Peanut Butter: Commerce and Industry

Within two decades of its invention, peanut butter was being manufactured in virtually every large and middle-size city in America. Since the 1920s, however, the peanut butter industry has become centralized, and three companies dominated the peanut butter market by the early 2000s. The first was launched by Joseph L. Rosefield of Alameda, California, in 1922. He developed a process of hydrogenation of peanut butter, which prevented oil separation, made spoilage less likely, and increased the shelf life of peanut butter. Rosefield selected the name “Skippy” for his new product. The second major peanut manufacturer was the E. K. Pond Company, which began to manufacture peanut butter in 1920. Its sales were limited until the company changed the name of its peanut butter to Peter Pan. The third was Procter & Gamble, which introduced Jif in 1958. Procter & Gamble operates the world’s largest peanut butter plant, churning out 250,000 jars every day.