Peanuts, Peanuts! It’s time to harvest your peanuts!
Did you know you can grow peanuts in Kansas City?
It’s quite simple: plant your peanuts right before kids leave for summer break and with adequate watering visits, your students will have fun in October digging up actual peanuts!
Fun Fact: Did you know, the peanut is considered a legume just like the pea and bean vegetable?
How to plant:
- Crack open peanut shell, leave red paper shell around the single peanut.
- Plant peanut 3” deep into the soil with at least 6” between each peanut
- Water, water, water
Fun Fact: Did you know you need 540 peanuts to make a 12 oz jar of peanut butter?!
Once seedlings have doubled in size the plant sends out pegs that penetrate the soil, this is where the peanut forms.
Peanuts take 115-130 days to fully mature. Yellowing of the plant’s leaves is a good indication that they are ready to harvest.
How To Harvest and Store
- Have students loosen soil around the plant. Pull out plant keeping peanuts connected to the plant.
- Allow students to dig for any peanuts left behind.
- Keep peanuts connected to the plant and store in a dry, warm place out of direct sunlight for 3-4 weeks.
Try this Sweet and Spicy Roasted Peanuts recipe with your students!
Sweet and Spicy Roasted Peanuts
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper
- 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/8 tsp fine ground sea salt
- 1 ½ cups raw, unsalted peanuts
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the honey, olive oil, cayenne pepper, paprika and salt.
- Add the peanuts and stir well to coat them evenly.
- Pour the peanuts onto a non-stick baking sheet or a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Spread in a single layer.
- Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir. Bake for an addition 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown. Watch them carefully because they can brown and burn quickly in the last few minutes.
- Allow to cool completely before serving. Break apart and then blot gently with a paper towel if any excess oil appears on the nuts.
