THE PEANUT INDUSTRY. 11. PREPARATION OF PEANUTS FOR THE MARKET*
The Cleaning Process When the people of this country first became acquainted with the peanut after the Civil War the cleaning and preparation of the nuts for the market were all done by hand labor. Although the many cost-reducing
A SUCTION FAN IN
A
CLEANING PLANT
One of the many fans scattered throughout the factory to draw out light-weight
pods, trash, and dust.
improvements in the methods of planting, cultivating, and harvesting the peanuts have been a great help to the industty i t is doubtful whether this business would have reached any size or real importance without the invention of machinery for cleaning and shelling the peanuts on a large scale and the establishment of modern cleaning and shelling fac'Acknowledgment is here made to W. R. Beattie, Horticulturist, Bureau of Plant Industry, for the use of cuts from U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Farmns Bulletin No. 1127; t o Harold J. Clay and Paul M. Williams, Marketing Specialists, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, for use of cuts from U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Bulletin No. 1401; and t o Harold 1.Clay for criticism of the manuscript.
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"TUMBLER"IN WHICH PEANUTSRECELVEA COATINGOi FINE WHITE POWDER BEFORE BEINGGRADED AND SACKED Peanuts enter revolving cylinder at left-hanff portion of picture and leave at righthand end. Surplus powder has fallen through wire mesh to floor in right-hand portion of picture.
tories.14 The first practical cleaning plant was built in 1876 in Norfolk, the second in 1880 in Smithfield, Virginia, and by 1885 this business was well started. The farmers' stock reaches the plant with some dirt in the bags, together with such other foreign material as stems and small stones. For the continuous operation of the factory there must be stored in the plant or very close a t hand a good supply of peanuts. The bags of farmers' stock are emptied into the storage bins, the nuts being separated according to the distinct varieties, and also each variety is sorted according to grade. A mechanical elevator carries the pods to the top of the plant where it dumps them into large hoppers, from which the peanuts are fed to the cleaning machinery. The pods are usually fed first to a sand or dirt reel in which the hulls are cleaned by rubbing against one another and some of the stems adhering to the pods are removed. The reel has small holes through which the dirt drops out.
" U.S.Dppt. Agr. Oflce Sec. Circular 81.
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WORKING AT PICRING TABLES IN PEANUT FACTORY IN VIRGINIA Suction pipes are at end of long belts to draw out chal? and dust.
The next step is the removal of the stems. This is accomplished in a stemmer." One type of stemmer is in the form of a cylinder made with iron pulleys so attached to a shaft as to allow a small space between each pulley. Under the cylinder are rows of small saws which extend up into the spaces between the pulleys, catching the stems, pulling or sawing them off. At this point, as well as a t many other points throughout'the plant, a blast of air from the fans is introduced for an air separation of the light foreign material from the pods. The sound pods are then regraded. The operation a t this point is done by machinery. The pods are dumped into a sloping cylinder which is made of iron bars looking like a large parrot cage without top or bottom. The space between the bars varies along the length of the cylinder, allowing the smaller size nuts to drop out first, and the largest jumbo grade nuts come out a t the end of the ~ y l i n d e r . ~ The color of these cleaned pods depends upon the color of the soil in which they mature and the amount of weathering of the pods in the stocks. To give all the pods in the batch the same color and in this way to improve the appearance of the nuts for sale purposes, the pods are next dusted 6 U.S.Dept. Apr. Bull. 1401. '2
'
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SEWING A FILLEDSACK OF PEANUTS IN THE SHELLAREREADYTO SHIP LASTSTEPBEFORETHE PEANUTS The peanuts come through the bagging spout from a picking table shown in the preceding illdstratian. E
grades of the farmers' stock that the unshelled Virginia goods come. All the peanuts of the Spanish a n d R u n n e r types are shelled. In the sale of the unshelled goods much depends on the size. The smaller Spanish pod would, therefore, fare badly in competition with the large-poddedVirginia varieties. The unshelled Virginias are offered to the trade in three grades: jumbos, the largest or first grade; fancies, the second grade; and extras,
MAY,1930
with a white powder in polishing drums. Now the pods are ready for the "picking tables" which consist of an endless belt traveling over a long table. The goods are dumped on the belt and the belt carries the pods slowly between two lines of pickers seated on each side of the table. These pickers remove by hand the defective pods from the slow stream of peanuts. Leaving t h e "picking tables" a t the end of the table the nuts drop in receptacles, are bagged, and are then known in the trade as Or unshelled xoods. It is from the better
GRADES0s VIRGINIA TYPEPEANUTSIN THE SAELL Peanuts in right-hand column are jumbos; those in the center, fancies; while those in the left-hand column are extras. (Reduced two-thirds.)
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or the poorest grade. Each grade is definitely standardized by the trade, limiting the number of pods to the pound in each grade.
