05/07/2026
A little history about peanut butter. Most of our children have enjoyed an occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich
The average American eats over four pounds of peanut butter per year and over 90% of American households have a jar of it in their pantries. It is one of the most popular and widely consumed foods in the country.
Peanuts (which grow underground and are technically legumes, not nuts) originated in South America, and from there Spanish and Portuguese traders spread them to Europe, Asia, and West Africa. From Africa they were introduced to North America in the 18th century, where they became an important food source (commonly called “goober peas”) primarily for poor people, slaves, and hogs. Not until the early 1800s were peanuts grown as a commercial crop and even then it was on a small scale and principally as a source of vegetable oil, with peanuts themselves continuing to be stigmatized as food for the poor and the enslaved.
While peanuts increased somewhat in popularity after many Northern soldiers acquired a taste for them during the Civil War, their popularity soared after roasted and boiled peanuts became commonly sold as snacks at circuses and baseball games. In the early 1900s George Washington Carver promoted peanuts as an alternative cash crop to cotton, further boosting the popularity of the humble goober. Peanut butter was widely introduced the public at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and in 1921 California food businessman Joseph Rosefield patented a process to partially hydrogenate it (so that the peanut oil did not separate). Peter Pan and Skippy soon followed, and American cuisine has never been the same.
The photo is from the Made in Chicago Museum.
