EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Peanuts are not actually classified botanically as nuts. They are technically legumes, which are plants that have seed pods that split along both sides when ripe (other legumes include beans, peas, and lentils). The peanut is the seed, the papery covering is the seed coat, and the hard shell is the seed pod.

Detailed explanation-2: -Inside each pod are the seeds. Once the blossoms are fertilized, the petals fall away, and the stalks, or pegs, located just under the ovaries, elongate and bend towards the earth, growing into the soil. Underground, the ovary enlarges to form the peanut pod.

Detailed explanation-3: -Peanut hulls, not to be confounded with peanut skins (which are the thin paper-like seed coats enclosing the kernel), are a by-product of peanut processing.

Detailed explanation-4: -The cleaned peanuts move by conveyor to shelling machines where peanuts are de-hulled as they are forced through perforated grates. The peanuts then pass through updraft air columns that separate the kernels from the hulls. Specific gravity machines separate the kernels and the unshelled pods.