Sleepy History - Peanut Butter

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

✨Sleepy History is written and narrated by humans. ✨ Narrated By: Heather Foster Written By: Alicia LeVesque Peanut butter slowly found its place in kitchens and cupboards, transforming a simple ingredient into a familiar comfort. From early methods of grinding peanuts by hand to the smooth and creamy spreads enjoyed around the world, its story unfolds through invention, nourishment, and everyday ritual. Sandwiches, recipes, and shared meals carried their quiet popularity across generations. Tonight, wander through the origins, traditions, and enduring charm of peanut butter. Includes mentions of: Business, WWI, WWII, Slavery, Agriculture, the American Civil War. #History #Sleep #peanutbutter #howitsmade #business #agriculture #Americancivilwar #UShistory About Sleepy History Explore history's most intriguing stories, people, places, events, and mysteries, delivered in a supremely calming atmosphere. If you struggle to fall asleep and you have a curious mind, Sleepy History is the perfect bedtime companion. Our stories will gently grasp your attention, pulling your mind away from any racing thoughts, making room for the soothing music and calming narration to guide you into a peaceful sleep.  Want to enjoy Sleepy History ad-free? Start your 7-day free trial of Sleepy History Premium: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepyhistory.supercast.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Have feedback or an episode request? Let us know at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠slumberstudios.com/contact⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To learn more, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.slumberstudios.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Sleepy History. Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To listen, add-free and support the show, check out our premium feed. Hello, it's Elizabeth here, the host of the Sleepy Bookshelf, another sleep-inducing podcast from the Slumber Studios Network. I'm dropping by just to let you know

that I'm starting a brand new book on the Sleepy Bookshelf right now. This season I'll be reading A Room with a View by E.M. Forster, where we will travel to Italy and back, exploring romance and social expectations in Edwardian England. If you're interested, just search the sleepy bookshelf in your favourite podcast player and go to the most recent episodes to find this new season. I hope to see you there, to put down your worries for the day and pick up a good book. to mind when you think about peanut butter. For many, it evokes a feeling of nostalgia, as we recall peanut butter and jelly sandwiches pulled from a lunchbox at school.

It's often used in sweets, with peanut butter cookies being a favorite, but it can also be savory, forming the base of soups and stews. Though its flavor stands out, its uses are surprisingly diverse. But where did peanut butter originate? Who first invented it?

And how did a handful of brands come to dominate the market? We'll explore these questions and more tonight. So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of peanut butter. From a Reese's peanut butter cup to savory sauces in Southeast Asian cuisine, peanut butter is something many of us enjoy on a regular basis in one form or another. For a food that is so universal, it's almost hard to believe that it has only been around, as we know it, for just over a hundred years.

However, archaeological evidence suggests our ancestors were attempting to make it for at least the last 3,000 years. The peanut itself originated in South America. While the word nut is in the name, peanuts are actually classified as a legume. According to botanical classification, nuts grow above ground. in hard shells that contain a single seed. Some legumes, however, grow below ground. A legume also grows inside a pod that is much easier to open than the hard shell of a nut. Once the legume pot is opened, it can contain more than one seed, unlike nuts. Although the peanut grows as a legume, its dense texture more closely resembles that of a nut.

While peanuts are carefully cultivated today, early peanuts were found growing wild in the nutrient-rich soil at the base of the Andes Mountains. The unique quality of the soil made it possible for an abundance of wild peanuts to flourish in south of the mountains. America. Peanut shells found at an archaeological site in Peru tell us that our ancestors were enjoying the peanut at least 4,000 years ago. In fact, ancient remnants of the peanut have been found in multiple places in South America. Evidence has been found that indigenous people in the region were some of the first to try and grind peanuts into a paste. However, the tools available to them at that time wouldn't have yielded anything close to the peanut butter we think of today.

