We call them goobers, monkey nuts and ground peas; we eat them by the millions of tons; and we devote every Sept. 13 to celebrating the versatile culinary ingredient that started as pig food.

National Peanut Day rolls around again Sunday, Sept. 13, so it may be appropriate to take in a few nibbles of information and trivia about one of America’s favorite foods.

Technically, peanuts are not nuts; they are legumes, sharing botanical kinship with beans and peas. They grow underground, unlike tree nuts, such as walnuts and almonds.

Peanut plants gestate in 120 to 150 days. The self-pollinating plant produces small yellow flowers, after which the flower stalk elongates and bends to the ground. The budding peanut pods are pushed underground where the mature fruit develops.

Peanuts originated in Paraguay or Peru, with the earliest specimens dating back 7,600 years. Spanish and Portuguese traders spread the crop to Africa and Europe and slaves introduced them to the American South.

Peanut oil is preferred by many chefs because of its unobtrusive flavor, high smoke point, monounsaturated fat content and resistance to rancidity.

A 1-ounce serving of peanuts contains 163 calories, 7 grams of protein, 6 grams of carbs (about half of them dietary fiber), 14 grams of fat and no cholesterol.

The fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of one’s mouth is called arachibutyrophobia.

Peanut butter might be deemed America’s first health food. It was invented 125 years ago by a St. Louis physician as a nutritious easy-to-chew source of protein for his elderly patients.

Peanuts constitute two-thirds of all “snack nuts” consumed in this country.

Americans eat 1.5 billion pounds of peanuts annually in its various forms: raw, roasted, boiled, as peanut butter and in baked goods and candies.

George Washington Carver, as director of Tuskegee Institute’s agriculture department, discovered more than 300 uses for peanuts. His diverse applications included shampoo, paint, axle grease, linoleum, furniture and shoe polish, wood stains, adhesives, ink, shaving cream and soap.

He also discovered peanut plants replenished the soil with the nutrients depleted by cotton crops and suggested farmers alternate the two crops for better yield.

Americans eat enough peanut butter every year to carpet the floor of the Grand Canyon.

Two presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter, were peanut farmers.

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