Peanut butter celebrated its centennial in March 1990. "Food history is something we can all relate to," one observer remarked. "Food transports one back in time. Combine the smells and the taste, and it's an instant flashback." Peanut butter made from roasting and grinding peanuts and adding oil and salt was invented by a doctor in St. Louis, Missouri in 1890. Using his kitchen hand-grinder, he ground the peanuts into paste for his elderly patients who were toothless. It was mentioned the owner of Battle Creek business, Joseph Lambert, also claimed to have conceived peanut butter.
By 1990, some 40 million Americans (about 85% of the American households) on an average day were counted eating peanut butter (roughly 800 million pounds of peanut butter were being consumed). "It has the staying power that doesn’t exist in many products in America," it was pointed out. "People just don't go to a restaurant and order a peanut butter and jelly sandwich." It was noted George Washington Carver came up with the peanut butter sandwich.
One 12-ounce jar of peanut butter required 548 peanuts to make. Normally one jar of peanut butter contained 90% peanuts. "It is the cheapest protein on an ounce-by-ounce serving than any comparable foods item. Peanut butter costs less than hamburger, cheese or chicken salad," it was explained. Peanuts (also called earth nuts) were usually found in the southern states of America such as Georgia, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia, Alabama, New Mexico, Mississippi. South American natives were said to have first started the peanut butter experiment by mixing peanuts with honey and cocoa.