They did, however, have cocoa. Even 3,000 years ago, people were trying to combine peanuts and cocoa beans to create the delicious pairing that is so widely and famously enjoyed today. When the world began to advance, so did the peanut. As trade-by waterways became more popular, peanuts made their way to new parts of the world to not only be enjoyed, but also cultivated. it. Peanuts have the lucky combination of being nutritionally dense food that doesn't spoil quickly and is also widely appealing. In early times, nutritional density was of greater importance, with food being harder to come by and much more challenging to preserve. As peanuts made their world tour, they were embraced by nearly every country that.

traveled to. Each region developed its own unique way of enjoying the peanut. Whether they were roasted, ground into a paste, or eaten whole, pod and all, peanuts were clearly universal and full of potential. The expansion of water routes opened up a whole new world of possibility for the peanut. Spanish and Portuguese traders encountered peanuts when their ships docked in South America. From there, the peanuts sailed with them to Africa. Once in Africa, the peanut found yet another use as locals decided to try it as the main ingredient in a stew. Due to their high fat content, peanuts have a natural creamy, to them when ground. To make this stew, peanuts were cooked with the spices that were available

and made into a rich broth to be served over vegetables. While it is sometimes served with meat, the peanuts provided a nice source of protein when meat was not readily available. Although peanut stew was made out of necessity, its pleasant flavor has helped it to endure and evolve. In modern times, Moffey, often called ground nut stew, it's still a popular dish in West Africa. In the 1700s, ships carrying the peanut came to ports in the American South, where the climate and soil conditions were excellent for growing the plant. Although they weren't a massive crop to begin with, peanuts got a firm hold in the southern United States, often grown and picked by enslaved people under the harshest of conditions.

The peanut rose to prominence during the American Civil War, which began in 1861. It was sought after, for its nutritional density, portability, and long shelf life. But its flavor was something that would carry the peanut to popularity long after it was simply a nutritional necessity. As the fame of the peanut increased, its vast potential was realized by a man named John Harvey Kellogg. Kellogg was a devout Seventh-day Adventist, Seventh-day Adventists put a strong emphasis on health,

complemented by a vegetarian diet. Being a prominent man within his church, Kellogg opened a health sanatorium in his hometown of Battle Creek, Michigan. While many of the practices that went on there would be considered questionable by today's standards, Battle Creek Sanatorium is where peanut butter. began its journey to become the popular food that we enjoy today. History cannot clearly agree on who gets the title as the father of modern peanut butter,

but John Harvey Kellogg certainly got the ball rolling. Searching for a vegetarian protein source for his clients, Kellogg began to experiment with making paste from various types of. of nuts, including the peanut. While modern day peanut butter is made from roasted peanuts, Kellogg's method began by boiling the peanut to soften it. Much of the flavor we enjoy in peanut comes from the chemical processes that occur during the roasting process. With heat, the fats and acids in the peanut create a chemical reaction that is similar to caramelization. This process takes a fairly bland food and brings out a complex flavor profile.

Without roasting, Kellogg's nut butter would have likely been quite. bland. While we certainly wouldn't compare it to the peanut butter we enjoy today, Kellogg believed in his creation enough to have it patented in 1895. His patent involved the boiling and grinding of nuts to make a nut butter. Since he included various ingredients, including almonds, his patent never specified the type of nut used, and it didn't include the now common term peanut butter. Outside of his health institute, Kellogg's peanut butter did not succeed as a business venture.

However, Kellogg would soon become a household name associated with food. He would later go into business with his brother to mass produce another vegetarian food, cereal. The other contender for the inventor of peanut butter is a man by the name of George Bale. Bale owned a snack food company in St. Louis, dating back to the early 1890s. His company sold many foods we still enjoy today, such as chips, pretzels, crackers, and various sauces. Before selling peanut butter, Bale made a cheese spread that he combined with peanuts for a unique flavor. This product was called cheese nut.

Although it was definitely something new and inventive, its flavor left much to be desired. The peanut and cheese spread was not a hit with American consumers of the time and was therefore, discontinued shortly after its release. Undeterred, Bale found that his customers were much more interested in peanut butter, which was then mostly used in health facilities. Responding to the demand, Bale began to produce peanut butter for the public as a snack food rather than exclusively a health food. In the late 1800s, peanut butter was sold in tins, as were many food items of the time. The tins of peanut butter from the Bale Company proudly stated, originators of peanut butter on their labels. Finding evidence to back up this claim has proved rather challenging

for food historians and researchers alike. While Kellogg had a patent, Bale did not have any patents related to peanuts or peanut butter. Another point of debate is the method behind Bale's peanut butter versus Kellogg's. Kellogg's boiling method produced a product that would probably not be recognized as peanut butter to the modern consumer. Those who support Bale's claim tend to believe that his method produced a product much closer to the peanut butter out today. Although historians cannot agree on who invented peanut butter for sure,

