The ancient Inca's made a peanut butter paste substance as early as 950 BC. Peanuts were taken from South America to Africa later by traders and then made its way to Spain. Peanuts were taken to the American colonies and grown in Virginia in 1840s and also grown in Carolina. George Washington Carver was an agricultural chemist who discovered hundreds of uses for peanuts. Carver was responsible for promoting peanut crops in the American South in the early 1900s.

Peanut butter has been around since the 1890s. It was originally used as a protein supplement for people who could not chew meat. Skippy brand has sold the most peanut butter of all the peanut butter companies. Peanuts are really legumes. Legumes are from the bean family. Skippy purchases its peanuts from peanut farms in Georgia. The peanut plant grows to about 18 inches tall and peanuts grow into the ground. Skippy blends different kinds of peanuts to make their secret recipe. The nuts are roasted until the peanuts get a golden brown. It takes about 800 peanuts to make one jar of peanut butter.

The peanut sorter machine separates out the bad nuts. Peanuts go through the sorter twice andthe ones that glow under a green light indicates those nuts have imperfections. Peanut butter is made by a machine that grinds the roasted nuts, adds salt, sugar, peanut oil, and stabilizer. The peanut butter next goes into a special machine which makes a slurry peanut mixture. Another machine has an impeller which helps blend peanut butter. One of the last steps in the peanut butter process is to remove the air bubbles from the peanut butter as it is poured into the jars. Every jar sits in the factory for 24 hours before leaving so the bubbles will settle.

According to Wikipedia there is a peanut butter called Plumpy'nut that is made from peanut butter but has 500 calories in a single pack. Is distributed to fight malnutrition in some famine stricken countries. The great thing about this food is that it can be stored unrefrigerated for up to two years and can be eaten right out of the jar.

Peanut butter is loaded with an antioxidant called p-cumaric acid. It's been touted to help protect against cardiovascular disease. Some peanut butters contain high amounts of trans fatty acids which are thought to be a cause of coronary heart disease and stroke. Commercial peanut butter made in the United States did not show the presence of trans fat.

Peanut butter is one of America's favorite foods and found in 75% of homes in the United States. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are an American favorite. There is nothing more delicious than a creamy smooth peanut butter sandwich where the peanut butter sticks to the roof of your mouth with its salty and sweet taste combined. Peanut butter is like having ball bearings on your tongue.

Peanut butter has been banned in some schools because of peanut allergies in children. It is such a versatile food but a small amount of it caused anaphylactic shock which causes the allergic persons throat swell and they are unable to breathe.

Believe it or not you can make a bird feeder by spreading peanut butter on a pine cone. Where are you going to find a pinecone Hawaii? Maybe one of your mainland friends can send you a pinecone, but it must clear agriculture before entering the state of Hawaii. You can also use peanut butter as bait in mousetraps. Mice and rats love peanut butter. Dogs also love peanut butter and it is used in many dog cookies on the market.

My favorite peanut butter recipe is to spread creamy peanut butter on celery. I spread the inside of the celery after washing the celery. Dry the celery with a paper towel so the peanut butter sticks better to the celery. Refrigerate and serve chilled. This is a great pot luck food and snack.

Send me your peanut butter recipes or leave in the comment section of this column. Thanks for reading my column and spread the Aloha spirit (no pun intended) where ever you are.