In holiday-packed February, we honor dead presidents, scare local groundhogs, spend the first 72 hours of this week in a Valentine's Day candy heart-induced sugar coma, and celebrate Black History Month! This month, the United States honors the achievements of black Americans throughout history, from the early days of the Underground Railroad to the election of our first black president in 2008. And here at SparkNotes, we're celebrating by devoting this post to one of our favorite black historical figures EVER: George Washington Carver, a nineteenth-century scientist who (among other things) discovered more than 300 uses for the peanut.
Yes, you heard right. Three. HUNDRED.
Carver's peanut-based innovations included more than a hundred recipes, along with multiple peanut-derived household products like dyes, cosmetics, plastics, and gasoline. (Gasoline! Crazy!) And through Carver's research, the peanut became known as a useful and inexpensive alternative crop for farmers who couldn't afford to grow cotton.
Of course, the average person can never hope to achieve Carver's level of success as an pioneer and advocate for sustainable farming. But we can try to follow in his footsteps on a slightly more modest scale, by thinking of some things to do with peanuts.
Except that we could only come up with ten.
Things to Do with Peanuts
- In a crowded classroom, surreptitiously hurl peanuts at your enemies. If confronted, eat the evidence.
- Thread peanuts onto a necklace. Put it on whenever you leave the house, in case you get lost and are hungry.
- Carve tiny faces into their surfaces and create a peanut totem pole.
- Make friends with an elephant.
- Spread them on the floor and walk on them to create a crunchy sound effect.
- Stick peanuts in your nose for comic effect.
- Remove peanuts from your nose and put them in a dish. Give the dish to your little sister. Laugh hysterically when she eats them; refuse to explain why.
- Cover your entire bed with peanuts and sit regally on top of it, wearing a crown and holding a scepter. Tell anyone who asks that you are King of the Peanuts.
- Sprinkle peanuts on the forest floor as you are driven into the woods by your hateful stepmother. Use them to find your way home.
- Select the largest peanut from your peanut bag and put it in your pocket. Name it Charlie. Carry Charlie with you everywhere. At night, put Charlie to bed in a small cotton-lined box on your nightstand. Cry for three days after the dog eats Charlie.
...Okay, that was really hard. George Washington Carver, we salute you.
Hey, we've got a peanut here—can you think of something to do with it? Tell in the comments!
Related post: Open Thread for February 17
Topics: Life
Tags: inventions, cool things, black history month, peanuts
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