many individuals believe that George Washington Carver was the true father of the food. While he was not the first to make, make it, no history of peanut butter can be complete without discussing his contributions to peanut production as a whole. Carver was an outstanding botanist at the Tuskegee Institute of Alabama. As early as 1896, he was the head of the university's agricultural program. Years later, a pest known as the Bulls, oil weevil destroyed the greater share of cotton crops in the American South. Not only were the crops

lost, but the soil itself was depleted. The soil conditions and financial loss prevented farmers from being able to simply replant. Evidence shows that farmers began to switch their crops to peanuts well before Carver rose to prominence with his extensive knowledge. knowledge of the plant. Peanuts, like many other legumes, are known to replenish the soil they are grown in rather than depleted. With peanuts becoming the new crop of the South, Carver used his knowledge and position to begin experimenting and finding new and inventive uses for the peanut. Six years after the bull weevil incident, Carver published his famous pamphlet titled How to Grow the Peanut and 105 ways of preparing it for human consumption in 1916.

Although there was a recipe for peanut butter in this pamphlet, it had already been on the market for roughly two decades. This pamphlet also contained a wealth of information on the farming of peanuts. While farmers were already catching on to crop rotation, Carver encouraged it as a general practice and introduced it to a wider population. Today, just over half of all peanuts in the United States are used for peanut butter

and 700 million pounds are produced each year. It's easy to see how Carver's serves. support and education during the switch to peanut farming could make him seem like the father of peanut butter itself. Peanut butter took off quite rapidly after its invention. It was, however, not an easy thing to mass produce. A man by the name of Joseph Lambert, who had worked alongside John Harvey Kellogg at his Health Institute, saw an opportunity. Lambert began to make nut grinders and other equipment to produce peanut butter. He and his wife also made the food itself, but it was the equipment that ended up taking off. Shortly after, a man from Philadelphia named Ambrose Straub decided to jump in the game as well.

He became the second businessman to seek his fortune and the magic. manufacturing and selling of peanut butter equipment. At this time, in the late 18 and early 1900s, it was still a challenge to distribute peanut butter. When the peanut is ground, the peanut oil begins to separate from the grounds and settle on the top. Once exposed to air, the peanut oil begins the process of oxidation and goes rancid. fairly quickly. Peanut butter was shipped to local stores and large bats. Grocers were instructed to stir the peanut butter often to prevent this separation and keep it from going rancet. In 1904, the St. Louis World's Fair presented the perfect opportunity for the masses to try fresh peanut

butter, a man named C.H. Sumner set up a peanut butter stand at the fair. He sold just over $700 worth of peanut butter during that time. To put it in modern context, that would equal roughly $25,000 today. The same year, a food company called the Beech Nut Packing Company decided to begin mass-producing peanut butter. Before this, peanut butter had been sold in large tins. Beachnut had the novel idea of selling it in smaller glass jars. The glass jars were sealed using a canning method that is still popular today. As long as the jars were sealed, the contents would remain stable for a much longer duration. In the early 1900s, food sanitation regulations were significantly more lax.

Beechnut decided to use this to their advantage. An early ad for Beechnut peanut butter shows a photo of women in a crisp white uniform sorting peanuts at a table. Their claim was that. that Beechnut was free from shells, spoiled peanuts, and other contaminants due to their extensive sorting process. By 1909, the Heinz Company had also begun to manufacture peanut butter. They took their lead from Beech Nut and decided to use glass jars as well. At the time, most brands were still using tins, so any manufacturer that opted for for glass stood out from the rest.

As it continued to grow in popularity, peanut butter had its first big shift in 1914 as the United States entered World War I. Surprisingly, the US did not implement formal food rationing during this time. Instead, the government shifted their resources to propaganda campaigns with the goal of food conservation. One major campaign was for meatless Mondays, a term still used today.

Peanut Butter was heavily promoted as the star of many vegetarian dishes at the time. Due to its availability, it was also shipped overseas to soldiers, making it exceptionally popular during this period. A cookbook titled Foods to Wim the War and How to Cook Them, was published in 1918. Of the many recipes contained in this book, there is one for peanut butter soup and a meatloaf substitute called peanut loaf that is made with peanut butter. By the end of World War I, America still hadn't grown tired of peanut butter. Unfortunately, the problems with its separating and spoiling still posed a challenge for the distribution of this now-beloved staple.

