On Wed, 24 May 2000, Gawen Harrison wrote:

> Are peanuts considered Paleo?  They can be eaten and digested raw.  I know
> that there can be some kind of fungus on them that can produce a toxin.

If you apply the Neanderthin criterion, as you have done above,
then they are indeed paleo.  My grandmother ate raw peanuts all
her life.  Nevertheless, Neanderthin rejects them on other
grounds.  They are legumes, not nuts, although this is a
taxonomic fact that paleolithic people would have neither known
nor cared about.  They are also New World foods, but so are
tomatoes and other foods that some (including the authors of
Neanderthin) consider paleo.  And finally, as you point out, the
aspergillus flavus mold may grow on them, leaving aflatoxin, a
potent carcinogen.  But this mold also grows on other nuts and
berries, notably cherries, and cranberries.  I haven't found
anything about aflatoxin on blueberries, but it wouldn't surprise
me, since the aspergillus mold grows just about everywhere.

So, it's a more complicated question than it looks.  Personally,
I very seldom eat peanuts, simply because I like other nuts (real
nuts) better.  But peanuts do have a number of nutritional
virtues...

Todd Moody
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