Origins

• Peanut butter originated in Missouri in 1890 when food product owner George A. Bayle Jr. developed a process to grind peanuts into cream. Bayle went on to sell the first incarnation of peanut butter for 6 cents a pound.
  
  

The First Patent

• In 1895, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother Will obtained a patent to produce a substance known as nut butter in Battle Creek, Michigan. The peanut butter Kellogg produced had a different flavor from today's peanut butter due to steaming instead of roasting peanuts. Kellogg's version faded away as the brothers turned their focus to cereal manufacturing.
  
  

Modern Day Peanut Butter

• Peanut butter as we know it was introduced in California by Joseph L. Rosefield in 1922. He eventually received a patent for his manufacturing process which produced peanut butter that could stay fresh for up to one year. Rosefield used his process to introduce the Skippy brand of peanut butter in 1932.
  
  

Misconceptions

• Contrary to popular belief, George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter. Beginning in 1903, Carver conducted peanut research and found more than 300 uses for the legume and its oil during his time at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute.