The use of peanuts dates to the Aztecs and Incas.[3][4]
Marcellus Gilmore Edson (1849 – 1940) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada obtained a patent for a method of producing peanut butter from roasted peanuts using heated surfaces in 1884.[5] Edson's cooled product had "a consistency like that of butter, lard, or ointment" according to his patent application which described a process of milling roasted peanuts until the peanuts reached "a fluid or semi-fluid state". He mixed sugar into the paste to harden its consistency. A businessman from St. Louis named George Bayle produced and sold peanut butter in the form of a snack food in 1894.[6]
John Harvey Kellogg, known for his line of prepared breakfast cereals, was issued a patent for a "Process of Producing Alimentary Products" in 1898, and used peanuts, although he boiled the peanuts rather than roasting them.[7] Kellogg's Western Health Reform Institute served peanut butter to patients because they needed a food that contained a lot of protein, yet which could be eaten without chewing.[6] At first, peanut butter was a food for wealthy people, as it became popular initially as a product served at expensive health care institutes.[6]