Fun facts about peanut butter
Peanut butter lovers, Jan. 24 is a good day to spread your love of the gooey snack. It's National Peanut Butter Day!
So grab a spoon and a jar of the good stuff and dig into these fun facts.
"Peanut butter" has a legal definition
In order to call your product "peanut butter," it has to contain 90 percent peanuts, according to FDA standards. These standards, which took a decade to agree upon, were proposed in 1961 because manufacturers were adding so much glycerin to their products to keep the oil from separating.
It was popularized during the World Wars
Though peanut butter had been around before the World Wars, the U.S. Armed Forces discovered that peanut butter -- specifically the peanut butter sandwich -- was an easy way to get protein to the troops, according to the National Peanut Board. This led to widespread affinity for the food.
It has fat -- but it's good fat
Peanut butter is considered a good source of "healthy fats," like avocado, according to the American Heart Association. As an added bonus, the American Diabetes Association recommends it as part of a low-carb snack.
Half of U.S. consumption of peanuts is peanut butter
The most popular way to eat peanuts is, of course, peanut butter. The average American eats about six pounds of peanut products each year, and 50 percent of that is in peanut butter, according to the National Peanut Board.
There's an official world record for most PB&Js eaten in one minute
The most Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches eaten in a minute is six, according to official record-keepers Guinness World Records. That record was set in East Dundee, Illinois in 2012.
Peanut butter is found in 2 of the 5 most popular Girl Scout Cookies
Yes, the Thin Mint reigns supreme, but peanut butter has clearly made an impression on Girl Scout cookie lovers. Here are their top 5 best sellers, in order: Thin Mints, Caramel deLites/Samoas, Peanut Butter Patties/Tagalongs, Girl Scout S'mores, Do-si-dos/Peanut Butter Sandwich.
RELATED: Meet the newest Girl Scout Cookie
Astronauts eat it with tortillas
Because bread has so many crumbs, astronauts instead use tortillas. But any peanut butter-loving astronaut will tell you that a lack of bread isn't going to stop them. Canadian Chris Hadfield, for instance, loves peanut butter and honey on a tortilla.
