New Peanut Plant May Create Better Peanut Butter

First Posted: Jul 20, 2015 10:21 AM EDT

Peanuts are big business. And now, scientists are taking a closer look at how to make them better for peanut butter and other peanut products.

A new variety of peanut, called OLé, has recently been released by a team of researchers. Olé peanuts actually have longer shelf lives and increased disease resistance compared to other peanut varieties. They pack high amounts of a heart-healthy fatty acid called oleic acid.

High-oleic peanuts have been in cultivation for a number of years. However, seed stock contamination and other logistical issues have led to a shortage of high-oleic peanuts of the Spanish market-type. Spanish peanuts have a high oil content which gives them a characteristic "nutty" flavor when roasted.

In order to meet this need, the researchers created the OLé peanut. The relatively high amounts of oleic acid, compared to another fatty acid called linoleic acid, actually increases their shelf life tremendously. Fatty acids like oleic and linoleic acid contain one or more double bonds between carbon atoms. Fats can go rancid when these double bonds break down. Fewer double bonds in a fatty acid means a greater shelf life.

In addition, researchers have found that OLé plants are also three times as resistant to Sclerotinia blight and about seven times as resistant to pod rot when compared to OLin, an older variety of Spanish peanut.

The findings reveal that these peanuts could be huge in the food industry. As food technology moves forward, we're likely to see more and more varieties with improved characteristics that make them more suitable for consumers in the future.

The findings are published in the Journal of Plant Registration.