This Nostalgic Peanut Butter Spread Defined Snack Time In The '70s

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Some retro foods are due for a comeback — products and flavors that are more or less lost to time, but definitely not forgotten by consumers who once enjoyed them. For anybody who grew up in the 1970s, Koogle might ring a bell. While it definitely wouldn't rank among the healthiest peanut butter brands, Koogle became the snack food of a generation, with its high sugar content, tempting flavor options, and kooky cartoon mascot.

Almost every '70s kitchen had certain things in it, and that often included a container or two of Koogle in the pantry or fridge — especially in a household with young kids or teens. Back in the day, many a child ate their way to the bottom of that jar while parked in front of Saturday morning cartoons. Technically, Koogle was a peanut spread, not a peanut butter — in much the same way Hawaiian Punch is categorized as a "juice drink" rather than a juice. Koogle contained peanuts, but it was also chockful of things like sugar, partially hardened vegetable oils, and dextrose, along with unspecified artificial flavors.

Koogle was offered in four varieties: chocolate, vanilla, banana, and cinnamon. The product became pourable when heated, which made it a good candidate for an ice cream topping or dip. Kraft even advertised it as an alternative to frosting, which people could whip with an electric mixer and use for icing cakes and pastries.

Koogle was introduced by Kraft in the early '70s — some sources say it debuted in 1971, while others report that it hit the market in '74. While the product definitely had some diehard fans, it didn't survive the decade. By around 1978 it was no longer being manufactured. The reason Kraft discontinued it is unclear, but the product came under fire from Consumer Reports and various media outlets, which began urging parents to stop feeding it to their children. Consumer Reports' reasoning was that it didn't fit the legal criteria for a peanut butter, having a ratio of peanuts to other ingredients that was too low, and also containing artificial ingredients, which the FDA did not permit in peanut butter. It also simply wasn't considered a healthy option for kids compared to ordinary peanut butter.

Whether this backlash played a factor in Koogle's disappearance isn't clear. While many liked the spread, still others greatly disliked it, stating their parents stopped buying it because it sat uneaten in kitchen pantries. So, the product may have just died of natural causes.

Posters on social media threads still long for the product though, with many sharing copycat hacks they've tried in an effort to re-create the treat. There's even a "Bring Back Koogle peanut butter" public Facebook group for admirers of the spread. For now, Koogle remains only the stuff of memory, as well as appearing on scattered items of nostalgic merch, like pins, magnets, and T-shirts.