Just three years later, the owner of a small food manufacturing company had a brilliant idea how to solve this problem. On April 5, 1921, Joseph Rosefield, owner of of Rosefield's packing company filed a patent for the partial hydrogenation of peanut butter. The Rosefield packing company was already making their own brand of peanut butter called luncheon. They sold luncheon in tins as many companies were still doing. While their main product was pickles, Rosefield saw the opportunity that peanut butter presented. it. It was certainly in demand, but its short shelf life, combined with the lack of refrigeration at the time, made it a challenge to keep in pantries. Joseph Rosefield had a brilliant idea of applying

the process of partial hydrogenation to peanut butter. At this point in time, both partial and full, hydrogenation were already being used on other products in the food industry. The process had been commonplace in Europe since the beginning of the 1900s. By 1911, the introduction of Crisco brand Shortening brought hydrogenation into focus in the United States. Hydrogenation is an artificial process used to raise the melancholyne. point of an oil so that it's stable at room temperature. The process of partial hydrogenation would prevent the oil from separating from the solids while still leaving the texture creamy and spreadable. As long as the oil didn't separate, there was no risk of oxidation causing it to go rancid,

therefore making it a shelf-stable product even after opening. Much like the debate over who invented peanut butter, there is also some debate over who invented hydrogenated peanut butter. Just three weeks before Rosefield filed his patent, a man named Frank Stockton did the same on March 17, 1921. Looking at the details of both patents, it becomes very challenging to tell which man gets the credit for hydrogenated peanut butter. There is no debate about the fact that Stockton's patent was filed first, but the details are where things get a bit murky. Stockton filed his patent under the generic title Food Product, while Rosefield filed.

his under the name peanut butter. Stockton did use the term peanut butter in his description, just not the filing name. Another complicating factor lies in key differences between the two methods, though both would result in a shelf-stable peanut butter. Stockton's patent accomplished stability through a method of full hydrogenation, while Rosefield's method used, partial hydrogenation instead. Although history is still unclear as to which gets the title of first, the U.S. Patent Office found the methods different enough that it granted both. In 1923, the Heinz Company purchased Frank Stockton's patent to become one of the first companies to sell shelf-stable peanut butter. After Joseph Rosefield was granted his patent, he soon found that it would not be practical

for his small company to implement. The cost and size of the equipment made it almost impossible for Rosefield packing company to begin manufacturing shelf-stable peanut butter. At this point, Rosefield decided that the best route would be to license his patent to a large company. The E.K. Pond Company, which was already manufacturing their own brand of peanut butter, eagerly accepted a partnership with Rosefield and began to manufacture a new hydrogenated peanut butter. They called Delicia. Hydrogenation gave Heinz and E.K. Pond a strong advantage in the market. Now the product remained so stable that it could be shipped much further and then stored in warehouses for longer durations. After it was purchased, it would still remain safe and fresh to consume when left on the counters of American homes for months after opening.

As with everything new, there were some hang-ups in the beginning. The EK Pond Company initially took hydrogenation a little too far, producing a peanut butter that was sold in a solid form, much like actual butter. This was not easily spreadable, and it didn't go over quite as well as the company had anticipated. After going back to the drawing board, the company settled on a more spreadable version. Using the partial hydrogenation method as it was originally intended, they decided to do a complete rebrand. They moved to the increasingly popular glass jar packaging for their new smooth formula. It was released to the public in 1928 under the name Peter Pan, where once only locally made peanut butters were available. due to spoilage, Heinz and Peter Pan were beginning to show up on shelves all across the country.

Rosefield worked with E.K. Pond for nearly a decade before he ran into larger issues. E.K. Pond was owned by the parent company Swift. In the early 1930s, there were massive changes in the ownership and board of directors at Swift. company. Unfortunately, the new owners were not nearly as kind to Rosefield. After his profit share was cut by half, he decided it was time to withdraw his patent and seek another business venture. The company was big enough that it was able to quickly secure another patent and continue the manufacturing of Peter Pan without Rosefield. Rosefield himself was undaunted. The near decade of partnership with the E.K. Pond Company had left him quite well off.

He finally had the financial means to begin using his patent for himself. The Rose Field Packing Company underwent a major overhaul and launched Skippy peanut butter in 1933. Skippy was an instant success, quickly surpassing Peter Pan. It was a brand known for its exceptionally smooth texture. However, perfectly smooth peanut butter was not for everyone. When Rosefield found out that there were people who preferred more texture, he got to work on another invention, crunchy peanut butter. Although natural peanut butters of the time offered a certain kind of texture, it was often gritty. That's because what we know of now as crunchy peanut butter cannot be made by simply stopping the grinding process before all the peanuts are thoroughly ground. So Rosefield came up

with a technique to make a smooth, spreadable peanut butter, while also delicious. the crunch that some consumers were missing. In 1934, Skippy sold the first crunchy peanut butter, which was made by adding coarsely ground peanuts to their signature creamy recipe. While creamy was and still is the top seller, there was most definitely a market for crunchy varieties. By the end of the 1930s, America was entering into another World War.

