National Peanut Butter Day is celebrated on January 24th each year in the United States, so let’s learn some more about this popular food. Peanuts have been dated all the way back to the Aztec and Incan empires, when they ground the peanuts to a paste as a toothache remedy.

In 1884, Marcellus Gilmore Edson was the first person to patent peanut butter. From that time, the popularity of peanut butter has expanded. The United States is now the largest producer of peanut butter in the world and Americans alone consume over $800 million worth a year. Georgia and Texas are the two major producers of peanuts in the United States and over half of all peanut crops go to producing peanut butter.

Peanut butter has been known by different names throughout time and different locations. For instance, During World War II, peanut butter’s slang name was “monkey butter.” In the Netherlands, peanut butter is called “pindakaas,” which literally means “peanut cheese.” That doesn’t sound as appetizing, but it was done because legally the word “butter” was protected by law to only be used for items made with milk butter.

I hope you have enjoyed these fun facts, and get inspired to grab that spoon and enjoy some peanut butter today!

Questions?

If you have any questions about this article or food safety and culinary training, contact me at jdetloff@airculinaire.com. For questions about in-flight catering, contact weborders@airculinaire.com.