Ever since its creation peanut butter has been a staple of the American diet. American citizens on average eat 3 pounds of the stuff yearly. However, every peanut butter fan knows the 2 sides of an ongoing major argument, creamy and crunchy peanut butter. I’m here to argue as a champion of all thats chunky, but before I begin some history on our favorite peanut spread.

The first peanut butters have been dated back to ancient Meso-America in the Aztec empire. This ancient spread was a mash of roasted peanuts, and was eaten raw and creamy. This proto-spread would help inspire the creation of our modern peanut butter.

Let’s skip forward to 19th century when peanut butter was first patented by Marcellus Gilmore Edson, a Canadian pharmacist, who would mill or grind roasted peanuts until they reached a semi-liquid state, however It wasn’t until 1928 when people would add peanut chunks and people would eat it. This new way of eating peanut butter quickly spread, and though this variant of peanut butter surpassed creamy in taste, it never became more popular.

There’s a myriad of reasons why crunchy is the superior spread, save for its small, but devoted, group of followers, but for the sake of time I’ll give you two:

Health benefits of crunchy peanut butter
Most people assume that the two spreads would have identical nutritional benefits due to the fact the only major difference of crunchy is the crushed peanuts amongst the spread, but crunchy peanut butter actually has less saturated fats, more fiber, and more folate, a vitamin that can prevent anemia. The less saturated fats in crunchy, the biggest health benefit, means if you eat crunchy, as opposed to creamy, you’ll have a slightly lower chance of heart-related diseases and strokes. Though this may be a minor difference it may just save your life.

However, creamy fans have a case of their own. One thing they like to argue is that creamy peanut has extra protein, but it’s a small difference, hardly a win. If one would do their research they would find that, on average creamy only has about a .3 gram difference, not really enough to make a significant change. Creamy just can’t compare to the actual benefits crunchy has to offer.

Crunchy peanut butter has a better texture
Crunchy also reigns supreme in texture. Creamy peanut butter has a boring toothpaste-like texture. Crunchy fixes this by introducing peanut chunks which give a satisfying crunch. It’s almost boring to eat creamy, but crunchy’s elegant solution easily resolves this, and makes eating it an experience you will cherish your entire life.

However, polls state that 56% prefer creamy. Taking gender and age into account, it seems that men are more likely to prefer crunchy while younger children and women seem to prefer creamy.

If you’ve read this article and are overcome with a primal desire for that chonky, crunchy spread I think I’ve succeeded. And if you choose to continue to eat creamy peanut butter, I hope you can live with your mistake.