Peanut Day, so I checked the  National Peanut Board's website for some peanut info and found a wealth of peanut fun facts! I thought I'd share some with you - did you know . . . 

• The average American consumes more than six pounds of peanuts and peanut butter products each year.

• The average child will eat 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before he/she graduates high school.

• Americans eat enough peanut butter in a year to make more than 10 billion peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

• Two peanut farmers have been elected president of the USA – Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.
• Astronaut Allen B. Sheppard brought a peanut with him to the moon.
• Peanut butter was the secret behind “Mr. Ed,” TV’s talking horse. Spreading peanut butter inside the horse’s mouth created a natural talking movement every time the animal moved his sticky jaws.
• There are six cities in the U.S. named Peanut: Peanut, CA; Lower Peanut, PA; Upper Peanut, PA; Peanut, PA, Peanut, TN; and Peanut WV.
• Adrian Finch of Australia holds the Guinness World Record for peanut throwing, launching the lovable legume 111 feet and 10 inches in 1999 to claim the record.
• In August 1976, Tom Miller, a University of Colorado student, pushed a peanut to the top of Pike’s Peak with his nose(14,100 feet!). It took him 4 days, 23 hours,47 minutes and 3 seconds.
• Sixty percent of consumers prefer creamy peanut butter over crunchy.
• Peanut butter is the leading use of peanuts in the USA.
• Peanuts have more protein, niacin, folate, and phytosterols than any nut.
• Peanuts are naturally cholesterol-free.
• Goober—a nickname for peanuts—comes from “nguba”, the Congo language name for peanut.
• There are over 700 known phobias. Archibutyrophobia (pronounced A’-ra-kid-bu-ti-ro-pho-bi-a) is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.
• Peanuts originated in South America, where they were cultivated by natives for at least 2000 years. As early as 1500 B.C., the Incans of Peru used peanuts as sacrificial offerings and entombed them with their mummies to aid in the spirit life.
• Spaniards and Portuguese slave traders introduced them to Africa and Europe.
• Spanish traders brought the peanut plant to Africa from where it was transported to America on slave ships. Thus peanuts ended up in America as a result of the slave trade.
• Dr. George Washington Carver, American Botanist researched and developed more than 300 uses for peanuts in the early 1900s; He is considered “The Father of the Peanut Industry” because of his extensive research and selfless dedication to promoting peanuts. He promoted use of peanuts in items such as shoe polish, shaving cream, toothpaste, grease, and ink etc.
• Peanuts were originally used only to feed pigs.
• Peanuts contain high concentrations of poly-phenolic antioxidants, primarily p-coumaric acid. This compound has been thought to reduce the risk of stomach cancer.
• Peanuts are an excellent source of resveratrol, another polyphenolic antioxidant. Resveratrol has been found to have protective function against cancers, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and viral/fungal infections. It also decreases stroke risk.

Happy National Peanut Day! You can find more peanut fun-facts at this link. I found the fun-fact about the student pushing a peanut to the top of "Pike's Peak" with his nose to be surprising and the peanut-phobia to be funny! So, what fun-fact did you find to be the most "fun"? Be sure to share them with the children you love.