Peanut (in English)
Tuotewiki
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Sisällysluettelo |
Introduction
The peanut, or Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), is a species in the legume family Fabaceae. It is native to South America, Mexico and Central America. It is annual plant growing to 30–50 cm high. Flowers are shaped typical to peaflower and yellow in color. After pollination the plant finds its way closer to the ground and the legumes mature underground. Each legume contains 1 to 4 seeds ("peanuts", which forces its way underground to mature. [1]
Uses
Peanuts are eaten as such or roasted. In Mali like in other Western-African countries rice is often eaten with a sauce made of peanut butter (sauce de l´arachide, tigadèguèna). Peanuts are also used to make peanut butter and peanut oil. Peanut oil is used in cooking and for making soaps.
In Mali it is easy to find peanuts in various forms as snacks in the street market. Peanuts can be bought fresh in the hard shell or roasted or sun-dried. Shelled nuts are sold roasted in the pan or in the ashes on ground. Usually they still have thin red layer. Plain peanuts are sold salted or sugared.
Preservation
Peanuts are sun-dried in order to improve their preservation. Dried peanuts are good at least for a year. Dried or roasted peanuts preserve better, fresh peanuts stored too long may be infected with mold.
The origin of the product
Today peanuts are cultivated around the world. The major producers/exporters are the United States, Argetina, Sudan, Senegal and Brazil. The largest producer countries are nevertheless India and China, but the major part of the production is used domestically. [2]
Health impacts
Peanut is an important source of protein. It also contains healthy amino acids and antioxidants.
A problem that is connected to peanut farming is the occurence of a carsinogen called aflatoxin. It can be found in the low-quality peanut specimens infected with mold. Due to the aflatoxin findings production of peanuts has decreased in Mali. Also the decreasing global market prices have effect on peanut production. Preserving of peanuts may also include usage of strong preservatives that wrongly used may be harmful for humans.
Environmental impacts
Legumes in a symbiotic relationship with certain bacteria can fix atmospheric nitrogen to a suitable form for plants. Thus they do not need nitrogen fertilizers and reduce fertilizer costs for farmers and gardeners who grow legumes. Legumes can be used in a crop rotation to replenish soil that has been depleted of nitrogen and their trong roots also improve the structure of soil.[3]
Exporting peanuts causes negative environmental impacts as well as the processing of peanuts. In Mali, shelled peanuts are exported and processed in foreign factories mainly for salted peanuts, plain peanuts or for peanut butter.
In Mali processing is mainly hand-work, although peanut shellers use diesel to make peanut butter.
Peanut shells are put to use in energy production by making pellets together with other agricultural waste material. In Mali this is implemented in a small scale.
Production
Cultivation
The cultivation of peanuts takes place during the rain season in Mali, that is about the same as the summer months in Finland. Before the actual rain season the first rains the the greenest area of Mali, Sikasso, enable cultivation already in the early May. Thus the first harvest may be out at the end of July. Larger amounts of peanuts are cultivated in June-July and harvested in October-November.
Large-scale cultivation of peanut cultivation in Mali started during the French colonilalism. It was a French idea to make Senegal an area for peanut cultivation, Mali for cotton cultivation and Ivory Coast for cocoa cultivation. Peanuts can be cultivated in a poorer soil than e.g. millet or other grains. This may be due to the quality of a peanut to fix atmospheric nitrogen into soil.
Work and the workforce
In Mali, peanuts are cultivated to be used dometically or sold. it is cultivated by men and by women. Roughly half of the cultivators are women. Peanuts are cultivated in the whole country, although Northern conditions (in Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu) are almost too harsh and the extent of farming is lesser. Major part of cultivation takes place in the area of Kayes, in South-Eastern Mali. The pods ripen 90 to 150 days after the seeds are planted.
Recipes
References
- ↑ Maapähkinä Wikipedia. Viitattu 30.04.2008.
- ↑ Peanut Wikipedia. Viitattu 30.04.2008.
- ↑ Finnfood oppimateriaali: nurmiheinät ja palkokasvit Finnfood. Viitattu 30.04.2008.
