There are many interesting facts about peanut butter and discovering them could provide us with a thorough understanding of the different benefits, uses, and finer points of this fascinating food spread.
Before we move on to discuss peanut butter as a general culinary term, let us define first its core meaning by defining peanut and butter. Peanuts are identified mostly as nuts in food type sense but they are actually legumes like beans in the technical sense. That's right. What we think of as nuts are not actually nuts at all, but beans! Peanuts are naturally free of cholesterol. While the latter one, which is butter, is normally categorized under dairy products but in this case it's actually called a butter because of the spread's creamy and sticky texture when it is processed.
The health benefits of this nutty spread are numerous. Indeed, it is now becoming recognized as one of the heart healthy foods. It helps prevent the risk of cancer, coronary heart diseases, cardiovascular diseases, gallstones, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol levels. It consists of different nutrients which is an excellent source of magnesium, potassium, and phosphorous. The spread also contains Vitamins (B3 & E), best source of dietary fiber, protein, arginine, and folate. It has also "resveratrol" an anti-oxidant which helps eliminate carcinogens of all kinds.
There's also quite a bit of trivia to hear about. It has been used widely in many households these days. Most of all Americans are recognized as the leading consumers and it is the leading use of peanuts in their country. For every year, American citizens spend approximately $ 800 million on their peanut butter. On the other hand, in order to make 15,000 sandwiches, you need to have half an acre of peanuts to produce enough spread. It is also recognized by most countries that November is the Peanut Butter Lovers Month. Another surprising fact is that most of men prefer to eat chunky butters while children and women opt for creamy or smooth butters, together with over sixty percent of peanut butter consumers. In America the people of the West Coast prefer to eat the chunky spread while their neighbors over on the East Coast prefer to eat smooth or creamy varieties. Most bizarrely there is even a medical term for a person who becomes hysterical or has a fear whenever the peanut butter sticks to the upper portion of their mouth, it is called "arachibutyrophobia".
Also Read Ayurveda Health Benefits of Peanuts or Groundnut
By Jayne Fairclough
