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A Brief History of Peanut Butter The bizarre sanitarium staple that became a spreadable obsession Veteran food critic Florence Fabricant has called peanut butter “the pâté of childhood" North Americans weren't the first to grind peanuts—the Inca beat us to it by a few hundred years—but peanut butter reappeared in the modern world because of an American, the doctor, nutritionist and cereal pioneer John Harvey Kellogg, who filed a patent for a proto-peanut butter in 1895. 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...

A mother on a New York parenting blog wrote Monday that while shopping at the retailer, she gave her four-year-old daughter a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and "a woman stopped me to lecture me about peanut allergies." The child's mother then asked other moms on UrbanBaby if it was unacceptable to eat peanut butter in public. The anti-peanut butter backlash was swift and brutal. Most responses attacked the mother for potentially endangering children with peanut allergies. Some criticized her for feeding her daughter in a shopping cart, which they considered disgusting. "That's really inconsiderate," one person wrote. "So many...

The White House says the changes could save $214 billion over a decade. “The Budget proposes to combine the traditional retail-based SNAP electronic benefit with the direct provision of nutritious and 100 percent American-grown USDA Foods to participating households. This cost-effective proposal maintains our commitment to helping needy families avoid hunger while generating substantial savings,” the budget said. Households receiving $90 per month or more would get a portion in shelf-stable milk, ready to eat cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned fruit, vegetables, and meat, poultry or fish. The remainder of the benefit would go onto the debit card...

A USS Shiloh sailor who was presumed to be lost at sea and hid in the ship's engine room for a week in June was found "covered in urine and feces, and had a camelback, a multi-tool, Peeps candy and an empty peanut butter jar with him," according to a Navy Times report... Other details include information from the investigation about statements Mims made about himself, including that "he could stop running engineering department engines by pulsating electricity with his body, that he could shoot fireballs out of his hands, that he had a friend who had a motorcycle with...

Rich, buttery and just 5 cents each, Chicago Public Schools' iconic butter cookies made lunchtime all the merrier from the 1960s and through the ’80s. These classic shortbread cookies, pressed with three fingers for good measure and baked to toasty perfection, once graced cafeteria trays across the city. ... Made from scratch, with lots of butter and lots of sugar, they're not on the menu anymore, since their fat and sugar content wouldn't meet today's nutrition standards. "But we still make them every once in a while, to share among the cafeteria staff," Streak says. Their origins are murky, and...

The other days I got the munchies for peanut butter so I put some on bread and enjoyed it. I also like peanut butter in ice cream as well as cookies. Also I like peanut butter shakes. Okay, by now you guessed it...I like peanut butter. And I'm sure most of you do too. So my big question is why does most of the rest of the world HATE peanut butter while it is very popular with North Americans (Americans and Canadians)? I read that peanut butter is so hated by most of the rest of the world that once...

Wisconsinite Christina Ferguson was arrested this week for accidentally smearing peanut butter on the windshields of 30 cars parked outside a meeting of a local environmental group. She thought the cars belonged to Donald Trump supporters. Ferguson first made her presence known by walking into the meeting and yelling about Trump while holding a “family-size jar of low-sodium, creamy natural Jif,” according to the police report. After she was booted from the building, Ferguson went to the parking lot to do her damage. The police were called, and Ferguson denied everything, but she was eventually outed by the peanut butter...

Christina Ferguson, 32, a Hillary Clinton supporter, was arrested Monday night and charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly smearing peanut butter on approximately 30 vehicles parked outside what she thought was a Donald Trump rally. After bursting in – a “family-size jar of low-sodium, creamy natural Jif” in hand – Ferguson began yelling that she hated Donald Trump. When she was booted from the building, the passionate partisan proceeded to spread peanut butter on vehicles in the parking lot. But those cars had nothing to do with Donald Trump. Ferguson had interrupted a meeting of the Tomorrow River Conservation Club....

An Amherst Junction woman has been charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly smearing peanut butter on several vehicles parked outside what she mistakenly thought was a Donald Trump rally. Christina Ferguson, 32, was arrested on Oct. 17 after disrupting what was actually a meeting of the Tomorrow River Conservation Club. According to the complaint, Ferguson entered the meeting, which was being held on the 3900 block of Second St. in Amherst Junction, at about 9:30 PM on Monday, holding a jar of peanut butter and yelling at the club members about how much she hated the presidential candidate.

