DISH
Sticky Business
with Maribeth Maloney
Ilike to think of peanut butter as a food with a sense of humor. I regard that as a good thing since most everything about it is just plain silly. How could it otherwise face itself every day without suffering the crippling embarrassment of knowing it was created for toothless people, not to mention that it's stuck with nicknames like "Skippy." Even its birth name is a joke of a misnomer: peanuts are legumes, not nuts, and the last time I checked, butter was a dairy product. Then again, "peanut butter" does have a more pleasing ring to it than "ground legumes."

Because it's such a fun-loving food, it's only fitting that peanut butter generally finds itself in the company of other cut-ups who also aren't concerned with being taken seriously. Whether it's paired with marshmallow, jelly, bacon or bananas, slathered between white bread or simply scooped up in a spoon, peanut butter is a good time in a jar and the by-product of oldfashioned American ingenuity.

Peanut butter's commercial existence is relatively new, but its ancient origins are older than the hills. The South American Incas are known to have enjoyed eating peanuts crushed up into a paste-like mush. Early explorers to the continent pilfered the peanuts and brought them along when they traveled to Africa. They made their way to Spain through trade, and in turn were traded to the American colonies.

Peanut crops began sprouting up in the U.S. around 1818, first in North Carolina and then in Virginia. In 1890, a doctor in St. Louis convinced a food manufacturing facility to process the first modern form of peanut butter, intended as a protein-rich meat alternative for geriatric patients whose choppers were no longer in working order. But commercial success didn't seem to be in his sights; not only did no one bother to record his name, the product simply never managed to get off the ground, much less into the mainstream.

In 1895, two far more enterprising brothers, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and Will Keith Kellogg, patented the "Process of Preparing Nut Meal" and attempted to feed the result to patients at their Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. Whatever the ailments of their guinea pigs may have been, they weren't lacking in the discriminating palate department; they rejected the gritty gruel which was made from peanuts that were steamed, not roasted. No worries for the Kellogg boys though, that simply freed them up to focus on the cornflake and what would eventually become a cereal dynasty.

Although various attempts were made at perfecting the processing of peanuts into a pleasing product (alliteration apology), it wasn't until 1922 that the sticky stuff we know and love came to be. Joseph L. Rosefield secured the first patent for the process of churning roasted peanuts, yielding a tasty and buttery-smooth spread. His product had the added advantage of a new concept, a "shelf life," because the oil was well incorporated rather than separating and rising to the top. Rosefield took a job with Swift & Co. which adopted the process and began selling the first jarred peanut butter, Peter Pan, in 1928.

After a fall-out with the bigwigs at Swift in 1932, Rosefield cleaned out his desk and turned his former bosses into a gang of lost boys by churning out his own brand, Skippy. He even one-upped himself that same year with the invention of "chunky style," the decidedly non-mysterious yet clever process of adding chopped peanuts to creamy peanut butter. Since that time, Skippy has remained the world's most popular brand, selling at the rate of 90 million jars per year, which breaks down to about three jars every second.

Lest we forget the choice of choosy mothers-Jif, the most junior member of the peanut gallery, was launched in 1958 by Procter & Gamble. Perhaps purely out of its desire to be closer to jelly, Jif was sold to J.M. Smucker Company in 2001.

Whatever the brand of preference, peanut butter has assuredly had the last laugh. It's a billion dollar industry with over 500 million pounds of it consumed in this country alone per year. And while it does have a following in Canada, Holland, England and Saudi Arabia, Americans are by

far the greatest consumers. Seventyfive

percent of households buy peanut butter every year, with the American Peanut Council estimating that the average American child will eat 1,500 sandwiches by the time they graduate from high school. That is, I should say, if they aren't among the one percent of the population for whom peanuts are perilous.

For reasons that aren't clear, there's been a fifty-five percent increase in the number of children with peanut allergies over the last ten years. One speculative theory is that we keep our houses too clean and don't challenge our children's immune systems to fight off parasites, leading them to turn on each other and recognize the peanut protein as an enemy. (Makes me feel better that I don't even know which closet the vacuum's in.) Even with the dramatic increase, still only 1.3 percent of children are affected. But it's the severity of a single anaphylactic reaction that's the issue, compelling schools to enact peanut emergency management plans, ranging from the armed-and-ready EpiPen approach to the guerilla-style tactic of backpack search and seizure. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore are working on a vaccine which would enable those poor kids to get to the business of eating their 1,500 sandwiches.

When it comes down to it, big kids are the true peanut butter passionistas. The Peanut Advisory Board reports that adults far outnumber children as the primary consumers. The high fat content serves as no deterrent; after all, it's a nutritional powerhouse and the fat it contains is mostly monounsaturated, the "good fat." Two tablespoons supply fifteen percent of the average adult's daily protein needs and as much fiber as two slices of whole-wheat bread, with the additional bonus of being cholesterol-free.

Believe it or not, there's an official Adult Peanut Butter Lovers Fan Club boasting 60,000 nuts as members. The group enjoys swapping recipes in the name of extreme peanut butter eating and shares riveting factoids in their newsletter, "Spread the News." Who would've known that men prefer chunky, the east coast prefers creamy and 96 percent of the population spreads on the peanut butter before the jelly?

Should you have the inkling to visit the Mecca and aren't afflicted with "arachibutyrophia" (no joke, the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth), have I got the place for you: the world famous sandwich shop, Peanut Butter & Co., located in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Since 1998, owner Lee Zalben has been grinding out his own peanut butter daily in such flavors as "Dark Chocolate Dreams," "White Chocolate Wonderful" and "Smooth Operator." The menu's offerings include a PB BLT, PB Club and "Death by Peanut Butter." Favorite customer/peanut butter addict, Jerry Seinfeld, was recently memorialized as a sandwich for the first time in his career with "Jerry Seinfeld's Comedy Special." Seinfeld, who penned the foreward for the PB & Co. cookbook, concocted it himself: smooth peanut butter on a bagel with a drizzle of honey and a dusting of cinnamon.

In the interests of silliness, I contacted Lee for a little info. He confirmed that adults do indeed account for the majority of his customers. The most popular sandwich? No hesitation,"The Elvis," a grilled peanut butter sandwich with bananas, honey and bacon.

I asked him to share a recipe and he was more than happy to oblige. Alas, there's a catch-it can't be all comedy-you'll have to get your sticky fingers on his trademarked peanut butter to make it!

I

CINNAMON RAISIN SWIRL SANDWICH

Peanut Butter & Co.'s Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Sandwich, compliments of Lee Zalben - from whom I get no kick-back! (866-ILOVEPB)
+ 2 tablespoons "Cinnamon Raisin Swirl" peanut butter
+ 2 tablespoons cream cheese
+ 1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled and thinly-sliced
+ 2 slices whole wheat bread
+ lemon juice

Dip apple slices into lemon juice with a little water to prevent browning. Spread peanut butter on one bread slice and cream cheese on the other. Place the apple slices on top of the peanut butter. Close, cut and eat! Makes 1.