America’s all-time favorite school lunch treat is the ubiquitous peanut butter and
jelly sandwich.
Anything with peanut butter on it is the cure for America’s breakfast, lunch, snack or
midnight cravings.
And if you’re a fan of surprises, here are 10 untold truths about peanut butter!
National Peanut Butter Days and Months
We live in an age where there are national celebration days for almost every object,
food, state, city, profession, person, animal, event, brand, or anything else under the sun!
All you need to know is that there is only one National Peanut Butter Day – on January
24th.
Peanut butter enthusiasts can celebrate it by using #NationalPeanutButterDay on social
media, making delicious recipes using peanut butter, or simply making some lip-smacking
PB&J sandwiches!
Well, if that wasn’t enough, you have one more national day to declare your unending
love for peanut butter – National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day on March 1st.
Taking it a step further, September 13th is celebrated as National Peanut Day.
There are two more industry-created holidays that you can celebrate – November is National
Peanut Butter Lovers Month and March is National Peanut Month.
Looking at the number of national days dedicated to this simple sandwich delight, it sure looks
like peanut butter is America’s favorite snack!
Peanut butter and dogs
While grapes and chocolates can be fatal for dogs, all-natural peanut butter in small amounts
is quite okay for dogs.
Some experts even suggest that natural low-sugar peanut butter can actually help improve the
immune system of dogs.
But before you reach for that jar of peanut butter for your pooch, let’s look at some
more myths and facts surrounding peanut butter and dogs.
Canines love peanut butter.
But some of the peanut butter brands have a lot of harmful additives in them.
One such ingredient is xylitol, which is a sugar-replacement sweetener suitable for diabetics
but can prove fatal for dogs.
It has a toxicity level that is 22 times higher than that of chocolate.
It can cause nausea, obesity, diarrhea, seizures, and disorientation in dogs.
So, what type of peanut butter is safe for your dog?
The type that does not contain any xylitol, and has dried roasted unsalted peanuts as
the main ingredient.
And depending on the size of your dog, about a tablespoon of peanut butter in a day can
be a great and safe snack for your furry friend.
A phobia related to peanut butter
Of all the phobias in the world, arachibutyrophobia surely is one of the strangest ones.
While the name itself is a mouthful, the explanation is quite simple.
Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of having peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth!
Psychologists believe that the fear of sticky surfaces, choking, or peanut allergies may
be the underlying fears of this oddly specific phobia.
While not much is known about the origins of this phobia or how it is developed in a
person, some of the symptoms associated with it are nausea, panic attack, anxiety, dry
mouth, shortness of breath, etc.
Their fear could also extend to peanut butter ice cream, peanut-based sauces and peanuts
too.
The most effective treatments for this phobia are counseling, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy,
etc.
Peanut butter has been around for centuries!
Contrary to popular belief, peanut butter is not a modern or American invention.
Evidence suggests that the Incas were the first to make peanut butter, followed by the
Aztecs.
Peanuts reached North America from Africa in the 1700s.
Later, George Carver popularized the cultivation of the peanut crop throughout the USA.
The modern peanut butter had its origins in the sanitarium (an olden-days version of a
rehab facility) of Dr. John Kellogg in the 1890s.
He propagated a vegetarian diet to his patients and those with bad or no teeth by means of
a peanut paste that was high in protein.
Along with his brother, he even secured a patent for the peanut butter making process
and founded a company that sold nut butter.
Another physician is also said to have invented one of the first machines to convert ground-up
peanuts into peanut butter that was sold at the St. Louis World Fair for the first time
in 1904.
Peanut butter was soon available to the masses when brands like ‘Skippy’ started selling
it commercially.
Harry Reese invented the peanut butter cup in 1928, and the rest is peanut butter history!
Not all peanut butter is made equal
Do you know how many peanuts are actually required to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut
butter?
540 - now that’s quite a lot of peanuts in one jar!
And we can be thankful to a certain 12-year peanut butter case’ for that.
It was a famous legal case between the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and peanut butter
manufacturers that lasted for 12 years.
In the 1950s, when the case started, many sub-standard peanut butters were available
in the market that used less than 75% peanuts, hydrogenated oils and glycerin instead of
peanuts and natural ingredients.
The USFDA insisted on a minimum 90% peanut count in any product labeled ‘peanut butter’
and anything less than that should be called ‘peanut spread’.
After years of fighting for the consumers, the USFDA finally won the case and ever since
then ‘90% peanuts’ has been the gold standard for all peanut butters.
Celebrities, presidents, and even astronauts love peanut butter
What do American astronauts, presidents, comedians, and singers have in common?
They’re all lovers of peanut butter!
The yummy peanut butter is popular with all kinds of people, including astronauts.
