Peanut Butter

For centuries peanuts have been ground and consumed by indigenous peoples of South America and by Africans, but peanut butter was not popularized in America until the vegetarian John Harvey Kellogg endorsed it as a substitute for “cow’s butter.” In the early 1890s Kellogg crushed various nuts between two rollers and claimed the results to be “nut butters.” At the time, peanuts were less expensive than nuts, and they soon became the most significant “nut” butter. Kellogg was an excellent promoter. He extolled the virtues of peanut butter throughout the nation. To commercialize his discovery, Kellogg created the Sanitas Nut Food Company and placed his brother, Will Kellogg, in charge. Nut butters quickly became a fad among other health-food manufacturers in America. Vegetarians adopted peanut butter, and recipes for making and using it appeared in almost all vegetarian cookbooks from 1899 on.