What If I Told You That Peanuts Aren't Nuts At All?

    Isn't that nutty?! (Sorry, I'm not sorry.)

    Erin La Rosa
    by Erin La Rosa

    BuzzFeed Staff

    This is a peanut in all its glory. No big surprises here.

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    You can see the two little peanuts inside the peanut shell. Seemingly with nothing to hide...

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    ...except they actually DO have something to hide. Because peanuts aren't a nut at all.

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    They're motherfucking legumes, OK?

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    Meaning that a peanut is actually closer to being a pea (also a legume) or a lentil (another legume) than an actual nut, like hazelnuts and pecans.

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    You can almost see the resemblance. They put the pea in peanuts.

    I know, it's weird, because it has the word "nut" in "peanut," which makes you think — THIS IS A NUT. It's also part of mixed nuts. And like... WHAT IS HAPPENING.

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    But you'd be wrong, because most edible nuts grow on trees, whereas peanuts grow underground in pods, which make them legumes.

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    According to the New World Encyclopedia, peanuts are considered a nut in the culinary sense, but "in the botanical sense, the fruit of the peanut is a woody, indehiscent legume or pod and not a true nut."

    A true nut is both the seed AND the fruit (like an acorn or chestnut), but peanuts are botanically a seed that comes from fruit and can be removed from the fruit.

    So when you're eating peanut butter, you're having a nut in the culinary sense — because we've coined it as a nut — but really, you're eating yourself some legumes. More like pea spread on toast, if I may.

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    ~ The more you knowwww ~

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