just for fun - Today is National Peanut Butter Day!

I love peanut butter, so a day to celebrate this tasty treat makes total sense to me! So, to celebrate the deliciousness of peanut butter, let's first look at some of the history behind peanut butter which I learned online at this link . . . 

• Technically speaking, peanut butter can be traced all the way back to about 1500 B.C. This is when Incas ground peanuts down to make a paste. However, many historians don’t consider this to be when peanut butter was invented because the original concoction was less like the butter of today and more like a paste. There is also the fact they often ground the peanuts up with maize and put the resulting product in a drink. The Aztecs also ground peanuts into a paste they used to treat toothaches.
• In the United States, many people credit George Washington Carver as the inventor of peanut butter. However, this isn’t correct either. While Mr. Carver was instrumental in promoting the 300+ uses for peanuts – with peanut butter being one of those uses – he didn’t actually invent it. It was actually invented by Marcellus Gilmore Edson in 1884 in Canada. At least, he was the first person to file a patent for his peanut paste. The following year, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented the process for making peanut butter from peanuts. And in 1903, Dr. Ambrose Straub patented a machine which made peanut butter in St. Louis, Mo.
• In 1922, chemist Joseph Rosefield found a way to keep smooth peanut butter from separating from the oil. He used a process which introduced partially hydrogenated oil into the peanut butter and kept the peanut butter stable. Six years later, in 1928, he licensed his invention to the company which created Peter Pan Peanut Butter. Four years later, he started his own peanut butter company called Skippy. 

I found this interesting - I always thought George Washington Carver invented peanut butter. So, now we have learned some peanut butter history, how about some peanut butter fun . . . 

• Two U.S Presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter, were peanut farmers
• One acre of peanuts will yield approximately 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches
• The average peanut farm is 100 acres
• 75% of American homes currently has a jar of peanut butter
• About 1.5% of the American public has a peanut allergy
• Americans spend over $800 million dollars on peanut butter a year
• Women & children are most likely to enjoy creamy peanut butter
• Men are most likely to enjoy chunky peanut butter
• A nickname for the peanut is Goober
• Peanuts originally were used as food for animals.

I live on an acre, so it is interesting to me to know if I grew peanuts on this land, I'd be able to make 30,000 pb sandwiches!

So, how to celebrate National Peanut Butter Day . . . any way you like! Make a Peanut Butter Pie (tasty and easy!), make cookies (what's not to love about these?), stir it into vanilla ice cream and enjoy a completely delicious treat (I did this last night!) or just enjoy it on a toasted blueberry english muffin (sounds like lunch to me!)

Maybe you could get your grandchildren together and bake your favorite peanut butter treat, or if they live far, make their favorite peanut butter treat and send some to them as a special surprise. Be sure to talk about how thankful we are God created peanuts and people who were able to figure out how to turn them into peanut butter!

Enjoy!