You Can Still Buy The Oldest Peanut Butter Brand In The US

Peanut butter is such an American staple that most people have a jar somewhere in the pantry or refrigerator (where it should really be stored instead). When they grab it to make a PB&J, spread on toast, or bake peanut butter cookies, it's likely one of the big names like Jif, Skippy, or Peter Pan. But there are many smaller brands out there too, including Krema, the oldest still in existence in the U.S., whose only ingredient is peanuts.

Krema Products Company began making peanut butter in 1908, in a name and product change that came a decade after founder Benton Black established the American Refining Company in Columbus, Ohio, in 1898 to make peanut and mustard seed pastes. The shift from paste to butter (and the Krema rebrand) involved roasting the peanuts before grinding them. Peanut butter had been introduced four years earlier at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. However, an earlier 1901 issue of The Boston Cooking School magazine printed the first PB&J recipe, featuring two unusual flavors for jelly: currant or crabapple to go with the peanut paste.

Krema was successful in Ohio; Black wouldn't sell beyond the state because of how fast the all-natural product spoiled. It wasn't until seven years after the method of using partial hydrogenation to keep the oil from separating was patented in 1921 that the first of today's major national brands, Peter Pan, debuted. Skippy followed in 1934, and Jif in 1958. As shelf-stable, partially-hydrogenated brands began to dominate in the 1950s, Krema's business began to suffer.

Richard Sonksen bought Krema Products Company in 1988, and acquired another small, all-natural peanut butter business, Crazy Richard's, not long after. Even though the two brands' products were essentially the same, he continued to sell both in stores. However, when his daughter took over in 2016, she ended the use of the century-old brand and began selling everything under the Crazy Richard's name.

Despite this, Krema peanut butter is still being produced today. Sonksen also had a nuts and candy business he sold to Mike Giunta in 1991 that's been run by his family since as the Krema Nut Company, and they've continued to make peanut butter under the historic name. The company roasts #1 Fancy grade Spanish peanuts in small quantities right before they're ground to ensure freshness. As always, the brand uses just the nuts, with no salt, sugar, preservatives, or hydrogenated oils. Krema Natural Creamy Peanut Butter and Krema Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter are sold in 16-ounce jars for $4.99. There's also a 12-ounce Hot & Spicy version for $4.39 that includes salt, dextrose, spices, and peanut oil.

They are produced in a small factory and sold online and at an attached retail store at the same Columbus location that was home to the original company since 1927. About 60% of the sales come from the store, and 40% from the website (per The Columbus Dispatch). Almond and cashew butters are offered as well, along with a range of nuts, snack mixes, and sweets like chocolate-covered nuts.