Nutty for Peanuts

Peanut butter accounts for approximately half of the U.S. edible utilization of peanuts-accounting for $850 million in retail sales each year. The peanut plant could be traced back to Peru and Brazil in South America around 3,500 decades ago. European explorers first found peanuts in Brazil and saw its value, taking them back to their various countries, in which it was a bit slow to catch on but became increasingly popular in Western Africa. (And also the French just never really got it) History tells us that it wasn't until the early 1800s that peanuts were grown commercially in the United States, and showed up at the dinner table of foodie president Thomas Jefferson, likely in the kind of peanut soup, a delicacy in Southern regions.

After all, Jefferson was a passionate gardener who lived in Virginia.

Civil War Confederate soldiers welcomed boiled peanuts because of reversal from hardtack and beef jerky. First cultivated primarily for its oil, they were initially considered fodder for livestock and the bad, like so many other now-popular foods. Technically not nuts, peanuts are part of the legume family and grown underground in pods, along with peas and legumes. Peanuts started to catch on in the late 1800s when Barnum and Bailey circus wagons went cross country hawking "hot roasted peanuts" into the crowds. Street vendors soon followed selling roasted peanuts out of carts, and they became a staple in taverns and baseball games. (Throwing the totes into anxious consumers became an art form.) As with many other favorite foods, peanut butter was first introduced in the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 but still needed to be made by hand. Catching on as a favorite source of nourishment, industrial peanut butter made its appearance on grocers' shelves in the late 1920s and early 30s, beginning with Peter Pan and Skippy. Dr. George Washington Carver is the father of the peanut industry, starting in 1903 with his landmark study.

My name is Kimberly Furman as you know, I am expertise in food porn from Fuhrocious. I am not speaking about food porn or alternative sexy food. However I will talk about nutt, let's start. Whether you are a creamy or weathered fan, peanut butter along with its many forms include one of America's preferred foods. Are you a brand loyalist, make sure it Skippy, Jif, Peter Pan, Smucker's, or even an organic-only consumer? On average, Americans consume more than six pounds of peanut products each year, worth more than $2 billion at the retail level.

He advocated that farmers rotate their cotton crops with peanuts that replenished the nitrogen content in the soil that cotton depleted. In his inaugural research, he found countless applications for the peanut. Although it is believed that the Inca Indians in South America floor peanuts centuries past (we all know for sure they weren't spreading it on bread with grape jelly), credit is usually given to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (of corn flakes celebrity ) for creating the first peanut butter in 1895 because of his elderly patients who had difficulty chewing different proteins. From the U.S. peanuts would be the 12th most valuable cash crop and have a yearly farm value of more than one billion dollars. They're an easy, low-maintenance crop, nutritious, economical, transportable and just plain delicious. A few of the more popular applications include: Butter PB&J sandwiches Brittle other candies Crackerjack Soup Baking and biscuits Garnishes Snacks, both roasted or boiled, in-shell or no-shell Not to be forgotten is peanut oil, that is an extremely regarded form of cooking oil, due to its capacity to withstand high temperatures along with the additional advantage that food doesn't hold any peanut flavor after cooking. Sadly, due to an increase in allergies, peanuts are disappearing from sporting events and other places, and some airlines replaced them years ago with cheaper pretzels.

But no matter how you like these, in their simplest form, covered in chocolate or mixed into your favorite dishes, this hot snack and sandwich filling spans all economic and age barriers.

We've gone awry, all right. And for those of you who are allergic, you have our heartfelt sympathy.