Unlike the First World War, food was now being rationed in America, especially meats. But peanut butter was not rationed, given that there were so many varieties that were widely available on shelves. Once again, America turned to its beloved, affordable, if slightly, surprisingly surprising meat substitute. Peanut butter was sent overseas in ration packs for American soldiers. During this time, jelly was also plentiful and was sent alongside the peanut butter. And so, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches appeared on official ration menus. Of course, it would have been hard to talk about the history of peanut butter. without mentioning jelly.

In North America, jelly is a fruit spread made from fruit juice and sugar. It is similar to jam, though jam can include pieces of fruit, while jelly is smooth and made only with the juice. The earliest recipe for peanut butter and jelly appeared in a Boston cookbook in 1901. It was enjoyed during the first. First World War and also throughout the Great Depression. Since peanut butter was affordable and jelly was often homemade from fruit grown in personal gardens, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich got many Americans through tough economic times. By World War II, sliced bread

was being sold and jelly was being mass produced and stocked on shelves. With the addition of shelf-stable peanut butter, the popularity of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich skyrocketed. Even after food rationing ended and the soldiers came back home, peanut butter and jelly never lost its appeal. By this time, many early brands of peanut butter had come and gone. Beachnut gave up its peanut butter line, as did Heinz. Small local brands still popped up, but Peter Pan and Skippy remained at the top. With the demand for peanut butter only increasing after World War II, a young soldier named William T. Young decided to make a name for himself

in the new and booming industry. His father-in-law happened to be a peanut sheller and he offered Young a small loan to start his own peanut-based business. With farming and manufacturing equipment significantly improving after the war, the timing was opportune. And in 1946, Big Top Brand Peanut Butter entered the market. Young now had the challenge of contending with large, well-established brands. It was declared to him that he had to find a way to make his product stand out in order to make a name for himself in an already saturated market. Young placed his focus on packaging and branding.

By this time, peanut butter was mostly sold in glass jars. Young took it a step further by using decorative glassware in an array of attractive designs. Whether it was the product itself, the packaging, or more likely a combination, Young's Big Top brand gained ground in the peanut butter market, eventually becoming a contender alongside Skippy and Peter Pan. After nearly a decade, Big Top caught the eye of a large company by the name of Proctor and Gamble.

While this company is associated with several modern mass-produced brands, it was just beginning to branch into food by the mid-1950s. Proctor and Gamble made an offer to Young to purchase Big Top and he accepted. Much like Rosefield when he started with Peter Pan, Young worked with Prong. Procter & Gamble for a few years to make the transition as smooth as possible. Fortunately, this seemed to be a peaceful and profitable business partnership. Interestingly enough, Procter & Gamble did not immediately discontinue Big Top. They wanted to make their own product without alienating the impressive customer base that Big Top had built.

Their solution was to continue the Big Top brand alongside their own new brand, which they named GIF. Jiff's formula was distinct from other peanut butters on the market. Up until this time, peanut butter was very simple. The peanut oil itself was either hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated and mixed back into the peanut. solids. GIF was the first peanut butter to remove a notable portion of the peanut oil and use a different type of oil in its place, with the goal of making the final product even smoother. They also decided to enrich the taste and sweetness by experimenting with additions such as molasses, sugar and honey.

While these changes brought about what many people considered an improvement in flavor, they also drew some unwanted attention from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Up until this point, the FDA had no official guidelines about what could be considered peanut butter. In the past, it had never been an issue. However, Jiff's new non-Penet changes and additions sparked a court case beginning in 1959. The case involved the Peanut Butter Manufacturers Association as well as the FDA. Many other companies in the peanut and peanut butter industries also got on board.

