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Are You Nutty for Peanut Butter, White Plains?

It’s National Peanut Butter Day!

Peanut butter, the stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth lunchbox staple and guilty late-night snack, is having it's own day today, Jan. 24.

Peanut butter, the stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth lunchbox staple and guilty late-night snack, is having it's own day today, Jan. 24.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Whether creamy or chunky, eaten slathered on a banana, as a classic PB&J, or straight out of the jar, the gooey brown stuff is a staple of the American lunchbox.

According to punchbowl.com, a company that does online invites to parties and digital greeting cards, the average person scarfs down six pounds of peanut products a year.

It takes more than 500 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter, punchbowl said.

The United States is the leading exporter of peanut butter and Americans consume about $800 million worth every year, according to Wikipedia.

While peanut butter dates back to the Aztecs and the Incas, it was a Canadian, Marcellus Gilmore Edson, who patented it in 1884.

Edson, a chemist, combined peanut flour with sugar and other ingredients to make a nutritious paste for folks who couldn’t chew solid food.

He sold his product for about six cents a pound.

Later on, George Bayle, a St. Louis snack food maker, started producing peanut butter and in 1923, Heinz became the first company to mass produce the spread, punchbowl said

Peanut butter is said to be an excellent source of protein, dietary fiber and vitamin E.

About 4 to 6 percent of the American population is allergic to peanuts. This has led to the banning of peanut butter in some schools.

To celebrate National Peanut Butter Day, bake some cookies, enjoy it on bread, or spoon it right out of the jar – but no double-dipping, please.

To read the punchbowl.com story, click here.

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