Buy Walking VideosHow to Make the Switch to Natural Peanut Butter
If you have ever tried natural peanut butter, like Adams, then you’ve probably been confronted with the inch-thick peanut oil at the top of the bottle. Gordon Luk gives us some pointers on what to do with it:
First off, to get a good initial spread, it’s really important to thoroughly mix the peanut butter paste with the oil. I usually jab downwards with a knife to the bottom of the jar, which allows the oil to seep down into the paste. After doing that for a while, it lowers the oil level somewhat so that you can move on to jabbing downwards then pushing around the jar. Since the paste is normally pretty hard, it’s easier to do this once the oil loosens up the spread a bit. After that, it’s a simple matter of stirring.
DO NOT pour out the oil thinking that you’ll save calories that way. You will be left with brick-hard peanut paste that will NEVER spread and you might as well just throw away the bottle.
I really HATE natural peanut butter sold in bottles at stores. They fill it so full that there is hardly any room to stir in the oil, even when you follow Gordon’s excellent advice.
Instead, I make my own peanut butter and almond butter at the health food store. There is a big ‘ole machine there that will grind the nuts up for me fresh. Since I’m paying by the pound instead of by the container, I will only grind enough to last me a week. Since it doesn’t have preservatives, I really should keep it in the fridge because bacteria can grow easily in peanut butter. I store it in the cupboard and if it gets older than a week, I throw it out.
Peanut butter is very high in calories, so I rarely eat it, but when I do, I make sure I have the best and grind my own. No mixing, no preservatives and I get to use a big noisy machine to make it! What else could I want?
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October 16th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Here’s the way to do it:
(1) Turn the jar upside down and leave it for a day or two before opening it.
(2) Open the jar and stir it with a knife. The oil should be on the bottom of the jar to a great extent, although there may be some hard, oilless peanut butter there you need to scrape off.
(3) Store the jar in the refrigerator upside down.
This will prevent the last part of the peanut butter being inedibly hard.
October 16th, 2007 at 8:46 am
October 16th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Here in Portland, OR you don’t even have to go to a health food store, they have grinders at Fred Meyer in the natural food section. It’s about the same price per pound as Adams. I just put it right in the refrigerator when I get home, it keeps a long time and I don’t have to stir it ever!
October 16th, 2007 at 11:30 am
My kids don’t like natural peanut butter, but when I buy it we turn the jar upside down as well. Some kitchen company also makes a lid with a crank that you use in place of the lid it comes with.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I just like the cheapo peanut butter more it has the same calories. The health food store stuff sounds cool though.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
My family and I eat Skippy Natural Peanut Butter. It is good, and may not be much better than regular Skippy, but I cannot eat any other natural peanut butter.
Love Whole Wheat Toast with Peanut Butter and Cream Cheese. 🙂
February 19th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
you can also make peanut butter yourself. the way i make it is: i shell a bag of peanuts (either all at once when i have the time, or a few at a time and keep them in a covered container) then grind them for approx. 5-10 minutes in a food processor. then i store it in a jar that i’ve saved from a commercial brand of natural peanut butter.