Take a tour through our Peanut Butter timeline and discover the history of peanuts!
- 1890: A St. Louis physician developed the idea of packaging peanut paste for people with bad teeth. Peanut paste was sold for six cents per pound.
- 1895: The Kellogg brothers patented the process of preparing peanut butter with steamed nuts. Today the nuts are roasted, and the peanut butter is much tastier.
- 1903: Dr. George Washington Carver developed more than 300 other uses for peanuts, and is considered by many to be the father of the peanut industry.
- 1904: C.H. Sumner introduced peanut butter to the world at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis. He sold $705.11 of the treat at his concession stand!
- 1908: Krema Products Company in Columbus, Ohio, began selling peanut butter and is the oldest peanut butter company still in operation today.
- 1922: Joseph L. Rosefield sold peanut butter in California, churning it to make it smoother. He received the first patent for peanut butter that could stay fresh up to a year.
- 1928: One of the first companies to adopt Rosefield’s process was Swift & Company, later renamed Peter Pan.
- 1932: Rosefield began producing peanut butter under the Skippy label, and created the first crunchy-style peanut butter two years later.
- 1955: Procter & Gamble entered the peanut butter business, introduced Jif in 1958. Now owned by the J.M. Smucker Company, Jif operates the world’s largest peanut butter plant, producing 250,000 jars every day!
