Introduced Crops · FFET10457
Peanut
Peanuts can be boiled in brine, pressed for oil, ground into peanut butter, or made into peanut candy.
Maize, sweet potato, potato, peanut, chili and other crops that came to China later.
Peanut, also called luohuasheng in Chinese, is a legume crop native to the Americas, eaten on its own or processed into oil, peanut butter and candy. Fujian and Guangdong were early growing areas, with cultivation later spreading to Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and Hebei.
What
Peanut, Arachis hypogaea, is a legume crop native to the Americas, also called luohuasheng in Chinese. It is eaten as it is and processed into cooking oil, peanut butter and candy.1,2
When
Secondary accounts place the introduction of peanuts to China in the sixteenth century. The available material provides no verifiable dated primary text to establish the earliest year.1
Where
Fujian and Guangdong were early growing areas. Cultivation later spread to Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and Hebei, and Shandong later became an important exporting province.1
How
Peanuts can be boiled in brine as salted peanuts. They are also pressed for cooking oil, ground into peanut butter or made into peanut candy.1
Why
Peanuts can be eaten as they are or processed: one crop supplies salted boiled peanuts, oil, spreads and candy.1
Impact and influence
According to the early-twentieth-century material cited, Shandong peanut exports were about 95,000 dan in 1908 and about 797,000 dan in 1911. FAO statistics for 2023 give China about 19.2 million metric tons of peanuts, roughly 36 percent of a world total of 54 million.1,2