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Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Jams, Jellies & Nut Butters
Peanut Butter ExplosionAn American Icon Becomes A Specialty Food
Ask yourself this question: is it really the case that Americans want innumerable choices for even the most everyday grocery item, or is it merely that there’s always someone who thinks he can somehow outdo products already on the shelves? Is it a matter of scenting potential profit, one of exercising creativity, or one of altruism, showing people that there’s a better product of this type to be had? Probably, there are elements of all of those in the correct answer. If you’re wondering where peanut butter fits into this equation, perhaps you aren’t aware that the staple food item can have so many possibilities. Who Invented Peanut Butter?Peanuts have been around for a long time. They were known as early as circa 950 B.C.; it is acknowledged that the ancient Incas consumed peanuts and made a paste-like substance from them. The first commercial crop in the U.S. was grown in the early or mid 1840’s. But it is not clear who made the first modern-day peanut butter. Some sources attribute this “invention” to “an unknown physician” in St. Louis, who, around 1890, began crushing peanuts into a high-protein paste for his patients who couldn’t chew. George A. Bayle, a friend of this doctor, owned a food processing plant and soon started making this “nut butter” commercially; the idea of peanut butter took off almost immediately. By the beginning of the First World War, a number of companies were making peanut butter. These days, according to the website of one of the industry giants, American consumption of peanut butter is roughly 6 pounds per household annually, or 570 million pounds (and a lot of sandwiches!) per year. Over three-quarters of American households buy peanut butter. Americans spend about eight hundred million dollars a year on it; we’re the number-one consumers, but peanut butter is also popular in Canada, the Netherlands, parts of the U.K., Germany and Saudi Arabia. As a kid, I ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; I suspect I was not alone in *Removing much of the peanut oil and replacing it with flaxseed and flax oil, also substantially reduces the total fat. Going Natural Versus Trans FatsGrind-your-own peanut butter is a common option in natural foods stores. Although it isn’t usually possible to choose the grind, it is a good option for consumers who want to know exactly what’s in their food. In a busy natural foods store with high turnover, consumers can be reasonably certain that the peanuts will be fresh. Other likely choices in natural foods stores are natural or organic peanut butters. The biggest complaints about these products are cost (they’re sometimes significantly pricier than supermarket peanut butter) and the layer of oil that rises to the top of most of these peanut butter types if they stand for any length of time (it’s unaesthetic and must repeatedly be stirred back into the rest of the peanut butter, a genuine sticking point with some consumers). However, grind-your-own, natural, and organic peanut butters are popular with those wishing to avoid trans fats (hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils), one of Fantasy Flavors, Blends & SpreadsAnother category in the realm of peanut butter is flavored peanut butters. Combining †Editor’s Note: We believe it and love them. Read our review of P.B. Loco, which makes a spectacular Sun-Dried Tomato PB, as well as an Asian Curry Spice (shown above in the center, to the left of our favorite flavor, Raspberry White Chocolate), not for use with jelly, of course, but as a savory spread or to make Asian noodle dishes, et al. When is a peanut butter not a peanut butter? When it’s a peanut butter blend or a peanut spread. Such products start with peanut butter, but they use other ingredients to an extent that disqualifies them from labeling their products as peanut butters (the FDA standard of identity for peanut butter states that “seasoning and stabilizing ingredients” must not “in the aggregate exceed 10 percent of the weight of the finished food”). These blends and spreads may be lower in calories and/or fat and higher in protein and fiber than peanut butter. Peanut Butter & HealthIs peanut butter healthy? Well, that depends on the type you choose, not to mention whose opinion you solicit. There is no doubt that peanut butter is high in fat; a typical two tablespoon serving of an unflavored peanut butter will contain 190 calories, and fat will account for between 130 and 150 of those. But much of the fat in peanut butter is monounsaturated, a form of fat considered heart-healthy. Peanut butter can be a valuable and inexpensive source of protein, vitamin E, and some B vitamins. And, contrary to the belief of many people, peanut butter contains no cholesterol—cholesterol is an animal fat. There is some research suggesting that consuming two tablespoons of peanut butter a day can help you stick to a weight-loss diet, precisely because it’s high in fat and, therefore, very satisfying; a peanut butter diet revolving around this theory was popular some years ago. Even the U.S. military recognizes that peanut butter is much-loved and a convenient source of energy and nutrients by including it in some MRE’s (“meals ready to eat”), rations designed for individuals in military service where normal food preparation is not possible. What about peanut allergies? It’s true that anyone can suddenly develop an allergy to peanut products, just as it’s possible to suddenly develop an allergy to anything else. And peanut allergies can be extremely serious. But far fewer Americans have food allergies than is generally perceived, no more than 5 to 6 percent of children and only 1 to 2 percent of adults. Those who know that they have a peanut allergy steer clear of all peanut products, including peanut butter. But the great majority of Americans are certainly able to enjoy it—as the sales figures suggest. Whether you favor a supermarket brand or an epicurean blend, there’s a peanut butter for your tastes and pocketbook. An old saying about peanut butter provides some good advice: “Peanut butter is love. Spread some around!” Below is a listing of a dozen peanut butter and peanut spread brands, in alphabetical order: there’s plenty of love to spread around.
© Copyright 2005-2008 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are the copyright of their respective owners.
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this. At that time, the only choice was whether you liked your peanut butter creamy or chunky. But peanut butter options have multiplied spectacularly in recent years. You still have to decide if you like your peanut butter smooth or with chopped peanut chunks, but now there is a plethora of flavor variations. There are organic peanut butters, honey-roasted peanut butters, even peanut butter blends with added flaxseed and flaxseed oil for Omega-3 and Omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids.* And some consumers are deciding that what’s omitted is as important as what might be added. A quick survey of shelves will show peanut butters with honey, with added vitamins and minerals, striped with grape jelly or chocolate, whipped, and reduced in fat, sugar or sodium. And those are just examples found in one better chain grocery store. Natural food stores and the internet offer much greater depth for those who wish to expand their peanut butter horizons.
today’s big debates in the peanut butter world. Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are added to many supermarket peanut butters. These oils dramatically increase the shelf life of peanut butter and prevent oil from rising to the top in such products; they also provide for a creamier mouthfeel. Health warnings have been issued about trans fats in recent years, but much discussion continues on whether or not the amount of trans fat in a standard supermarket-variety peanut butter is significant in human health. (By FDA definition, the small amount of trans fat in peanut butter allows manufacturers to list it as being trans fat-free, but unless there is no hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil in your peanut butter, it does contain trans fat.) 
peanut butter with chocolate doesn’t take too much imagination, but companies producing these peanut butters have thrown caution to the wind and offer decidedly unusual flavor combinations—along with some tamer varieties for those who prefer not to go too crazy. A butterscotch or cinnamon raisin peanut butter might well find wide acceptance. But peanut butter with sun-dried tomato or hot spices or curry? Believe it!† They’re all available with a few quick clicks of your mouse; some are even organic. Of the four best-known brands of flavored peanut butters, three are associated with restaurants or cafés, although one of the restaurants does not appear to have their peanut butters on their menu.
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