On the last day of March, let’s celebrate the fact that March is national peanut month.

Peanuts are a versatile food. They can be eaten on salads, eaten plain, roasted, or ground in the form of peanut butter.

Everyone has their own opinions of peanuts. Some love peanuts and eat them every day, others are allergic to them, and some people just don’t like them.

Peanuts are full of protein and healthy fats and oils. They are consumed in many different forms on a daily basis.

March has been national peanut month since 1974, but from 1941-1974 there was a week in March named national peanut week. The week-long celebration morphed into a month of celebration for a popular source of protein.

Here are four students and one staff member telling their stories about peanuts.

Emily Harper, Senior

What food group are peanuts in?

“They are a protein.”

Do you like peanuts?

“I don’t really eat peanuts, but I do like them.”

How do you like to eat peanuts?

“I usually eat them in something like peanut brittle.”

Brandon Hart, Senior

What food group are peanuts in?

“They are vegetables.”

Do you like peanuts?

“Not really.”

How do you eat peanuts?

“Peanut butter candy.”

Niccos Patrick, Sophomore

What food group are peanuts in?

“I think they are grains.”

Do you like peanuts?

“I am in between on that.”

How do you eat peanuts?

“Buttered form, mostly.”

Bailey Lewis, Sophomore

What food group are peanuts in?

“They are in the peanut group.”

Do you like peanuts?

“Yes, very much.”

How do you eat peanuts?

“I like to eat them in trail mix.”

Miss Mary Riley

What food group are peanuts in?

“Legumes.”

Do you like peanuts?

“Yes, I do.”

How do you eat peanuts?

“Peanut M&M’s.”

What at the time sounded like a strange answer was the most correct of them all. Miss Mary Riley, math teacher, said that peanuts are legumes. Legumes are the fruit or seed that comes from a plant in the Fabaceae family, or bean family.

If you would like to know more trivia about peanuts, just keep reading.

The peanut plant is thought to have came from South America. No fossil records prove this, but people in South America made pottery in the shape of peanuts or decorated jars with peanuts as far back as 3,500 years ago. This makes sense because European explorers first discovered peanuts in Brazil.

Peanut butter, one of the most common forms of nuts eaten today, was first introduced at the St. Louis Fair in 1906.

In World War I and II, peanut butter was a common source of protein for the troops.

Some strange things that people have used peanuts for in the past include using peanut butter in a frying pan to get rid of the fishy smell it has obtained by being used to pan fry fish.

Another strange use is putting peanut butter in your hair to remove gum. That one actually comes in handy.

On average, a person consumes three pounds of peanut butter each year. That’s a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Another good question about peanuts is whether people prefer smooth peanut butter or crunchy peanut butter. Or are you one of those people that like your peanut butter in a jar mixed with jam?

Everyone is different when it comes to food preferences, but peanuts are a type of food that is so commonly used that they are hard not to love them.