Is a peanut a pea or a nut?

[Poppy]

Surely it's a nut... I've been told otherwise though by my father in law who is ADAMANT that it's a pea. If so then why couldn't I eat them when I was pregnant? They say not to eat them incase you cause a nut allergy in the baby! Please put an end to this. I'm sick of thinking about it :)

[nickmo]

From the pea family. High in folic acid (but the UK government recommends that certain women avoid eating peanuts while they are pregnant. You are advised to avoid peanuts if you, your baby's father, or one of your previous children has had an allergic reaction to something i.e hay fever, eczema etc Search the web for peanuts in pregnancy for tons of sites) and peanuts are good for diabetics too as low GI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut if your'e bored...

[ermintrude35]

..it's def. a pea, it's got to be true because Stephen Fry said so on a repeat of QI I watched last week, so there!...

...when my mother was pregnant with my brother during the 70s (before any of this government recemendations lark).. she had cravings for peanuts and ate them constantly, my brother has a nut allergy, hayfever and asthma...don't know if there is a connection, but it does make you think...

[shammydodger]

Er... it's neither a pea nor a nut. It's a legume. Although from the pea family.

Strike one for the biologists and pedants!

[shammydodger]

Oh, and don't believe everything you hear on "QI." It's a programme dependent on its researchers. Where do these researchers get many of their "answers" from? Exactly.

Researcher = person who couldn't be @rsed to listen in biology class.

[nickmo]

Pedantry is it SD ? well you should have noted that it is the fruit of the Peanut plant (Arachis hypogea) that is a legume. The plant is of the species pea family, so in short - it is a pea.

Found this for even more fun information.. http://www.whitleyspeanut.com/funfacts/

Replies on a postcard...

[shammydodger]

Pedantry in that the fruit of the peanut plant is a legume and, as this forum is about food and drink, I assumed that the fruit was what Poppy was referring to rather than the plant which, I grant you, is a member of the pea family; and which I acknowledged in my original posting.

Whatever, I doubt that KP etc will be rushing to put "may contain peas or traces of peas" on their sachets!

[jimmy654]

It's related to the pea. Your advised not to eat them when your pregnant out of fear your baby might develop an allergy to them.
http://peanutallergy.com/allergic-reaction.htm l