{"id":412678,"date":"2026-09-28T10:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/412678\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T10:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:56:16","slug":"tampa-bay-get-ready-for-floridas-peanut-butter-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/412678\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay, get ready for Florida\u2019s peanut butter challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It&#8217;s time to look in the pantry: the statewide 2026 <a data-ylk=\"slk:Peanut Butter Challenge;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu\/peanutbutter\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Peanut Butter Challenge<\/a> is near.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The University of Florida\/IFAS Extension and Florida A&amp;M University Cooperative Extension created this annual competition to combat food insecurity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">During October, residents can support Florida&#8217;s peanut producers and people in need by donating unopened and unexpired jars of peanut butter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At the end of the collection period, the jars go to local food pantries just in time for the holiday season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Last year, Polk County won the challenge with 1,844 jars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Are you ready to join the friendly competition? Here&#8217;s what to know.<\/p>\n<p>Is peanut butter the only acceptable item in Florida&#8217;s Peanut Butter Challenge?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Yes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While some counties also accept almond butter donations, peanut butter is in high demand at food pantries.<\/p>\n<p>Where are donations accepted in Tampa Bay for Florida&#8217;s Peanut Butter Challenge?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Unopened and unexpired jars can be taken to the county UF\/IFAS Extension offices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hernando: 16110 Aviation Loop Drive, Brooksville.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hillsborough: 5339 County Road 579, Seffner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Manatee: 1303 17th St. W., Palmetto.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Pasco: 36702 County Road 52, Dade City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Pinellas: 12520 Ulmerton Road, Largo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Polk: 1702 Highway 17 S., Bartow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Sarasota: 6600 Clark Road, Sarasota.<\/p>\n<p>What does Florida&#8217;s Peanut Butter Challenge winner get?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The winning county gets bragging rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s time to look in the pantry: the statewide 2026 Peanut Butter Challenge is near. The University of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[163566,28,3535,163567,163106,98137,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-412678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-almond-butter","tag-florida","tag-food-insecurity","tag-jim-kinney","tag-local-food-pantries","tag-peanut-butter","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}