The Nutty History of Peanut Butter

Today in America (of course!) it is National Peanut Butter Day.

Here at Lovely's Vintage Emporium we love nothing better than a bagel with jam and peanut butter at about 4pm when we are getting sleepy. So hurrah for America for inventing peanut butter in a jar.

It all started over 120 years ago in 1895 when a Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (the man who invented Kellogg's cereal) patented a process for creating peanut butter from raw peanuts. He sold it as a nutritious protein substitute for people who found it hard to chew solid food. Then in 1903, a Dr. Ambrose Straub, also American, patented a peanut-butter-making machine.

Apparently Americans eat three pounds of peanut butter per person (that's around 700 million pounds, or enough to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon).

Here in the UK, according to new peanut butter brand Bonanza, sales of peanut butter are going up by 20% every year. We spend £94 million as a nation every year on this yummy nutty spread. We try and buy brands without palm oil, so we will give Bonanza a try on our toast at some point.

Happy spreading!! It means that at over 100 years old peanut butter is officially an antique...

Love Lynnette (mumbling as she stuffs peanut butter and jam in her mouth)