In the early 1890s John Harvey Kellogg began experimenting with peanuts at Battle Creek in an attempt to make peanut butter. His aim was to use the spread in place of the animal product of cow's butter. Kellogg believed that he had made a "first" but it was later found that the Egyptians had been making a similar product called "sesame" for many years.
Kellogg manufactured peanut butter and other foods for use in the Battle Creek Sanitarium. When guests returned home they wrote asking where they could obtain his products. Thus began the marketing of his products.
When Edward Halsey arrived in Australia near the end of 1897, he brought with him the know how to make the Kellogg's foods here. On January 28, 1898 he commenced making the first Australian made peanut butter. It was produced by Sanitarium in a small Melbourne bakery in Northcote, Victoria. According to Halsey's diary, the peanuts used in the first batch were shelled and skinned by hand. For his toil, he was paid the grand sum of $4 per week.
Other facts relevant to the history of Sanitarium peanut butter:
- One of the first advertisements for (Pea)Nut Butter appeared in March 1898 . It was packaged in tins. The product quickly became popular with an agent ordering 144 tins in the first three months of production.
- A letter from Tasmania in early 1898 recorded, "We find nut butter better than represented. We like it better than anything else that is used with bread. Jam, butter, etc., is little asked for at our table since its advent."
- In the late 1920s and following, the Queensland Government, under pressure from dairy farmers, refused to allow the use of the word butter, except for the dairy product. This caused the Company to use the name "Peanut Paste" in Queensland for many years.
- During the 1930s and early 1940s peanut butter along with Marmite and several other lines were promoted by free samples distributed to householders, exchange of a coupon for a small sample jar when buying another Company product and by points that were collected from packaging and then exchanged for "gifts".
- When the New Zealand climbing expedition was preparing to climb in the Karakoram Mountains of Pakistan in 1988 they chose Sanitarium products for the good food value these products provided. The products included Sanitarium Weet-Bix, muesli, honey and peanut butter.
At Sanitarium, we're about more than just selling food. Our mission is to help you enjoy more energy and vitality - as reflected in our core philosophy, 'a better life through better nutrition'.
We've been committed to this philosophy for over 100 years and it's the reason we exist today.
