November is noted for many familiar events and products, and Turkey Day is perhaps the first to come to mind; but did you know it is also National Peanut Butter Lovers Month? Whether store-bought or homemade, creamy or chunky, this peanut product is a national obsession.
The peanut plant probably originated in Peru or Brazil although no fossil records prove this. However, historians know that these people made pottery in shape of peanuts or decorated jars with peanuts as far back as 3,500 years ago. Spanish explorers are given credit for introducing other countries to the peanut. Africans brought the peanut to North America beginning in the 1700s. By the early 1800s this humble legume was being grown as a commercial crop in Virginia. Today, the U.S. is the third largest producer of peanuts; more than half of the American peanut crop goes into making peanut butter.
The late 1800s brought the actual invention of peanut butter and the machinery. In 1884, M.G. Edson of Canada patente...