6 Reasons Why Peanut Butter is the Ultimate Super Food

Peanut butter is without a doubt my favourite ingredient.

But one thing that many people don’t realise is that peanuts aren’t actually nuts. They’re actually legumes, which means they’re more closely related to chickpeas and white beans than to almonds or walnuts.

That means, by definition, peanut butter contains neither nuts nor butter.

Considering peanuts are legumes, you could argue that peanut butter contains peas, making it somewhat related. But that’s just a technicality.

Whatever you want to call it, here’s 6 reasons why peanut butter is the ultimate super food.

Peanut butter is a relatively new thing on the stage of world food — but for Europe, Asia and Africa, so are peanuts.

Before the Colombian Exchange, when Columbus “discovered” the New World — that is North and South America — peanuts were completely unknown. No-one in Europe, Asia or Africa had ever seen one before.

Following the introduction of peanuts to Europe by the Spanish, these legumes swiftly gained popularity across the Old World, eventually becoming a staple in various cuisines worldwide.

Nowadays, the worlds biggest peanut producers are China, India, Sudan, Nigeria, and the United States, which demonstrates just how varied of an ingredient this is.

And what about butter specifically?

This, of course, is an American invention.

Peanut butter came about at the end of the 19th century when the American George Washington Carver began encouraging southern farmers in the U.S. to grow peanuts.

As the U.S. started growing more peanuts, more applications for the nut — sorry, the legume were — discovered, and thus peanut butter was invented.

Currently, the U.S. market is dominated by the ‘Big Three’ butter brands: Peter Pan, JIF and Skippy.

In the UK, there seems to be a lot less of a monopoly on brands. A lot of the variants seem to be supermarket’s own brands or health brands, like Meridian or Pip & Nut.

There’s also a Dutch version of peanut butter called Calvé. There’s even a nut butter from Haiti called Mamba, which is like a spicy peanut butter. I’ve made this at home a few times — it is absolutely unreal.

Aside from those unfortunate few with peanut allergies, this ingredient is loved worldwide.

#1: It is versatile

Why? Here’s my theory: peanut butter is loved because it’s so incredibly versatile.

That’s why peanuts and peanut butter have both become staple ingredients across cuisines across the world.

First off, peanut butter can be used across savoury and sweet dishes and is delicious in both. From peanut butter falafel and hummus to pad thai and peanut butter and banana on toast. All of these dishes work, and all of them are amazing.

And that’s the second reason: peanut butter is so delicious. I could literally eat it every day, with every meal. It’s got the perfect texture — the way it sticks to the top of your mouth… it’s just so good.

#2: It is delicious

And this is another crazy thing about it. Even though it is so, so delicious, it’s not like “cheating” because peanut butter is actually so nutritious. Despite the ‘anti-fat’ scare that emerged in the 90s, we’ve come to understand that nutritional fat is not inherently unhealthy.

There are some unhealthy fats, like trans-fats, but there are also good fats. I’m not going to go into detail about this, but suffice it to say that the stuff that we’ve kind of grown up to believe around fats isn’t necessarily true (this video gives more info on this topic).

Most of the fats that you find in peanut butter are monounsaturated fats, which are the same fats that you find in olive oil, and that’s why olive oil is considered quite a healthy fat. It also contains fats that are good sources of omega-6.

Plus, if the peanut butter uses peanuts that are “hi-oleic”, then at least 70% of the fat in the peanut butter is this monounsaturated fat — this “good fat”; the same sort of fat that you find in avocados as well.

Peanut butter is also high in vitamins and minerals. Let’s have a look at the list:

• Vitamin E: 60% of the daily value (DV)
• Vitamin B3 (niacin): 84% of the DV
• Vitamin B6: 29% of the DV
• Folate: 18% of the DV
• Magnesium: 37% of the DV
• Copper: 56% of the DV
• Manganese: 65% of the DV

(Thanks, Healthline).

#3: It is high in protein

Speaking of nutrition, the reason we think of a peanut as a “nut” in the culinary sense is because the peanut has a similar nutritional profile to other nuts, like almonds and walnuts. That means it’s also high in protein.

#4: It is vegan-friendly

And this makes it a very useful ingredient for vegans. Yes, it might not be a “complete” source of protein, but if you couple that with, say, a wholemeal piece of bread, it becomes a complete protein because the bread provides the missing amino acids.

So, peanut butter on toast can have comparable protein to meat-based dish. This is useful whether you’re reducing meat consumption, following a vegan or vegetarian diet, or simply aiming to increase protein intake.

#5: It is cheap

Unlike many other vegan products such as corn or tofu, it’s very affordable.

It’s easily the cheapest source of protein on that list. Tofu compares, but that’s actually one of the cheaper sources of tofu. There are actually a lot more expensive versions of tofu available.

It’s also the cheapest nut available, by far.

Peanuts are super cheap. Hence the expression: “for peanuts,” as in like “he’ll work for peanuts,” “she’ll work for peanuts” or “it costs peanuts.” It means it’s cheap because peanuts are cheap.

Peanut butter, because it’s produced by the cheapest nut, is easily the cheapest nut butter as well, compared to something like hazelnut butter, almond butter or cashew butter.

They’re all also great, but they’re not the cheapest.

#6: It is good for the environment

And peanuts are not only cheap financially, they’re “cheaper” for the environment as well.

Peanuts have a very low carbon footprint. They’re very easy to grow and don’t require too much water.

Almonds, for example, require a lot of water and can only grow in hot places like Southern France California, the latter of which suffers often from droughts and water shortages.

To grow peanuts, you need 2,782 litres of water per kilogram of peanuts. For almonds, you require 16,095 litres per kilogram of almonds grown.

In California, that water has to be diverted from rivers, which impacts wildlife like fish. Almonds are delicious, but is it really worth that carbon footprint?

Conclusion

Peanut butter is a versatile, healthy, vegan-friendly, delicious source of protein that doesn’t cost the earth — literally.

How can you argue with that?

However, it’s important to choose natural peanut butter. Avoid peanut butters with added sugar and other undesirable additives. Go for natural ones that contain just ingredients: peanuts and salt.

If they contain extra oils, that’s to keep the peanut butter cohesive.

By the way, with natural peanut butters, such as those from Meridian, you’ll notice that the oil tends to settle on the top. It’s a bit frustrating to mix it back in, but there’s one very simple solution for it: just store the peanut butter upside down. The oil will travel to the top. Voila.