Peanut butter is on of my all time favorite things and a peanut butter banana sandwich a favorite since childhood. So here are some things you may or may not know about this pantry staple on this national peanut butter day January 24th.

The actual invention of peanut butter, its process of manufacture and the machinery used to make it, can be credited to at least three doctors/inventors. In 1884 Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Canada patented peanut paste, the finished product from milling roasted peanuts between two heated surfaces. In 1895 Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (the creator of Kellogg’s cereal) patented a process for creating peanut butter from raw peanuts. He marketed it as a healthy protein substitute for patients without teeth. In 1903, Dr. Ambrose Straub of St. Louis, Missouri, patented a peanut-butter-making machine. In 1922, chemist Joseph Rosefield invented a process for making smooth peanut butter that kept the oil from separating by using partially hydrogenated oil. In 1928 he licensed his invention to the company that created Peter Pan peanut butter. And in 1932 he began producing his own peanut butter under the name Skippy.

Some Peanut Trivia:

• Peanuts are actually not nuts but legumes grown underground.
• The U.S. is the third largest producer of peanuts (Georgia and Texas are the two major peanut-producing states). China and India are the first and second largest producers, respectively.
• More than half of the American peanut crop goes into making peanut butter.
• U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Thomas Jefferson were peanut farmers.
• It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
• Americans eat around 700 million pounds of peanut butter per year (about 3 pounds per person).
• An average American child eats 1,500 PB&J sandwiches before graduating from high school.