Shelling From the lower grades of farmers' goods we obtain our shelled Virginia peanuts. Sometimes, however, as in 1922, the demand for shelled Virginia~is such that farmers' stock is shelled straight, that is, all grading in the pod is omitted. Of course, as stated above, all of the Spanish and Runner peanut crop that is gathered goes to the sheller. The shelling process is less complicated than the cleaning process and therefore less machinery is needed. The goods are run through a stoner which consists of an upward current of air and the small stems and any material of higher specific gravity than the pods fall out, while the pods are carried on. Next the goods are run through a dirt reel, in which process t h e adhering d i r t is rubbed off and then a blast of air from a fan blows off the light trash. Now the pods are ready for the sheller, which conWell picked (upper) and poorly picked (lower). sists of two cylinders. (Reduced two-thirds.) One cylinder is stationary, while the other rotates, bringing around steel "beaters" which strike and crack the hulls. The mixed meats and broken hulls fall through a current of air which removes the lighter hulls from the meats. The meats are now run over screens which grade the meats. The small, shriveled meats fall through the smaller holes a t one end, while the extra large meats are carried through to the end of the screens. As in the case of the unshelled nuts the final operation is the hand picking by operators seated a t the "picking table^."^
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Shelled Grades
Shelled Virginias, as in the case of the nuts in the shells, are graded for the trade. First we have the extra large grade which must not number more than 33 t o the ounce, and the No. 1 grade, which cannot exceed 42 to the ounce. I n these two grades foreign matter and splits are practically excluded. The No. 2 grade contains shrivels in addition to splits but the amount is limited. When the No. 2 grade is destined for food ~roducts these meats may be rerun through the "picking tables" for another inspection. As No. 2 grade peanuts have on the split faces considerable d i r t which is retained after passing through the shelling machinery, those interested in the peanut butter industry feel that it would be to the advantage of this industry if no No. 2 nuts were used therein but sold with the No. 3 grade to the oil mills for crushing. To the layman the grading of the Virginias seems standardized and rather definite. Those interested exclusively in the Spanish type of peanuts, speaking of their business, say, however, Well that up to 1921 our FARMERS'STOCK SPANISH PEANUTS grades were formerly as picked ( u f i ~ and ) poorly picked (lower). indefinite as those of (Reduced two-thirds.) the Virzinia peanut. I n 1921 the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the Department of Agriculture, after a thorough and detailed investigation, offered tentative grades for shelled white Spanish peanuts to the trade. These grades have been revised as circumstances have suggested and have proved very popular with all those interested in this husiness. At the request of the Peanut Associations the Federal Food Products Inspection Service, which has facilities for inspections in practically all our
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OIL STOCK
Different lots of oil stock from plants mming Virginia-tme peanuts. (Reduced one-third.)
large cities, has been made available to the peanut industry for shelled Spanish goods.
Roasting Neither the unshelled peanuts, when they leave the cleaners, nor the shelled nuts when shipped by the shellers, are ready for consumption. Peanuts, like legumes, require cooking to make them edible. They are usually roasted.lb To the American public, until a comparatively short time ago, the word "peanut" conveyed a picture of a street vendor disposl5
"Nutrition," W. S. Hall, Northwestern Univ. Med. School, pp. 69-70,
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T ~ EGRADES E o r SAELLED VIRGINIA PEANUTS Extra largc (upper left), No. 1 (upper right), and No. 2 (below). (Reduced one-lhird.) ing of his wares of warm roasted nuts in the shell to small boys a t hall games, circuses, and recreational resorts. The vendor usually roasted his peanuts over a charcoal burner just as he sold them. Most of us can remember instances where the vendor's roasting amounted to anything from merely warming the nuts to actually burning them. Today, however, practically all the roasting is done by expert roasting establishments and the vendor merely keeps his wares warm. Roasting is carried out in rotating cylinders over some source of heat. The temperature and time of
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OIL STOCK Different lots of oil stock from plants running shelled Spanish peanuts (Reduced one-third.)
roasting vary with the operators, but are dependent upon one another. The speed a t which the cylindrical roaster is rotated depends on the size of charge or weight of nuts roasted. As this business of roasting unshelled peanuts has grown, i t has tended to gravitate to the coffee roasters in the large cities. This is due, no doubt, to the long experience acquired by these men in a similar business, and, incidentally, this peanut roasting seems to have brought them a very profitable business sideline.16 '6
"The Peanut Promoter," vol. VI, no. 6.
U. S . No. 1 (upper) and U . S . No. 2 (lower). (Reduced one-haZf.)
U. S . No. 1 (upper) and U . S. No. 2 (lower). (Reduced one-half.)
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R o ~ s r I s GSHELLEDVIRGINIA-TYPEPEANUTSIN A VIRGINIAFACTORY The revolving cylinders are heated in this instance hy coal fires, but usually gas is employed. The operator is testing the peanuts to see if the roasting has been completed.
There have been lately attempts to prepare roasted salted peanuts in the shell. According to a United States patent-issued to Messrs. F. and H. Baker," this can be accomplished by forcing a cold salt water solution through the pores of the shell under pressure and then evaporating the liquid from the shell. It is understood that this product has been marketed to some extent.
Salted Peanuts From that status in which roasted peanuts in the shell constituted the peanut industry there have been many changing developments. I t is estimated that, including the imported nuts and reducing both shelled and nnshelled nuts to a common basis, there are sold, today, four or five times as many shelled as unsbelled peanuts. This change was brought about chiefly by the salted peanut industry. The salted peanut industry is not much more than twentyave years old. The difficulty seemed to be, a t first, in the marketing and not in the preparation. The needed impetus to this business was given by the introduction of the salted peanut 1' U. S. Pat. 966,514. . .
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penny vending machine. Because of their irregularity in size and shape the Virginias could not be handled by these vending machines and, as a result, for some time the salted peanut industry handled only the Spanish variety. The small, regular size and shape of the Spanish nut were well adapted to the mechanism of these machines. These Spanish nuts are usually roasted and salted without removing their thin brown skins, and most of us can remember when salted peanuts were only procurable in that form.
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