SC Legislators Enjoy Official State Snack
Left: Jared Jester and Lauren Michalski of Heritage Peanut Co. delivered peanuts to state legislators’ offices. Top Middle: Jared Jester poses in front of the State House with ACRE Executive Director Kyle Player. Jester won grant funding and mentoring from ACRE in 2019 for his Heritage Peanut Co. Bottom Middle: SCDA staff enjoyed boiled peanuts and sunshine in celebration of South Carolina’s official State Snack.
SC Legislators Enjoy Official State Snack
By Eva Moore
This story appears in the May 20, 2021 issue of the South Carolina Market Bulletin.
The S.C. General Assembly designated the boiled peanut the official State Snack Food on May 1, 2006. Fifteen years later, the South Carolina Department of Agriculture teamed up with Heritage Peanut Co. to give a package of boiled peanuts to every state lawmaker.
The Bluffton, South Carolina-based Heritage Peanut Co. was awarded grant funding in 2019 by the department’s Agribusiness Center for Research and Entrepreneurship (ACRE) to help distribute and market its packaged boiled peanuts.
Peanuts are an important South Carolina crop: Last year, farmers in the state grew 82,000 acres of peanuts. Peanuts are grown in the Midlands, Pee Dee, and Lowcountry regions of the state.
Boiled peanuts, meanwhile, are an essential and delicious part of South Carolina culture. Boiled peanuts can be made using raw peanuts, which are uncooked and dried; or green peanuts, which are freshly harvested. South Carolina farmers usually begin harvesting green peanuts in July.
“Boiled peanuts are part of what makes South Carolina special, and they wouldn’t be possible without peanut farmers,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers.
The state honors many of its agricultural products with official designations: South Carolina’s state fruit is the peach, the state beverage is milk and the state vegetable is collard greens.
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