Bambara Groundnuts (Vigna subterranea) were domesticated in West Africa several thousand years ago, likely in the area around what is now the Nigeria/Cameroon border. Their wild ancestors were sprawling and developed pods along their long stems. Now they bush and cluster their pods like so. They are more closely related to black-eyed peas/cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata), but they have historically been associated with peanuts (Arachis hypogaea) because both grow pods underground on pegs that come from the fertilized flowers. During the transatlantic slave trade, peanuts were brought from Mesoamerica to Spain, and then to West Africa, where they were easily adopted because they grew and tasted basically like Bambaras, but were considered easier to harvest and more productive. The Peanut in Africa usurped the Bambara’s names: groundnut, pindar, goober. The Peanut AND these names for it stuck in North America as well. It is debated whether enslaved Africans or Europeans first introduced the Peanut to the American South in the early 1700s, but it was certainly the Africans in America that most used this groundnut in their cooking. Later George Washington Carver, whose campaigns to help the poor Southern farmers out from under King Cotton, widely popularized it even further. But again, the Peanut is eclipsing the Bambara. I digress. Bambara is very nutritious, very drought-tolerant, does fine in poor souls AND gives back via nitrogen fixation. You can boil or roast the fresh seeds, or dry them to make a flour for dumplings, cakes, or porridge. We grew so many varieties this year in Kutztown, PA, but the voles are wreaking havoc and eating the pods up before they ripen. We are crossing all fingers and toes that they leave us some! #bambara #bambaragroundnut #vigna #vignasubterranea #vignaunguiculata #pindar #mpinda #goober #gooberpeas #groundnut #seedkeeping #seedsaving #africandiaspora #diaspora #arachishypogaea #georgewashingtoncarver
