Who Invented Peanut Butter?

It has been delighting lots of kids and adults for years. But has anyone wondered and found out who invented peanut butter? Its beginnings actually cover a long period in history. And it is difficult to actually pinpoint one person responsible for it all. Well, here are some hints on how peanut butter started.

 

Early Records

As early as 950 B.C. peanuts had been known to be popularly used in South America. The Incas then started turning them into a paste-like delicacy. By 1883, peanut butter was already a favorite Georgian delicacy in Savannah. According to some early dailies there, it was also in use for cooking in some parts of Africa and Asia about that time. However, no mention of specifically who invented peanut butter was mentioned. It was not until 1890 when a name finally surfaced on how peanut butter started.

A Physician was Mentioned

In 1890, a person was finally mentioned by some reports regarding how peanut butter started. The story went that there was once a physician in St. Louis who served his aged patients ground peanuts. This made the nutritious nuts to be easily eaten and digested by them. However, as to his actual name, nothing was mentioned. No one still knew who invented peanut better in particular.

 

Dr. Ambrose Straub

In 1890 crushed and pounded peanuts made into butter reached the shores of the American mainland and by the year 1900 the product was available in big sealed jars in grocery stores. Finally, in 1903, Dr. Ambrose Straub came up with a special machine for making peanut butter. Thus finally, a name appeared in connection to who invented peanut butter. Well, at least they came up with the name of the inventor of the machine that was used to make the product. That is good enough on how peanut butter started.

Later, in 1895, another doctor, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg came up with a special process for a nut meal. John Lambert, who first worked for Dr. Kellogg, came up with a manual peanut grinder in 1896. More names would appear on how peanut butter started.

Other Names on the Invention

In 1914, peanut butter making had become very popular. Joseph Rosenfield invented a machine for churning up ground peanuts into a smooth paste-like substance. Finally, a chemist, George Washington Carver, thought of several uses for peanuts, aside from peanut butter. Today, peanut butter varieties come with strawberry jelly, chocolate whip, and sometimes sprinkled with various crushed nuts.