Today is peanut butter day. It’s usually called the most popular of the nut butters, although peanuts are not a nut, which is a bit confusing. But it has long been a favourite of mine. And I will admit, I sometimes get a craving for peanut butter. But there are now so many types to choose from. And not just brands.
Several people are given credit for coming up with peanut butter, although the Aztecs had a form of peanut paste they used centuries ago. In 1884, a man named Marcellus Gilmore Edson from Montreal was given a patent for a method of producing peanut butter. George Bayle of St. Louis began selling it as a snack food in 1894. John Harvey Kellogg, the corn flake guy, also got patent for a different method of making peanut butter in 1898. So it seems like there were a lot of people interested in doing something with peanuts over the years.
And that doesn’t seemed to have stopped. Just take a look at the peanut butter section of a grocery store.
Sure, you get your crunchy or smooth, but then you have to choose between regular or dark roast. And would you like emulsifiers with that peanut butter? Because you can get peanut butter that just has peanuts. Or peanut butter that contains a few other ingredients that keeps it all together. The difference being the big puddle of oil on the top that you have to stir back in.
For the record, I like the peanut only version, but I have yet to figure out how to mix the oil back in without making a mess of the kitchen. The safest way seems to be to take it all out of the jar, mix it up, then put it back in the jar. But that still doesn’t guarantee there is no peanut oil that went flying in the process. Or that it won’t try to separate again.
You can also get other things mixed with your peanut butter. Like peanut butter that already has the jam in it. Or honey.
What started with the Aztecs pounding a few legumes into a paste has branched out a bit. Buying peanut butter has become a major decision. But that doesn’t stop me from getting a craving now and then.
