1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ground Nut

GROUND NUT (Earth Nut, Pistache de Terre, Monkey Nut, Pea Nut, Manilla Nut), in botany, the fruit or pod of Arachis hypogaea (nat. ord. Leguminosae). The plant is an annual of diffuse habit, with hairy stem, and two-paired, abruptly pinnate leaflets. The pods or legumes are stalked, oblong, cylindrical, about 1 in. in length, the thin reticulated shell containing one or two irregularly ovoid seeds. After the flower withers, the stalk of the ovary has the peculiarity of elongating and bending down, forcing the young pod underground, and thus the seeds become matured at some distance below the surface. Hence the specific and vernacular names of the plant. Originally a native of South America, it is extensively cultivated in all tropical and subtropical countries. The plant affects a light sandy soil, and is very prolific, yielding in some instances 30 to 38 bushels of nuts per acre. The pods when ripe are dug up and dried. The seeds when fresh are largely eaten in tropical countries, and in taste are almost equal to almonds; when roasted they are used as a substitute for chocolate. In America they are consumed in large quantities as the “pea-nut”; but are not much appreciated in England except by the poorer children, who know them as “monkey-nuts.” By expression the seeds yield a large quantity of oil, which is used by natives for lamps, as a fish or curry oil and for medicinal purposes. The leaves form an excellent food for cattle, being very like clover.

Large quantities of seeds are imported to Europe, chiefly to Marseilles, London and Hamburg, for the sake of their contained oil. The seeds yield from 42 to 50% of oil by cold expression, but a larger quantity is obtained by heat, although of an inferior quality. The seeds being soft facilitate mechanical expression, and where bisulphide of carbon or other solvent is used, a very pure oil is obtained.

The expressed oil is limpid, of a light yellowish or straw colour, having a faint smell and bland taste; it forms an excellent substitute for olive oil, although in a slight degree more prone to rancidity than the latter. Its specific gravity is 0.916 to 0.918; it becomes turbid at 3° C., concretes at +3° to −4° C., and hardens at +7° C. It is a non-drying oil. Ground nut oil consists of (1) oleic acid (C₁₈H₃₄O₂); (2) hypogaeic acid (C₁₆H₃₀O₂), by some supposed to be identical with a fatty acid found in whale oil; (3) palmitic acid (C₁₆H₃₂O₂); and (4) arachic acid (C₂₀H₄₀O₂). The oil is used in the adulteration of gingelly oil.