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A Brief History of Peanut Butter (2021)

smithsonianmag.com

1–10 of 37 posts

Re: A Brief History of Peanut Butter (2021)

#4
post #3

Interesting, more a brief history of peanut butter in the US, industrialised. Was curious what they have to say about the Dutch. We eat a lot.

Wikipedia mentions it comes from canada [0]. I had suspected an Indonesian origin.

[0] https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pindakaas

Re: A Brief History of Peanut Butter (2021)

#5
I'm surprised there is no mention of Marcellus Gilmore Edson [0]. He was a pharmacist from Montréal who patented a method to make an early version of peanut butter, more than a decade before the Kellogg's patent mentioned in the Smithsonian article.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcellus_Gilmore_Edson

Re: A Brief History of Peanut Butter (2021)

#6
post #5

I'm surprised there is no mention of Marcellus Gilmore Edson [0]. He was a pharmacist from Montréal who patented a method to make an early version of peanut butter, more than a decade before the Kellogg's patent mentioned in the Smithsonian article. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcellus_Gilmore_Edson

Probably because it's the Smithsonian.

Re: A Brief History of Peanut Butter (2021)

#7
My parents are from Canada, and when my dad was in the Navy in the 1980s, he was deployed to the UK. His biggest story is that they couldn’t buy peanut butter and Kraft Dinner except at the Base, which was obviously a problem. I travelled to the UK recently and asked someone there about those two items. Peanut butter is available now, but not that popular, but Kraft Dinner was unknown and frankly seemed disgusting to her! Which is fair, but its comfort food in Canada.

Re: A Brief History of Peanut Butter (2021)

#8
post #5

I'm surprised there is no mention of Marcellus Gilmore Edson [0]. He was a pharmacist from Montréal who patented a method to make an early version of peanut butter, more than a decade before the Kellogg's patent mentioned in the Smithsonian article. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcellus_Gilmore_Edson

A quick Google indicates there is some confusion about whether Edson was a black or white man?

Re: A Brief History of Peanut Butter (2021)

#9
post #5

I'm surprised there is no mention of Marcellus Gilmore Edson [0]. He was a pharmacist from Montréal who patented a method to make an early version of peanut butter, more than a decade before the Kellogg's patent mentioned in the Smithsonian article. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcellus_Gilmore_Edson

A quick Google indicates there is some confusion about whether Edson was a black or white man?

He's clearly white.

The other face you're seeing is George Washington Carver, not surprising given that fin de siècle peanut science is a small field.

Re: A Brief History of Peanut Butter (2021)

#10
>Kellogg’s “food compound” involved boiling nuts and grinding them into an easily digestible paste for patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a spa for all kinds of ailments.

That sounds similar to boiled peanuts (except without the grinding), a favorite in the U.S. southern region. I've never had them but would like to. According to Wikipedia, there are even some claims that eating boiled peanuts not only circumvents peanut allergies but can actually help reduce them.

I grew up with the Skippy-style peanut butter, but eventually switched to the type which is nothing but peanuts and salt (no sugar, no hydrogenation). Stirring in the oil is not that hard with a reasonably-sized jar.

When I was a teenager (many decades ago) I tried to engineer a cheap, nutritious diet for myself, and a cup of peanuts every day turned out to be a great way to get a lot of protein for not much cost. Still have PB sandwiches several times a week even now.

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