<P> Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground dry roasted peanuts . It often contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners or emulsifiers . Peanut butter is popular in many countries . The United States is a leading exporter of peanut butter and itself consumes $800 million of peanut butter annually . </P> <P> Peanut butter is served as a spread on bread, toast or crackers, and used to make sandwiches (notably the peanut butter and jelly sandwich). It is also used in a number of confections, such as peanut - flavoured granola bars or croissants and other pastries . A variety of other nut butters are also sold, such as cashew butter and almond butter, produced in comparable ways . </P> <P> The use of peanuts dates to the Aztecs and Incas, and peanut paste may have been used by the Aztecs as a toothache remedy in the first century of the Common Era (CE). </P> <P> Marcellus Gilmore Edson (1849--1940) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada obtained a patent for peanut butter in 1884 . 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 businessperson from St. Louis named George Bayle produced and sold peanut butter in the form of a snack food in 1894 . </P>

Who came up with apples and peanut butter