Creamy and Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food
Jon Krampner (Allan Dean Walker photo)

This image of the book's cover art has magical properties. If you click on it, it will take you to the page on Columbia University Press's website where you can order a copy of the book.

The Life Cycle of Peanut Butter
This eleven-and-a-half-minute video from the American Peanut Shellers Association shows the life cycle of peanut butter and other peanut products. For a shorter (two-minute) version of that same cycle, see the video from the Georgia Peanut Commission, which plays over the Marathons' song "Peanut Butter," the first song in the right-hand column on every page of this website.
The education page on the website of Houston's Peanuts has an animated video showing how peanuts grow. Just go to where it says "Click here to see the birth of a peanut."

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Welcome to creamyandcrunchy.com!


This is the website of Jon Krampner, author of "Creamy and Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food." Here you can learn more about peanuts and peanut butter...read an excerpt from the book...peruse the table of contents...learn about the author's appearances...check out the media page...take the peanut butter quiz... comment on the blog...contact the author...and maybe even decide to buy the book now that it's been published by Columbia University Press!

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The New Yorker Magazine says nice things about "Creamy and Crunchy"
Internet Litmag "The Nervous Breakdown " says nice things about "Creamy and Crunchy"
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"Peace with lots of peanut butter"

-- Susan Hovey Cohen

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Americans don't just like peanut butter, they love it.

Peanut plant. Note the twinned pairs of leaves, beautiful orchid-like flower, and sandy loam soil in which it grows best.

Skippy plant. The Skippy satellite plant in Portsmouth, Virginia, which operated between 1945 and the early '90's. Jif also had a satellite plant in Portsmouth (which also closed in the early '90's), allowing the town for a while to call itself "Peanut Butter Capital of the World."

5 SONGS ABOUT PEANUT BUTTER, 5 ABOUT PEANUTS, AND 1 THAT REALLY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER

"Peanut Butter" by the Marathons
This classic hit from 1961, almost a note-for-note copy of the version by the Olympics. It features a video from the Georgia Peanut Commission that shows the life cycle of peanut butter from the field to the factory. The standard peanut butter song. Recommended viewing and listening.
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
This wildly popular (almost 5 million hits on YouTube) song irritated me the first few times I listened to it, but the pure zen of it has worn down my resistance. I've thoughtfully posted a version that includes lyrics, as the inner-city dialect gets a bit dense at times.
"Eatin' Goober Peas"
The classic Civil War song about peanuts, sung as a duet by Burl Ives and Johnny Cash.
"Peanut Butter Conspiracy" by Jimmy Buffett
A charming and uptempo if morally dubious song about two struggling musicians who survive by stealing peanut butter from convenience stores.
"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo"
Okay, this really isn't a song about peanut butter. But it's alluded to in the chapter about Deaf Smith Peanut Butter, as both are emblematic of the good-natured hippy vibe of the early '70's that I'm increasingly nostalgic for.
"The Ballad of Peanut Butter" by Garrison Keillor
A woebegone (or Wobegon?) sentimental tale of a young man foolish enough to abandon peanut butter for "health food." Click on the "listen" link right below the title and date.
Toot, Toot, Peanut Butter!
A children's song about an unusual way to make peanut butter. Parental advisory: Don't try this at home.
"The Peanut Vendor" ("El Manisero")
Anita O'Day sings this big-band-era classic. Other versions, including those by Louis Armstrong, Stan Kenton, Xavier Cugat, Perez Prado -- even one by Liberace's older brother George -- can be found on YouTube.
"Salt Peanuts" by Dizzie Gillespie
A 1947 performance by Gillespie's band of this bebop-style jazz song
"Peanuts" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
A lively instrumental by this popular '60's-era group.
"Found a Peanut"
This children's song, which I learned about from a colleague of mine where I teach, is an object lesson about what happens when you eat a rotten peanut.