Happy National Peanut Butter Lover's Day! Raise your hand if you identify with this group. I, for one, do! In fact, I begin most days with this staple as a part of my breakfast since it's a good source of protein and allows me to feel full until lunchtime.
Although many credit George Washington Carver with the invention of peanut butter, it was actually a Canadian chemist named Marcellus Gilmore Edson in the 1880s who first invented peanut butter paste. About a decade later, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented the process for making peanut butter and then roughly a decade later than that, Dr. Ambrose Straub (of St. Louis) patented machinery to produce peanut butter. I have read that this food was originally intended to assist those who had difficulties in chewing solid food. As a sidebar, it is important to note that Carver did a lot of research on peanuts and if you are not aware, we have the privilege of having the George Washington Carver National Monument in our state. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit there a few years ago and if you would like to read about that trip, you can click here. Before you plan an outing there, please educate yourself on its operating schedule because I believe that the museum and visitor center remain closed due to Covid precautions.
Peanut butter is very versatile and can be used as an added ingredient in a variety of sweet treats and one favorite comes to mind. My mother makes the best peanut butter fudge and in honor of National Peanut Butter Lover's Day, I am going to rerun the recipe which appeared in the blog during the fall of 2016. Hmmm....this reminds me that I have not had any of this peanut butter fudge in ages and ages.
