The History of Peanut Brittle

No one knows just who invented peanut brittle. One story holds that a woman was making taffy in the American South in the late 19th century when she accidentally used baking soda instead of cream of tartar. Her mistake introduced air pockets to the batter and created a brittle, sweet candy. However, many cultures all around the world have been making their own versions of hard candy with nuts or seeds since well before the 1890s, when the unnamed woman made her accidental discovery. Experts believe that what we know as peanut brittle today likely emerged as a variation from one or more of those early candies. Because of this, there likely isn’t one single inventor of the treat, but rather, it seems to have naturally been created by many people in many different places as the natural result experimentation with existing candy recipes. What we do know for sure is that peanut brittle quickly caught on and remains a tasty treat that many families still enjoy today!