WASHINGTON, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is calling on the Food and Drug Administration to probe an unusual caffeine-infused product: peanut butter. STEEM is offering peanut butter in Connecticut and Massachusetts that the company says contains the same amount of caffeine in 2 tablespoons as would be found in two cups of coffee. "STEEM is designed to provide a consistent release of sustained energy and the naturally slow digestion of peanut butter is the key to that. STEEM delivers protein, electrolytes and caffeine, granting you hours of endurance and focus, and freeing you from distractions like hunger and fatigue," the company...

I live out in the sticks and can't find the major ingredient of hummus (i.e. tahini). Found several recipes for hummus using natural peanut butter. Made some and it is wonderful.Here's a link to the source for the recipe I used...recipe for peanut butter hummus.Ate it for dinner tonight with raw broccoli.Wow!

(Newser) – As many as three million Americans may be allergic to peanuts, the Huffington Post has reported, with one study suggesting that the number of kids with the allergy doubled between 1997 and 2002. But those who are affected may have a reason to smile: A new study could point the way to a cure for the condition, the Australian Associated Press reports via the Guardian. For a year and a half, 30 kids with the allergy were given peanut protein plus a probiotic every day; another 30 received a placebo, researchers at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute report....

In much the same way most American homes have different half-filled tubes of sunblock, off-sized batteries, and calculators that can't be thrown away, most American homes have the six following foods. We may not eat them often, or even like them, but we still keep them on hand. They're just part of what make a home a home — even if we forget why. Here, the largely forgotten histories of six American staples. 1. Tuna fish During the 20th century tuna fish was one America's most purchased proteins — but it didn't happen without a dash of ingenuity. In 1903,...

One of my husband ‘s favorite sandwiches is peanut butter and a pickle on rye. Elvis Presley liked his peanut butter sandwiches with banana and bacon, and Hemingway liked thick onion slices in his. Ninety-four percent of American households have a jar on hand. The stuff lasts forever, so in a nuclear war situation you can always rely on it for sustenance. It can be stored safely unrefrigerated for two years. I, on the other hand, have a love/hate relationship with it, and if I do ever eat it, I do so in the traditional manner, as a solo spread...

I am what you might call a recovering junk food addict. One that had an especially strong penchant for candy. And while I've managed to get my sweet tooth under control in recent years, I still have quite a weakness for homemade versions of classic treats. Being able to create them without preservatives or strange ingredients makes this a justifiable weakness, I'd dare say.

Does that last bit of mayonnaise or peanut butter at the bottom of a jar really bother you? I usually hand the jar over to my dog and let her take care of it, but for some reason not everyone has a dog. That’s why some entrepreneurs have harnessed the technology behind deodorant sticks to eliminate this problem.

-excerpt- New Mexico-based Sunland Inc. has expanded its recall of peanut butter and almond butter to include cashew butters, tahini and blanched and roasted peanut products. -excerpt- In addition to Trader Joe's, the recall over the past week has included some nut butters and nut products sold at Whole Foods Market, Target, Safeway, Fresh & Easy, Harry and David, Sprouts, Heinen's, Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, Giant Food of Landover, Md., and several other stores. -excerpt- Some of the brand names included in the recall are Target's Archer Farms, Safeway's Open Nature, Earth Balance, Fresh & Easy, Late July, Heinen's,...

The grocery store chain Trader Joe's is recalling peanut butter that has been linked to 29 salmonella illnesses in 18 states.

A Lorain, Ohio, Sunoco is having trouble with a “Reese Cup bandit.” A repeat thief has stolen $400- to $600-worth of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups from the Sunoco in the past several months, according to Lorain Police. He returned to the Oberlin Avenue store at 1 a.m. Tuesday and stole an unknown amount of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and a bag of chips. The clerk working at the Sunoco Tuesday blocked the door but the thief pushed his way past him, police said. The clerk was not injured. Employees of the Sunoco have nicknamed the thief the “Reese Cup bandit.”...

FEBRUARY 3--A naked burglar covered in chocolate and peanut butter was arrested early Tuesday after workers found him inside a Kentucky supermarket. Andrew Toothman, 22, was collared by State Police troopers who responded to a 911 call from the Food World IGA market in the city of Neon (pop. 770). Pictured in the above mug shot, Toothman was charged with burglary, criminal mischief, and indecent exposure. A court citation filed yesterday notes that Toothman--who was only wearing a pair of black boots--had “peanut butter and chocolate smeared all over person.”