Peanut butter is an amazing food that serves as a lunch sandwich or a dessert, mix into a beverage, or feed wild birds.
The original peanut butter mixture provided filling between two pieces of bread or atop crackers when the economy fell periodically. During economic depressions, many families lacked income enough to buy much meat as a source of protein. Nut crops served to fill this gap in a small way, leading to the development of peanut butter sandwiches. Dense with fat for warming the body and packed with taste to make it palatable, peanut butter became a handy filler food that has steadily grown in popularity. Peanut butter travels well, too, meaning it doesn't spoil easily and thus can be packed as a lunch item without thermos protection for work or school, unlike lunchmeats or leftovers. At a modest cost for a typical jar, peanut butter is a bargain buy.
A few caveats are not to eat peanut butter alone, since it can stick in your throat and pose a choking hazard. And don't eat too much of it, since it does carry a fat gram punch. A little bit on celery or bread provides a nice treat. Some people are allergic to peanut butter and must avoid it, as well as anything cooked in peanut oil.
In addition to its famous role in sandwiches, peanut butter flavoring is added to numerous dishes that garnish the tables of the royal and the rich as well as the impoverished and the poor. Peanut butter sundae topping, milkshakes, cookies, fudge, and candy provide delicious snacks, treats, or desserts for every member of the family. But there is also peanut butter soup, served by fine restaurants to those in search of a culinary adventure, or peanut butter pie, a favorite at many fine-dining establishments.
Those who grow tired of peanut butter as a sole taste of its own may wish to try an experimental variety. Corporations now market peanut butter and jelly mixtures combined in a jar, along with chocolate-flavored peanut butter or fruit-mixed peanut butter. You can buy pre-made packages of peanut butter and crackers from vending machines, or order a peanut butter sandwich at most family-style restaurants. Anywhere you shop for food, you are likely to encounter peanut butter products.
Versatile and affordable, tasty and fun, peanut butter also appeals to the animal kingdom. Some dog lovers slip their pup a bit of peanut butter on a cracker as a treat, or slip a pill into a bite of the mixture for Fido's quick and easy swallowing. Birds love it, too, especially when smeared onto pinecones and dotted with birdseed, with the cones then dangled from tree branches in winter to feed the hungry flocks that don't migrate south.
Few foods fill the bill for budget, taste, and convenience like peanut butter does. Keep a jar on hand for those times when you want a taste of childhood or a satisfying snack that can be shared with your furry and feathered friends.