There were even contentious consumers weighing in with their opinions on food standards and accurate labeling. Interest was immense, and the people demanded to be heard. With all the big companies involved and civilians demanding to have their say in public hearings, the case lasted nearly a decade. It wasn't until 1968 that the FDA finally made its official decision to set the standard for what could be considered peanut butter. While the various groups had different ideas in mind, the compromise was set at 90%. Any spreadable peanut product containing less than 90% peanuts would have to be classified as a peanut spread instead of peanut butter. Even after the FDA settled, it wasn't until 1970 that the U.S.

courts voted to uphold the decision, making it the official standard for what could truly be labeled as peanut butter. Fortunately, Jiff didn't wait for the official decision to fine-tune their product. After seeing the consumer backlash, they raised the peanut content of their product to 90% by 1960, an entire decade before it was required. Despite all of this effort, Jiff still found itself solidly in third place in the peanut butter game. To change this, they decided to take a cue from Big Top and turned to marketing to set their product apart from the rest. Before 1966, JARs of JIF sported a happy cartoon kangaroo on the label. The accompanying slogan was, you gotta jump for Jif.

To assist in their rebrand, Jif teamed up with a major advertising company to guide them in their new direction. In 1966, they dropped the kangaroo and adopted the new slogan, Choosy Mothers Choose Jif. They leaned fully into the moral appeal by releasing a commercial to go along with the new slogan. The ad did indeed feature a mother in a grocery store choosing Jif as the best, healthiest option for her family, above all the other brands available. This rebrand was a resounding success.

Their sales began to rise steadily over the next few years. By 1972, they were confident enough in their sales to finally discontinue the Big Top brand altogether. By 1980, GIF was outselling Skippy to become the number one peanut butter in America. GIF did not take their success lightly. They had worked hard to get there, and they weren't going to become complacent.

The company maintained an interest in keeping their advertising fresh and current. In an effort to keep up with the times, they decided to try a different advertising direction in the mid-1980s, feeling that the overtly moral, appeal slogan was becoming dated, they decided to lighten things up. They chose a fun play on words and adopted the witty slogan, Taste the Chifference. Although there was no change to the peanut

butter itself, sales began to drop off quickly with the new slogan. So the company made a swift return to their tried and true message, but with one small change. They switched from mothers to moms in an effort to remain familiar while not appearing stagnant. The switch worked once again, and GIF managed to retain its best-selling position. Since 1988, their official slogan has been, Choosy Mom's Choose Jeef. It doesn't appear to be changing any time soon. As of the 2020s, the major U.S. brands of peanut butter remain GIF, Skippy, and Peter Pan, in that order.

When looking at the ingredient lists for the standard peanut butter of each of these brands, GIF still has the highest number of ingredients. Of the three, they are the only ones to use molasses. and emulsifiers in addition to hydrogenated oils. GIF was also the first of these brands to use a hydrogenated oil other than peanut oil. Most modern peanut butters on the market, including the other big names, have also gone this route. Today it is very common not to see peanut oil listed as an ingredient in peanut butter, since other forms of oil, of oil have been found to yield a smoother product. Additionally, using other oils makes for a much

less complicated process. A hydrogenated oil can simply be added instead of going through the extra steps of removing the peanut oil, treating it, and then adding it back in. Another permanent change to the ingredient list of all peanut butters occurred in 28. when the FDA officially banned the use of partially hydrogenated oils for health reasons. Although fully hydrogenated oil is still an option, it hasn't stopped people from searching for other ways to improve upon this beloved pantry staple. Years of modern advancements have made peanut butter a commercially available,

mass-produced product, but it still has its roots in small local brands. The internet has also allowed small peanut butter startups to gain traction beyond their geographic area, which just goes to show there's always room for more peanut butter. As the market continues to grow and remain competitive, the main brands have sold to large, and larger companies. As it stands, Giff is owned by the J.M. Smucker Company, who is also known for its famous fruit jams. Skippy is owned by Hormel Foods, a global Fortune 500 company. Lastly, Peter Pan is owned by a company called Post Holdings, which specializes in packaged goods. Today, one might think that the United States would be the largest consumer of peanut butter

since that's where it got its start. With this shelf-stable product being owned by global distributors, other countries have fallen even more in love with it than Americans. The U.S. falls just below the top 10 for countries that consume the most peanut butter per capita, Perkinafaso leads with China, Chad, Nizar, India, and Thailand following closely behind. Unlike in the U.S., where it's often considered a sweet food, other parts of the world tend to use it in a more savory way in stews and sauces. Although the way it's consumed differs greatly by culture and location, peanut butter is a most most welcome ingredient at many tables all around the world, and will surely continue to be for years to come.