Do you know your peanuts?

Peanuts are a diverse and rapidly evolving bunch.

And with wide-ranging uses as oil, milk, butter, paste, and biofuel – as well as making delicious snacks – they're truly versatile legumes. Expert producers are constantly embracing technological changes that help snack manufacturers create better-quality, more sustainable products that their consumers love.

With so many new trends to keep track of, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important. For snack manufacturers, getting on top of industry developments can help you take full advantage of each innovation as it develops – protecting your supply, ensuring quality, and making the most of new efficiencies.

So, in a nutshell, what are the next big things for the peanut industry?

Let’s crack on.

An ever-diverse world of nuts

All peanuts aren’t created equal.

Not just in terms of quality, flavour, and nutritional value, but also in origin, variety, and ideal use. In recent years, peanut specialisation has become increasingly advanced and is helping snack manufacturers identify the right crops for their products. Because getting the taste, price, and supply just right might be what it takes to get the edge on the competition. To ensure the highest quality of snack products, two considerations are becoming increasingly important: species and origin.

Selecting the right species for your products

Each of the many peanut varieties available has a different chemical and flavour profile. That means choosing the best one for your needs can have a big impact on your final product.

For example, for confectionery purposes, the best peanuts will have the following

characteristics:

● High sucrose level

● High protein content

● Low glucose level

● Low Raffinose Family Oligosaccharides (RFOs) content

● High O/L ratio

● High oil retention

With low RFOs, low glucose, high oil, and a high O/L ratio, the Indian Spanish peanut is one of the best for confectionery use.

Similarly, the Java variety is better for snack manufacturing than Bold peanuts, due to its attractive pinkish-white colour, higher levels of palmitic acid (which helps prevent heart disease) and linoleic acid (which reduces bad cholesterol), and superior water-holding and oil-binding capacity. These factors result in crispier products with better texture and nutritional properties.

With many varieties to choose from, getting the right one – along with the correct sizing – can make all the difference.

Choosing your origin matters

As well as the variety of your peanuts, the origin you use can also have a big impact. For example, the Indian Java peanut is unquestionably superior to alternatives when it comes to confectionery production, followed closely by the Martinique Java peanut.

Similarly, the American Runner peanut has a lower fat content and a different flavour profile compared with its Indian equivalent, and the Spanish Western 44 from South India roasts better than the Spanish Java peanut from South Africa, due to lower peroxide values.

New varieties and origins of peanut products are emerging each and every year. Whilst certain regions might be notable for their quality one harvest, climatic conditions and technological advances can quickly create emerging opportunities elsewhere.

The inherent characteristics of each nut can be a real source of advantage, so keeping on top of the changing face of peanut farming can have a significant impact on your snack products – whether you’ll be coating, frying, baking, roasting, or crushing your nuts.

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