It is, in fact, one of the items that astronauts can safely enjoy in a zero-gravity space environment.
Astronaut Alan Shepard’s love for peanut butter was so strong that he took it with
him to space as his good luck charm!
But it is not easy to eat anything in space, let alone make a tasty PB&J!
Firstly, flying breadcrumbs are a big no-no in space, so astronauts are supplied with
tortillas instead of bread.
Scientist Rodolfo Neri Vela and astronauts Chris Hadfield and Shane Kimbrough experimented
with tortilla peanut butter sandwiches in space, which then became a regular feature
on future NASA missions.
Also unknown to most people is the fact that two former peanut farmers have served as presidents
of the USA –founding father Thomas Jefferson, and 39th president, Jimmy Carter.
Another fun fact about the peanut butter connection of U.S. presidency is that former president
Bill Clinton’s most requested sandwiches in the White House was the peanut butter and
banana sandwich.
Celebrities also seem to be enchanted by the mighty peanut butter.
Elvis Presley reportedly loved peanut butter, and some are even part of a special ‘Adult
Peanut Butter Lover’s Fan Club’.
Europeans don’t fancy peanut butter as much as Americans do
While peanut butter is a common pantry staple in most American households, Europeans don’t
seem to think much of it.
It would come as a surprise to most Americans that peanut butter is not as popular in Europe
as it is in North America.
While the U.S. spends about $800 million consuming about a billion pounds of peanut butter every
year, the U.K., in comparison, only spends about $75 million on it in a year.
And that’s on the higher side of things.
The average European eats only about a single tablespoon of peanut butter in a year.
Now that’s what you call a drastic difference!
It is quite easy to find a jar or two of peanut butter in European supermarkets, but there
isn’t much brand variety to choose from.
In fact, in the Netherlands, it’s even called ‘pindakaas’ or ‘peanut cheese’.
With a name like that, it’s no wonder that Europeans don't want to eat it!
Jokes aside, Europeans seem to have found another use for peanut butter – to make
art!
A Dutch artist once spread out many gallons of peanut butter on the floor and managed
to sell it as art for over $100,000!
Now, that's a strange way to make money from peanut butter!
Peanut butter for good health
Since peanut butter is 100% vegan and gluten-free, it is suitable for all types of restrictive
diets.
Only those with peanut allergies need to proceed with caution.
Studies have shown that peanut butter can actually aid in weight loss, along with lowering
your cholesterol levels, which in turn helps prevent heart disease.
Peanut butter is also beneficial in reducing inflammation and the prevention of type 2
diabetes.
Did you know that just a tablespoon of peanut butter has about 12-16 percent of a person’s
daily recommended manganese intake?
The manganese-rich peanut butter aids in tissue growth, removal of ammonia from the body,
etc.
Besides this, peanut butter also fulfills 15 percent of a person’s daily calorie intake
requirement.
Peanut butter is also one of the key instruments in the fight against malnutrition.
A type of peanut butter paste that is packed with calories, calcium, vitamin E and protein
has been used to feed malnourished children in the poorest parts of the world.
Peanut butter helps diagnose Alzheimer’s disease
One of the most heartbreaking diseases to afflict an individual is Alzheimer’s disease,
Medical science still doesn’t know much about its causes or treatment, but one of
the strangest ways of diagnosing an early onset of Alzheimer’s disease is the ‘peanut
butter test’.
The basis of this test is that patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease are unable to smell
peanut butter.
In this test, patients are asked to smell peanut butter with their left nostril only,
from a minimal distance.
If they’re unable to do so, it is considered to be an indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.
But why is peanut butter used in this test?
Simply because it is cheap, readily available, and has a very typical smell that is unlike
any other and quite easily identifiable.
It serves as a non-invasive and cost-effective tool for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease.
The miraculous peanut butter diamond
Did you know that scientists have succeeded in making a tiny diamond from peanut butter?
Sounds unreal, but it’s quite true.
In 2014, a team of scientists at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut in Germany wanted to experiment
with simulating the conditions of the earth's lower mantle and in doing so found a way to
make man-made diamonds.
Scientist Dan Frost devised an ingenious method to make a diamond with peanut butter by putting
an extraordinary amount of pressure on it.
According to Frost, this peanut butter diamond creation process is a very elaborate one.
Firstly, two presses are required to make the diamond.
This is complicated stuff, but let's just say the process involves pressure that is
hundreds of thousands of times that of the atmospheric pressure of the earth.
The second press being over a million times more!
Secondly and most importantly, the diamond is almost immediately destroyed upon creation
because of the enormous amount of hydrogen released once the pressure is taken off.
Lastly, it would take approximately two weeks to create a 2 millimeter diamond using this
method.
So, the next time you dive into that jar of your favorite peanut butter, think about the
secrets hidden in it!
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