Peanut butter - what am I doing wrong?

[Crankin]

I buy my nut butters (almond, sunflower, and cashew) all in glass jars, at the natural foods grocery. Expensive, but worth it. Every time I've tried buying this stuff at my grocery store (which is quite good, overall), the taste sucks, or I find some hidden horrible ingredient.
I don't refrigerate, because they just turn into hard rocks. I haven't died yet (been doing this for years). You scared me, Oakleaf.

[ny biker]

The peanut butter I've been buying is the Harris Teeter store brand. The ingredients are roasted peanuts and salt. It is in a plastic jar. I can't say if it tastes better or worse than other brands because I've rarely eaten peanut butter before recently.

[rebeccaC]

I've read that natural nut butters respond better to an up-and-down motion than stirring. I noticed they have two versions of this tool, one of which provides that motion.

For a really thick consistency with separated oil the plunger type works best for mixing. For the majority of natural peanut butters the crank one works really well.

[BikeDutchess]

I buy Adams Peanut Butter in our regular grocery store. Not too expensive. Just peanuts and salt and comes in glass jars.

I'd never heard of aflatoxin before, OakLeaf, and your comment made me curious enough to look it up. At least in the US there have been no reported cases in humans and only sporadic cases in animals (per the FDA), so I'm not too worried and I'll go on keeping my PB at room temp for now. Our PB gets consumed pretty quickly anyway.

Rebecca - thanks for the great tip on the peanut butter hand mixers! My knife has served me well so far, but that gadget looks tempting!

Who knew that peanut butter would be the subject of such a lively and interesting discussion!

[rebeccaC]

At least in the US there have been no reported cases in humans and only sporadic cases in animals (per the FDA), so I'm not too worried and I'll go on keeping my PB at room temp for now. Our PB gets consumed pretty quickly anyway.

Rebecca - thanks for the great tip on the peanut butter hand mixers! My knife has served me well so far, but that gadget looks tempting!

you're welcome

and yes....U.S.D.A. labs have done rigorous testing for aflatoxin in peanut crops for a few decades now. If someone is actually worried about it apiaceous vegetables would help reduce a perceived problem….and they are good for us in any case. Peanut butter and celery ftw! If there was a problem we would have seen problems with liver cancer in U.S. kids who are adults now and probably ate/eat the most peanut butter of any of us. I also like the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote “Moderation in all things, especially moderation.”

Personally I usually use almond butter because it has a better fatty acid profile than peanut butter.

[IBrakeforPastry]

Oh good, mine's coming out of the refrigerator. I just remember reading the "refrigerate after opening" label and never questioned why.

[rebeccaC]

Oh good, mine's coming out of the refrigerator. I just remember reading the "refrigerate after opening" label and never questioned why.

refrigeration is about the oil separation especially in all natural peanut butter and the possibility of the oil going rancid. That takes awhile. It's not about aflatoxins. I don't refrigerate mine but i finish a jar within a month when i have it around. If I wasn't finishing it within a month or so or lived in a hot or humid area I personally would refrigerate it after opening.

[Aromig]

Lots of things to respond to! I never mix it without a mess so when I get down to the dry bits I give it to my dogs (we use PB and little bits of bread to feed them pills, make little bedtime treats, etc.). They don't care that its icky.

I also make my own nutbutters with my food processor. It's really really easy. I love pecan butter. The batches are so small that they never last long enough to separate.

I'm a sucker for neat kitchen contraptions. I've never seen the Witmer Peanut Butter Stirrer -- maybe I need to get one!

[OakLeaf]

Yeah, I said to begin with that aflatoxin probably wasn't a realistic concern, just old habits die hard after years of not buying PB in bulk out of the five-gallon pail that used to sit unrefrigerated in the store. It's not like I'm storing my crop in an unrefrigerated bin until next year's crop comes in - which is why it's so widespread in some parts of the world.

As far as glass vs plastic jars - actually, right now the supermarket is the only place I can get PB in glass, locally. We have a couple of natural food stores where I buy most of my staples, but neither one of them has PB in glass. And for some reason the supermarket is kind of hiding theirs - they started carrying a new brand called Sweet Ella's, but they put it one shelf over from the rest of their nut butters. Also, just because it's at the natural food store doesn't mean it doesn't have additives. The one store has four or five brands of PB, but only one of them is additive free (and I'm not even counting salt, which I prefer unsalted PB but isn't a deal-breaker for me, the way palm oils, sugar, or some of the other "natural" additives are).

[zoom-zoom]

Oh wow! http://witmerproducts.com/pbutter.html

That's the coolest thing I've seen this month!! I love Smucker's Natural PB, but the stirring thing can be a pain. We also store ours upside down until ready to unseal, as OakLeaf recommended.

[rebeccaC]

(we use PB and little bits of bread to feed them pills, make little bedtime treats, etc.). They don't care that its icky.

When I was really young I use to feed my golden retriever pieces of a breakfast sandwich made of French toast with an almond butter and banana center…..cuz he loved it…and me .....Thanks for making me think of that!!

I make almond butter….yeah easy! just takes me time/patience and some side scraping. I learned to heat the almonds a bit just before to help release the oil which saves a little time and food processor work.

[Aromig]

When I was really young I use to feed my golden retriever pieces of a breakfast sandwich made of French toast with an almond butter and banana center…..cuz he loved it…and me .....Thanks for making me think of that!!

One of our dogs is a golden retriever. I can guarantee that she would love French toast with almond butter and banana because she LOVES any people food she can get (and chicken food, and cat food, and well, really anything not nailed down) :-) luckily I think she's active enough that she's not getting fat like some goldens can do (she's about five years old now).

[OakLeaf]

My dogs figured out how to suck the peanut butter off the pill and spit the pill out anyway

[WindingRoad]

I'm late to the party here but I was at Fresh Thyme grocery the other day and they actually have peanut butter, almond and cashew butter they grind themselves with not additives other than oil.

[ny biker]

I've been able to reduce the mess of stirring by turning the jar upside down in the pantry for a few days before I open it.

Not sure if I mentioned this already, but when there's only a little left in the jar and it's dried out, my friend suggested warming it up (jar and all) in the microwave to soften it.