Among the many notable celebrations in November is National Peanut Butter Lovers Month. While peanut butter, also known as PB, is one of the most popular foods in America, how much do people really know about the lowly peanut from which the tasty spread is derived? Peanutbutterlovers.com shares some of these fun facts:
- Peanuts are not actually nuts at all! They are legumes, like beans, peas, and lentils.
- Americans eat three pounds of peanut butter per person every year. That's about 700 million pounds, or enough to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon!
- Peanuts may be a favorite food, but we've found many uses for their shells too! You might find peanut shells in kitty litter, wallboard, fireplace logs, paper, animal feed, and sometimes as fuel for power plants!
- Two peanut farmers have been elected President of the United States: Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.
- One acre of peanuts will make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches.
Jon Krampner, author of the upcoming book, "Creamy and Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food" has established http://www.creamyandcrunchy.com, a website where visitors can learn more about peanuts and peanut butter...read an excerpt from his book and peruse the table of contents and even take the peanut butter quiz. The site also features six songs about peanut butter and four about peanuts, including “Peanut Butter” by the Marathons, described as “almost a note-for-note copy of the version by the Olympics, the definitive peanut butter song.” Other musical renditions include “Eatin’ Goober Peas,” the classic Civil War song about peanuts, and a 1947 performance by Dizzy Gillespie's band of the bebop-style jazz song “Salt Peanuts.”
When the subject of peanut butter comes to mind as a food of widespread popularity in the 20th Century and beyond, one name also comes to mind: George Washington Carver, the father of the peanut industry. Click here to read about his influence and to view a video as well as a slide show of scenes from the life of this great scientist and humanitarian.
Click here to read another Examiner.com article that also celebrates the peanut as one of America’s favorite foods.
To learn more about the Krema Peanut Butter plant, the oldest facility of its kind in the nation, located in Columbus, Ohio, click here.
In the coming days of November, peanut butter lovers, unite and let’s sing a rousing chorus of the Peanut Butter Song: “I like peanut butter, creamy peanut butter, chunky peanut butter too.”
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