National Fluffer Nutter Day

National Fluffer Nutter Day is on October 8th in the United States.

Now, this is one that is unlikely to be known of by many outside the US. The name just by itself is rather peculiar. What it is is a sandwich that is similar to the classic American one of peanut butter & jelly.

This sandwich is normally made from white bread. One piece of bread is spread with peanut butter of a preferred type, whether crunchy or smooth. The other piece is spread with marshmallow creme. The two slices are then placed together to make the sandwich, which is also referred to as a fluffernutter.

Marshmallow creme is a spreadable marshmallow-like creme that comes in different flavours. One particular brand of the marshmallow creme is Marshmallow Fluff, which may well be the oldest type, although the recipe has probably been changed in the interim. The sandwich itself dates back to around the First World War, but the name itself did not come about until later in the century, when it was invented to help sell more product.

National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

National Peanut Butter Cookie Day is June 12th in the United States.

This is yet another day celebrating a type of cookie and yet another day celebrating something made using peanut butter (whose creation is credited to US educator George Washington Carver, who was promoting peanuts as an alternative to cotton as a cash crop and had a recipe for peanut butter cookies using chopped or crushed peanuts) - both types of days are rather popular.

This cookie, just as it sounds like, use peanut butter as the primary additional ingredient in the cookie dough.

Peanut butter cookies are usually made with a criss-cross pattern on the top of them. This pattern is created by pressing a fork into the dough before the cookies are baked. The reason why this is done isn't decorative; it was originally done in order to help the cookies cook evenly, but is now a standard part of making the cookies.

National Peanut Butter Lover's Day

March 1st is National Peanut Butter Lover's Day in the United States.

This is a bit unusual, in that it's not really celebrating a food. Instead, it's really celebrating those who consume it - the lovers of peanut butter, rather than peanut butter itself. For those who love it, though, today does provide another excuse to eat this.

This food paste, which is made from ground and dry roasted  peanuts (which, like so many foods with "nut" in their name, is not actually a botanical nut; instead, it's a legume). It is probably most popular in North America, with the US being the world's largest exporter.

The most common varieties are referred to as crunchy and smooth, with crunchy being, well crunch, and smooth not. Crunchy is better for you, if only slightly.

Peanut butter is popular in sandwiches, and is an ingredient in many other dishes, from sweet foods like cookies, to savoury foods, such as many Asian dishes.

National Peanut Butter Day

National Peanut Butter Day is on January 24th in the United States.

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.

National Peanut Butter Fudge Day

November 20th is National Peanut Butter Fudge Day in the United States.

Fudge is made from a mixture of milk, butter and sugar, which is then heated to what is known as the soft-ball stage, 240 °F (116 °C), the name of the stage being how the temperature was determined before thermometers were used. The mix would have been dropped into cold water to see if it formed a lump, and there are different ball stages too.

Fudge is a surprisingly easy confection to make, assuming that the temperature is done correctly.

Fudge is also a very versatile dish, in that many other things, such as fruit, nuts and flavourings can also be added. With peanut butter fudge, what is added is, naturally, peanut butter. The peanut butter comes in two main varieties, smooth and crunchy, and these could give a different texture to the finished product. Once cooked, the fudge is placed into tins, allowed to cool, and then cut into pikes.

National Peanut Butter Lover's Month

November is National Peanut Butter Lover's Month in the United States.

Not a celebration devoted to peanut butter itself, but to the many who love it.

Peanut butter itself is a paste that is made from dry roasted peanuts. This paste is common in many countries around the world. Although peanut butter is primarily used as a sandwich spread, especially in the American favourite of peanut butter and jelly (the latter being jam in other countries), it is also used as an ingredient in many different recipes, both sweet and savoury, including many different cookies and candies.

John Harvey Kellogg, who is probably most well known for his corn flakes, patented one of the earliest forms of peanut butter, in which the peanuts were boiled rather than roasted, on 1898, but the first peanut butter recipe was actually patented by a Canadian in 1884.

The botanist and inventor, George Washington Carver, is often, mistakenly, credited as having invented peanut butter at the beginning of the twentieth century, but recipes had existed for years before that (with one Aztec recipe dating back to the 15th century). The reason for this mistake is that Carver was responsible for patenting many different ways of preparing peanuts, as well as growing them, and disseminating recipes for using them

Peanut butter is today commonly available in two main varieties, smooth and crunchy. The difference between the two types is pretty obvious - one is crunchy, the other isn't. Peanut butter is an excellent source of many different nutrients, although it is also a source of fats, both saturated and unsaturated.