Zooming in on Peanut Butter Trivia Quiz

Answer: Green bean

The peanut, which is taxonomically classified as Arachis hypogaea, is a legume and legumes are commonly referred to as the bean (and/or pea) family. However, whilst the edible seed pods of legumes usually grow above ground, peanuts differ in that theirs are underground. This has led to having "hypogaea", meaning "under the earth", as part of its classification. The other odd feature about it is that despite having "nut" in its name and being similar in taste to almonds and walnuts, it is not a real nut. Botanically, a nut is a fruit whose ovary wall becomes hard when it matures. The peanut doesn't quite make the cut.

This question was shelled out by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who, despite appearances, is not a real nut either.

Answer: Marcellus Gilmore Edson

While there is a lot of debate over who invented peanut butter, the first patent ever issued was to Canadian Marcellus Gilmore Edson. He developed a method of grinding roasted peanuts between two heated boards until they resembled a paste. Because the consistency was similar to lard or butter, he called it peanut butter.

Contrary to popular belief, George Washington Carver was not the inventor of peanut butter. According to the National Peanut Board, while Carver invented over 300 uses for peanuts he did not invent the tasty treat.

This question was ground up by Phoenix Rising's leith90 who is quite partial to roasted peanuts.

Answer: Method - US used boiled peanuts

Dr John Harvey Kellogg of cereal fame was the first American to gain a patent for peanut butter, although his method was different to Edson. Where Edson used roasted peanuts, Kellogg used boiled, steamed or raw peanuts. He produced his peanut butter as a way of providing protein to people who couldn't chew.

In 1903 Ambrose Straub of Missouri was granted a patent for a mill which could produce peanut butter.

The problem with early forms of peanut butter was that the oil would separate out, but in the 1920s, Joseph Rosefield refined the process (called hydrogenation) which stopped this. He also founded the Skippy brand peanut butter. Later he changed the process from grinding to churning, which produced a smoother, creamier butter. He is also credited with being the first person to add crushed nuts to his butter, creating the first crunchy (chunky) peanut butter.

This question was churned out by Phoenix Rising's leith90, who is eternally grateful for the invention of crunchy peanut butter.

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was a botanist among other roles. He became the first American president to grow peanuts. Slaves coming to America from west Africa brought peanuts with them (called goober peas). Mr. Jefferson planted them on his property in large numbers and sold them commercially. Other farmers followed his lead and added peanuts to their crop-growing.

George Washington Carver, considered the father of the US peanut industry (but did not invent peanut butter as many Americans believed), encouraged farmers to plant peanuts as American famers had found them easy to grow. As such Mr. Carver was credited with making peanuts into a major US cash crop from 1900-1950. In 1916 Mr. Carver had distributed a document about peanuts, titled "How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption". Over the years, Mr. Carver's strategy for increasing peanut popularity was his continuous development for more than 300 uses for peanuts, including paper production from peanut shells, shaving cream, shoe polish, axle grease, and even ink from peanut products. The document included several ways to prepare peanut butter. Given the proportion of the annual peanut crop allocated to peanut butter, the role of Mr. Jefferson in peanuts and subsequently Mr. Carver with peanut butter, cannot be underestimated in making the US the premier peanut butter nation in the world.

This question was nutted out by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: Greater than 95% peanuts, zero percent butter

In 1940 the FDA ruled the term "peanut butter... is generally understood... to mean a product consisting solely of ground roasted peanuts, with or without a small quantity of added salt". (The butter component is simply a commercial term indicating the consistency of the product - there is no butter in peanut butter.) Manufacturers lobbied to be able to add glycerol to stop the oil splitting from the paste. In the 1960s some peanut butters were found to be less than 20% peanuts with substitution with cheaper hydrogenated or vegetable oils replacing expensive peanuts and peanut oil. In 1961 FDA introduced a standard for peanut butter "consisting of 95 per cent peanuts and 5 per cent optional ingredients including salt, sugar, dextrose, honey, or hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated peanut oil".

In 1994 when the three leading manufacturers Skippy, Jif, and Peter Pan all developed low fat peanut butters, FDA agreed that these products did not meet FDA standards. The agency notified the manufacturers that the new products could be called 'spreads'.

