Marcellus Gilmore Edson (1849 – 1940) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada obtained a patent for a method of producing peanut butter from roasted peanuts using heated surfaces in 1884. Edson's cooled product had "a consistency like that of butter, lard, or ointment" according to his patent application which described a process of milling roasted peanuts until the peanuts reached "a fluid or semi-fluid state". He mixed sugar into the paste to harden its consistency. A businessperson from St. Louis named George Bayle produced and sold peanut butter in the form of a snack food in 1894.