Peanut butter is a paste made from dry roasted peanuts; peanuts, like so many things with "nut" in the name, not actually being a nut but rather a legume.
Peanut butter is strongly associated with the United States, but the first person to actually develop it was a Canadian. Peanuts being ground into a paste, though, is a much older concept, with the Aztecs having done it - peanuts being native to South America.
Peanut butter differs from peanut paste as it has a different consistency - one nearer butter, hence the name. There are two main types of peanut butter, smooth and crunchy (or chunky). Crunchy peanut butter is actually slightly healthier. Both contain dietary fibre and unsaturated fats.
Peanut butter can be eaten as is - it's a popular sandwich ingredient in the US - and is also an important ingredient in many recipes, both sweet, such as cookies and candies, and savoury, such as in Indonesian recipes.
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