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Americans spoon it out of the jar, eat it in sandwiches by itself or with its bread-fellow jelly, and devour it with foods ranging from celery and raisins ("ants on a log") to a grilled sandwich with bacon and bananas (the classic "Elvis"). Peanut butter is used to flavor candy, ice cream, cookies, cereal, and a wide variety of other foods. It is a deeply ingrained staple of American childhood and cuisine.
Creamy and Crunchy features the stories of Jif, Skippy, and Peter Pan; the resurgence of natural or old-fashioned peanut butter; the five ways today's product is different from the original; the plight of black peanut farmers; the role of peanut butter in fighting Third-World hunger; and the Salmonella outbreaks of 2007 and 2009. The story of peanut butter is the story of twentieth-century America, and Jon Krampner writes its first popular history, rich with anecdotes and facts culled from interviews, research, travels in the peanut-growing regions of the South, and recipes.
List of contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Peanuts 101
2. The Social Rise of the Peanut
3. The Birth of Peanut Butter
4. Peter Pan: "Improved by Hydrogenation"
5. How Peter Pan Lost Its Groove
6. Skippy: "He Made His First Jar of Peanut Butter in His Garage"
7. Skippy on Top
8. Jif: "But Is It Still Peanut Butter?"
9. "Choosy Mothers Choose . . ."
10. Peanut Butter Goes International
11. The Music of Peanut Butter
12. Deaf Smith: What's Old-Fashioned Is New Again
13. The Rise and Fall of the Florunner
14. The Peanut Butter Crisis of 1980
15. "You Mean It's Not Good for Me?"
16. The Short, Happy Life of Sorrells Pickard
17. Peanut Corporation of America: "There Was No Red Flag"
18. Peanut Butter Saves the World
19. Where Are the Peanut Butters of Yesteryear?
Appendix 1. Author's Recommendations
Appendix 2. Peanut Butter Time Line
Notes
Index
About the author
Jon Krampner
Summary
Americans spoon it out of the jar, eat it in sandwiches by itself or with its bread-fellow jelly, and devour it with foods ranging from celery and raisins ("ants on a log") to a grilled sandwich with bacon and bananas (the classic "Elvis"). Peanut butter is used to flavor candy, ice cream, cookies, cereal, and a wide variety of other foods. It is a deeply ingrained staple of American childhood and cuisine.Creamy and Crunchy features the stories of Jif, Skippy, and Peter Pan; the resurgence of natural or old-fashioned peanut butter; the five ways today's product is different from the original; the plight of black peanut farmers; the role of peanut butter in fighting Third-World hunger; and the Salmonella outbreaks of 2007 and 2009. The story of peanut butter is the story of twentieth-century America, and Jon Krampner writes its first popular history, rich with anecdotes and facts culled from interviews, research, travels in the peanut-growing regions of the South, and recipes.
