What day is it?

By Nila Harris

Peanut butter is a snack of choice in our household. A jar always sits on the shelf in the pantry, and we usually have bread, crackers and jelly on hand.

If we don’t, I’m not beyond dipping a spoon in the jar.

It’s a source of protein, when you need a quick pick me up. AND you can use it to make peanut butter fudge, cake, pie...

Jan. 24 is National Peanut Butter Day when we celebrate the treat that many trace back to childhood and have extended on into adulthood.

Peanut butter is believed to have been around since 14th century A.D., with the Incas grinding peanuts into a paste and using it for food. It wasn’t until 1895 that nutritionist and cereal pioneer Dr. John Harvey Kellogg applied for a patent for a food compound made by boiling nuts and making a paste. He referred to this concoction as “nut butter” or “nut meal.”

Kellogg “promoted peanut butter as a healthy alternative to meat, which he saw as a digestive irritant.” During both World War I and II, meat rationing caused peanut butter to become a good substitute.

In 1903, Dr. Ambrose Straub, a physician from Missouri, received a patent for a peanut butter making machine, but sold all commercial rights to the peanut spread to George Bayle. Bayle, the owner of Bayle Food Products, became peanut butter’s first commercial vendor.

In the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, Bayle introduced his peanut butter product, which was more of a ground peanut paste and originally sold from barrels for 6 cents per pound.

Lexington, Kentucky native, chemist and businessman Joseph Rosefield received a patent for the process of hydrogenating peanut butter. Prior to this, peanut oil would separate from peanut solids, causing the product to quickly spoil. Rosefield’s process created the peanut butter we know and love today.

He later sold his patent to the company that made Peter Pan peanut butter, while he went on to start the company which first introduced Skippy. Skippy maintains the number two brand of peanut butter status in the United States today.

Jif, owned by Smucker’s, holds the number one spot despite a nypost.com report stating that “Jif peanut butter owner J.M. Smucker cut annual sales and profit forecasts (last August 2024), hurt by cost-conscious consumers switching to lower-priced alternatives amid sticky inflation.”

Incidentally, when conducting a Facebook survey of top peanut butter brands amongt my friends and family, Jif was the overwhelming popular choice. Out of 92 responses, 67 chose Jif. Whereas some people had no preference or had multiple preferences, some responses were “It’s (Jif) the only option” or “Jif — hands down”.

Some fun facts about peanut butter:

• The first recorded recipe for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was in 1901 by Julia Davis Chandler.

• For a product to be labeled peanut butter, it must contain at least 90% peanuts.

• Sylvester, Georgia claims the title of “Peanut Butter Capital of the World.”

• There has been a suggestion that peanut butter cures baldness, but no science substantiates that.

• Two U.S. presidents have been peanut farmers: Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.

• The Guinness World Record for the largest peanut butter sandwich was made in Grand Saline, Texas, and used 720 pounds of peanut butter and 900 pounds of jelly.

• The largest Jif-making plant in the world is in Lexington, Kentucky.

My fondest peanut butter and jelly sandwich memory is of a first-grader named Kelli Browning, who packed a sandwich for lunch. The jelly squirted onto both sides of her face, making her look like the Joker. Priceless memories of that beautiful grin remain with me 30 years later.