This question was cooked up by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1 who only reads the label to ensure it says "peanut butter" and not "peanut something-inferior".

Answer: Australian dairy industry object to use of butter when it contains none.

The differences between peanut butter and peanut paste are a bit of a grey area, with different countries (or even different states) having their own definitions. In Western Australia, it is called peanut paste, because it does NOT contain butter. In most other areas of the country, that distinction is not made, and it magically becomes known as peanut butter.

Did you know that the Dutch call it 'peanut cheese' because it cannot be called 'butter', but strangely enough, it does not contain cheese, either. Weird, eh?

This question was spread to the world by ozzz2002, who likes it, no matter what it is called!

Answer: False

Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of being choked by peanut butter, or more specifically, the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one's mouth. Statistically speaking, choking on peanut butter is of course very rare, but anxiety about the possibility can manifest physically as difficulty swallowing.

The causes of phobias are difficult to pin down, and can be genetic, environmental, or both. Some people with arachibutyrophobia may have experienced or witnessed a severe allergic reaction to peanuts (peanut allergies rank among the most common and most fatal food allergies). Others may have felt like they were choking eating peanut butter as a child. Common treatments include medication, behavior modification therapy, and exposure therapy.

This question was concocted by Phoenix Rising's JCSon, who did panic at least a couple times as a kid when he stuffed his mouth too full of warm peanut butter, but fortunately that did not develop into a phobia.

Answer: False

The US is the biggest consumer but China is the biggest producer.

46 million tonnes of peanuts (weighed whilst still in their shells) were produced in 2018, with China producing 38%, India managed 15%. Nigeria, Sudan and the US also produced significant quantities. 50-60% of peanuts grown are made into peanut butter.

The US are winners in how much peanut butter is consumed. In 2019 US$3.5billion was spent on peanut butter with smooth peanut butter being the favoured option.

Author smpdit sat, eating her PB straight from the jar with a spoon, whilst sorting this question. She prefers the organic smooth variety.

Answer: It takes more than 50 gallons (190 litres) of water to produce 1 ounce of peanuts.

According to the (American) National Peanut Board, it only takes five gallons of water to grow and ounce of peanuts (compared with more than 80 gallons to grow an ounce of almonds) but that is still a lot of water when there are 12 ounces or 540 peanuts in a standard jar of peanut butter. The favourite way of eating peanut butter in the US is in the ubiquitous peanut butter and jelly sandwich. According to a 2016 "Huffington Post" survey, the average American will eat over 3,000 PB&Js in their lifetime, 1,500 before they reach high school. The favourite jelly is strawberry (36%), grape (31%) and 54% prefer white bread. Europeans by contrast do not eat much peanut butter and PB&Js are virtually non existent. Australians and New Zealanders are somewhere in the middle put prefer peanut butter on bread or toast without any jam, thank you. A further way the Australian/New Zealander connection to peanut butter is different to the US is we have smooth and crunchy variants but the Americans have creamy and chunky varieties.

This question made Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1 very hungry. He had to decide whether he was going to have his smooth peanut butter on toast or was he going to make satay sauce from his crunchy peanut butter.

Answer: January

National Peanut Butter Day is celebrated in the US on January 24, while National Peanut Day is September 13 (Virgo). The National Day Calendar website suggests marking #NationalPeanutButterDay by baking favourite peanut butter recipes and it helpfully provides several to be tried and enjoyed.

Astrologically, Aquarius is from about January 21 to about February 20. Despite having "aqua" in its name, Aquarius is an air sign, marked by the Water-Carrier symbol. Aquarians have been viewed as free-spirited, eccentric, and having a nonconformist attitude. "Arachibutyrophile" is formed from the Greek words "arachi" (ground nut), "butyr" (butter) along with "philia" (love). Put together, they form a special word for peanut butter lovers.

That #NationalPeanutButterDay is commemorated at a time ruled by the planet Uranus (a period of disruption, change and unconventional happenings) makes this an appropriate time for such celebrations.

The US also celebrate National Peanut Butter Fudge Day on November 20 each year.

While Phoenix Rising's psnz is part of the air sign trio (Aquarius, Gemini, Libra), he would struggle to describe himself as an arachibutyrophile, but is always happy to join with others' celebrations.