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America's lunch [Times photo illustration: Mike Sudal & Patty Yablonski]
By JANET K. KEELER, Times Staff Writer
There is no chance that anyone in my house suffers from arachibutyrophobia. That's the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. My family has nerves of steel and eager taste buds when it comes to peanut butter. We gobble it up on bread so fast that the nutty spread doesn't have time to get stuck anywhere, except maybe to our ribs. We are not alone. America is the biggest peanut butter-loving country in the world with more than 500-million pounds consumed annually. Average American kids will have eaten 1,500 peanut butter sandwiches each by the time they graduate from high school. Hundreds of lunch boxes will cradle PB&J sandwiches next week when kids begin returning to Tampa Bay area schools. Even more will be offered on cafeteria lines. Last year, about 58,000 pounds of peanut butter were served in Pinellas County public schools, where peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches are on the menu every day from kindergarten through high school, says food services director Gray Miller. That's the equivalent in weight of nearly five adult African elephants. For every kid you know who loves peanut butter, there's an adult out there who loves it even more. It's easy to find adults who eat peanut butter -- creamy, crunchy, low-fat, natural, whatever -- by the spoonful. Celebrities admitting to a peanut butter habit include Larry King, Jack Nicholson, Dan Rather, Madonna, Cher, Julia Roberts and Michael J. Fox. Elvis Presley's grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich is legendary. Attorney Glenn Goldberg, 35, of St. Petersburg is in good company. "I've always been a fan of peanut butter. It's been with me all my life," he says. "I'm waiting for the peanut butter pizza." Goldberg, the father of a 5-month-old daughter who has yet to taste nirvana, likes peanut butter so much that he doesn't really have a favorite way of eating it. He eats it with, and on, just about everything. He savors the peanut butter and red grapes sandwich that Tina Kelley of Lonni's Sandwiches in downtown St. Petersburg makes for him. He likes PB&A sandwiches -- that would be avocados -- and the more traditional peanut butter and apples. He talks fondly of a peanut butter-tofu spread spiked with sunflower seeds and other healthy stuff that he ate in New York. "How come there's not a peanut butter appetizer?" Goldberg ponders. "Some restaurants think peanut sauce is good enough but that's not enough for us peanut lovers." The peanut butter eaters in my house aren't as adventurous as Goldberg, but we do have our particulars. My 7-year-old likes creamy "no nuts" peanut butter on his daily sandwich. And never, ever with jelly. He doesn't like peanut butter in pancakes, in cookies or in muffins; not with bananas, shredded carrots or apples. Straight up, on country white. He will, thank goodness, eat the crusts. My husband eats creamy peanut butter on any bread available, even marble rye, with strawberry all-fruit jelly. We've come to an agreement about peanut butter storage. Early in our marriage, he put it in the refrigerator. I like it in the pantry so it spreads more easily. (I won that battle but unless you go through a jar of peanut butter quickly, store it in the refrigerator after opening. The oil in the spread will go rancid if the jar sits in the pantry for more than three months.) I like my PB&J sandwich with crunch but not from the chunky variety. I get my crackle from a layer of potato chips smooshed into peanut butter and grape jelly. An ice cold glass of milk, at least 2 percent, not watery skim, washes it down. Heaven. Peanut butter is one of the most frequently purchased items in the grocery store and nearly 75 percent of all homes have a jar in the pantry (or the fridge). For all its popularity, there are those folks who snub it because of fat content. Two tablespoons of peanut butter has 190 calories and 16 grams of fat. Yes, overdoing on peanut butter can be detrimental to your waistline. The fat, however, is monounsaturated, the same "good fat" found in olive oil. Two tablespoons of olive oil has at least 25 grams of fat and it's easy to use that much on an entree-size salad. If you can look beyond the fat, which research shows isn't all bad for us, there's a lot of nutrition in a couple tablespoons of peanut butter. There are 8 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber and about 25 percent of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin E and niacin. In fact, it's the protein that helped peanut butter get its start in 1890 when a St. Louis physician encouraged a food manufacturer to market ground peanut paste as a food supplement. The larger population was introduced to peanut butter at the 1904 Universal Expedition in St. Louis. All its virtues don't mean much to the 3-million Americans who are allergic, some of them severely, to peanuts. Food services director Miller says that in schools where there is even one child with a peanut allergy, peanut butter cannot be served at all. Peanuts are not really nuts but are cousins of dried beans and peas, all members of the legume family. Florida, Alabama and Georgia growers account for 60 percent of the nation's peanut crop and most of the peanuts used for peanut butter. Some 1,200 Florida peanut farmers grew about 203-million pounds of peanuts in 1998, according to the Florida Peanut Producers Association. India and China grow more peanuts than the United States but most of their crops are used for making oil. Oil is a natural component of peanuts and unless stabilizers (such as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil) are added in the manufacturing process, the oil will separate. This is what happens in "natural" peanut butters. More popular varieties, such as Skippy, Peter Pan and Jif, include stabilizers. Nearly all peanut butters contain salt and sugar for flavor. For every variety of peanut butter on the market, it seems there are 10 ways to make a sandwich. (See accompanying list.) We've heard of people pairing peanut butter with ingredients as varied as honey, mayonnaise, bacon, butter, cheese and marshmallow fluff. Someone in my house dips PB sandwiches into Ranch dressing. Kelley at Lonni's likes her PB sandwich with bananas. That's not so unusual. However, adding crunchy granola is. She calls it a breakfast sandwich. We say nice touch, but not nearly as fearless as Goldberg's avocado combo. -- Information from www.peanutbutterlovers.com, an online publication of the Peanut Advisory Board in Canton, Ga., was used in this report. Peanut Butter Pancakes
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat milk with egg and peanut butter until smooth. Add to dry ingredients and beat until well moistened. Add more milk if you want a thinner batter. Lightly butter hot griddle. Spoon by 1/4 cupfuls onto griddle. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Makes about 12 pancakes. Serve with maple or berry syrup. Would be good with banana slices folded into batter. Source: www.peanutbutterlovers.com. Peanut Butter Shortbreads
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press the mixture into an ungreased 8-inch round pan. With a fork, prick decorative wedges in the dough. Bake for about one hour, or until very lightly browned. Cut into wedges while warm. Makes 16 wedge-shaped cookies. Source: www.peanutbutterlovers.com. Carrot-Peanut Butter Bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9- by 3-inch loaf pan. Cream together sugar, peanut butter, peanut oil and eggs; add carrots and vanilla. Blend flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice and nutmeg. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to creamed mixture. Turn into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 70 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan, remove from pan and cool on rack. Source: www.recipesource.com. Noodles with Peanut Sauce
In a large bowl, use a fork to stir the peanut butter or sesame paste with the water until it is creamy. Stir in the soy sauce and honey and set aside. Drain the cooked noodles and add to the bowl with the peanut butter mixture and drizzle with oil. Toss well. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve the noodles cold, topped with scallions, sprouts or chopped peanuts, if desired. Serves 4. Source: Whirlpool Homelife Network. Beyond jellyWant to try something besides jelly on your peanut butter sandwich? Here are some suggested ingredients to pair with peanut butter:
Send other interesting combinations to krieta@sptimes.com. Put PB MY WAY in the subject line. Please include your name, city of residence and daytime phone number. We may want to share your obsession with other St. Petersburg Times readers.
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From the Times Taste section From the features wire |
