Common Crops You Might Be Surprised Aren’t Native to the United States

“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks,” is one of the most memorable lines of a beloved American song used as the unofficial anthem for a favorite American pastime. But did you know that peanuts aren’t even native to the United States? In fact, their origins can be traced to South America. If that comes as a blow, hold on to your baseball cap – here’s a roundup featuring some of our country’s most prolific and popular nonnative crops and their origins.

1. Apples

You might have grown up with the phrase, “as American as apple pie,” but we’ve got a surprise for you – apples are nonnative crops in the United States. This crispy fruit, of which there are 7,500 varieties worldwide, was first discovered about 750,000 years ago when food gatherers in the country now known as Kazakhstan came across sour crab apples in the forest.

After being cultivated by Neolithic farmers in Asia and planted in orchards in 1300 B.C. Egypt and 200 B.C. Rome, apples made their way to the Americas starting in the 1500s when the Spaniards introduced them to Mexico and South America. Meanwhile, the United States’ first apple trees grew from seeds brought over by French Jesuits in the late 16th century.

Today, apples have become one of the country’s most valuable crops, and American farms produced 10.5 billion pounds of them in 2021. According to the U.S. Apple Association, the top apple-producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, North Carolina, Oregon, Ohio and Idaho.

See more: 10 Fun Facts About Apples

2. Potatoes

While Americans may have invented the lovable Mr. Potato Head, they certainly cannot take credit for his inspiration: the potato, which is native to the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes. Here, the Aymara Indians developed more than 200 varieties of potatoes at elevations greater than 10,000 feet.

Potatoes made their way to Europe by way of the Spaniards in the late 1400s and 1500s. While they quickly became a food staple overseas, they did not make it to the United States until the 1600s. However, potatoes were not widely grown here until 1719, when Irish immigrants brought them to New Hampshire.

It’s no surprise that Idaho is the nation’s top potato-growing state. (The phrase “famous potatoes” even appears on its license plate.) However, the crop is also grown commercially in 30 states, with other major producers including Washington, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Colorado.

See more: 19 Must-Visit Stops on the Boise Potato Trail

3. Peaches

Add peaches to the list of our country’s nonnative crops. All varieties of these sweet, juicy fruits are thought to have originated in China. They made their way across Asia and into the Mediterranean region and Europe before the Spanish brought them to the New World.

It’s unknown exactly how the fruit peaches arrived in the United States, though. Historians think peaches were either introduced by Spanish settlers in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565, or by the French to an isolated Gulf of Mexico settlement in 1562. Either way, the fruit was probably grown in modern-day Mexico at an earlier date. Large-scale commercial peach growing did not begin in the United States until the 19th century.

Today, Georgia is known as the Peach State, but California is by far the largest peach producer, yielding 493,000 tons of the fuzzy fruits in 2022. Meanwhile, South Carolina comes in second at 71,800 tons, with Georgia sliding into third at 24,100 tons.

4. Peanuts

Americans love their peanuts. Each of us, on average, consumed 7.7 pounds of these tasty nuts in 2023. However, the peanut plant likely originated in Brazil or Peru. By the time the Spaniards made their way to the Americas, these nuts had made their way up to Mexico. The Spanish sailed with them back to Europe and then traders took them to Africa and Asia.

In the 1700s, peanuts first arrived in the United States with African slaves, who planted them throughout the South. However, they were not grown commercially until the early 1800s. Peanuts became more prominent in the U.S. after the Civil War, as both armies subsisted on this high-protein food.

Peanuts are still mostly grown in the South, where the climate is warmer and growing seasons are longer. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Georgia leads the way in U.S. peanut production, followed by Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

5. Oranges

Oranges and all citrus fruits originated millions of years ago in the Southeast Himalayan foothills, which includes parts of present-day India, Myanmar and Southeast China. However, the first written evidence of oranges did not appear until the year 314 in China. Over the next few hundred years, oranges would make their way through Asia and the Arab world. The sweet orange finally arrived in Europe by the late 1400s.

Christopher Columbus brought orange seeds with him on his journey to the Americas, and they were planted on the island of Hispaniola (Haiti) in 1493. Spanish settlers then brought these citrus fruits to Florida between 1535 and 1565. By 1579, orange trees were growing in St. Augustine, Florida. The fruit then made its way to the West Coast when Spanish missionaries brought orange trees to Arizona in 1707 and San Diego in 1769. Today, most of America’s oranges come from four states: Florida, California, Arizona and Texas.

See more: Guide to Citrus Varieties

6. Corn

Corn may be the most popular crop in the United States, but it was first cultivated south of the border in present-day Mexico at least 7,000 years ago. However, it originated from a wild grass called teosinte, which looks quite different from modern corn plants. This early corn (known as maize) spread north into the southwest United States and south down to Peru. By the time Columbus reached the Americas, corn was a major part of most native peoples’ diets.

Today, this popular fruit/grain/vegetable (this is a complicated discussion for another day) is mostly grown in a region known as the Corn Belt, located in the Midwest. Iowa leads the nation in corn production, with Illinois and Nebraska coming in second and third.