Last year, I was lucky enough to get a few accessions from GRIN to trial. Most were landraces, and one was breeding material created by an interspecific cross. I found 1 accession that did very well for me and one or two more that did decent enough to merit growing again this year. Additionally, I will be growing an Argentenian white peanut that I obtained from Seed Savers Exchange last year, negrito manduvi peanut, which also came from SSE about 4 years ago now, Little August peanut which I obtained from John Sherck last year, a white Uruguay peanut from Buffalo Seed Company, and a few miscs, off-types, and some of my main grex that is composed of many others that I’ve forgotten the names of. I’ll be planting all of these this year.
Here are some photos of the ones I’ve grown. Negrito manduvi is the most productive and easy to grow, however the peanuts are small and also very tasty. Negrito manduvi also does pretty well without hilling, producing a cluster of peanuts very close to the taproot. I assume it is an underperformer when considering the very large jumbo peanuts like Bailey II produced by NC State University. Again, flavor. I’m not sure if I can say negrito outperforms modern standards in flavor, but I will say I prefer it. Is it just a matter of difference? I think they each have their uses. Peanuts these days are bred for high oleic acid so that their products, such as peanut butter and peanut oil, can sit on the shelf for a long time without spoiling. Negrito will still be my favorite. It matures well for me with consistent pod fill, prolific pod set with minimal to no hilling, and is ready to harvest around 100-115 days. I’m thinking I might have some runner-ups this year when I get enough of the Argentinian White, PI 628538, and Little August to do more extensive taste testing. PI 628538 is already a favorite with it’s crazy rock-like shapes, shades of mauve, and it is just so dang strange and pretty.
I’ll also say that peanuts are a good bit of labor to grow, harvest, and shell. I could use the space I’m committing for them this year to grow watermelon instead, which is yummy and easy. It is indeed a labor of love. Will I ever get enough to make purple peanut butter? I’ll keep dreaming.
I will attempt manual crossings between these and a few others. I know this will be a pain since I’ll be growing them in the ground, but even just one successful cross will be a whole new world.