Early American settlers in the New England area enjoyed a food called groundnuts, that has since been almost completely forgotten. These grow wild, not only in that part of the country, but in other places all the way south to Florida and west to the Mississippi River. The Indians told the Pilgrims about groundnuts, and then they enjoyed them too.
What are groundnuts? They are part of the root system of a vine that is related to peanuts and beans, but climbs over bushes. To find the groundnuts, their purple-flowered vines are given a tough pull, which uncovers the long roots growing just a few inches deep. Each root may have as many as 40 round or oval “nuts.” Some are about the size of a hazel nut and others are more like a golf ball in size. They are attached to the root, a few inches apart from each other.
A man who discovered some of these growing wild just a few years ago took a supply home and cleaned them. His wife cooked them in a pot of boiling water for about ten minutes, until they became soft. After mashing them and adding butter, they found them every bit as good as baked potatoes and went back to the woods for more. In addition to boiling, they discovered they were also good roasted in hot ashes.
The result of this new discovery is that now there is one berry grower who has become so fond of groundnuts that he raises them to sell. Properly cared for, the plants produce tons of groundnuts on just an acre or so of farmland. He hopes that people living in areas where they grow may again include them in their diets.
It would seem that many farmers, hearing about this, would start growing them. But, like many wild things, there are some problems. For one thing, they are rather hard to cultivate, as they not only prefer wet, marshy soil, but the vines easily get tangled up. To avoid this they have to be staked. Harvesting is also time- consuming, similar to digging up carrots, beets, potatoes, etc.
But perhaps some day this tasty food will be on the market in some places. As a rediscovered part of God’s creation, the nutritious food will once more be helpful in providing a tasty variety on many dinner tables.
Although they have been forgotten all these years, groundnuts were included in what God the Creator said as He prepared the earth for every living thing: “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.” Genesis 1:1111And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (Genesis 1:11). We should never forget to thank Him often for the wonderful way He has provided all necessary things for us.
ML-07/04/1993