What is the best thing to put on bread, in cookies, on ice cream or celery. How about peanut butter? November is National Peanut Butter month. Yes, there is a month to savor the creamy goodness, and excitement has built. Over sixty-five million pounds of peanut butter across the United States will be consumed by the end of this month, and there are so many peanut butter recipes going to be made. Here are some more obscure ideas that swept the charts; peanut butter pancakes, peanut butter and jelly cupcakes, and peanut butter sushi. Yes, that is right, peanut butter sushi has been made.

Peanut butter also has many health benefits that are not always recognized. A study shows that peanut butter can help identify Alzheimer’s disease. Nutrition.org said, “Alzheimer’s disease appears to start in the part of the brain that handles smell before spreading to other brain regions. A group of researchers at the University of Florida conducted a smell test, asking Alzheimer’s patients to smell a spoonful of peanut butter… The peanut butter had to get all the way up to two inches from the left nostril to be detected in all patients with the probable disease.” Studies also show consumption of nut products can reduce the risk of fibrocystic breast disease.

All this peanut butter is so good to those of us who can eat it, but there are a lot of people that don’t get to spread the same love. There are four times the amount of people allergic to sushi when compared to peanut butter, but still about 15 million people cannot consume peanut butter itself. [Allergies] Dallas Wetzel, a junior at the Owatonna High School, who is allergic to peanuts said, “It doesn’t affect my personal life too much. I just have to make sure to stay clear of anything containing peanuts, especially when ordering food. I always have to ask the waiter or waitress whether or not the food contains nuts.” Although most people cannot directly consume peanuts there are plenty of alternatives such as: sunflower seed butter, cookie butter, soy nut butter, coconut butter, etc. Thank goodness there are peanut butter alternatives out there for those with allergies!

With the holidays starting to roll around people are starting to get busy baking peanut butter treats galore. Some of the tops favorites are peanut butter brownie trifle, peanut butter silk pie, peanut butter silk cake, even peanut butter custard. Click here if you’d like to see how to bake these treats this holiday season. Peanut butter is definitely an all around fan favorite, let’s see just how much peanut butter we consume this November! Maybe this month people should spread a little more of the peanut butter love!