DIY Peanut Butter

Certain people haven't realized it yet, but our days of buying peanut butter, that childhood staple, are over. This truth might have been obscured by the fun we had taste-testing homemade versions of the spread recently (pics below) and the fact that there's still a tiny scraping of brand-name PB left in the jar, leading to a false sense of peanut security. When that jar is gone, it's gone. We don't shy away from tough decisions here at the Unprocessed Project. (I did notice, however, that the commercial stuff has a consistency remarkably like caulking; perhaps I should keep some around for sudden leaks. I bet it would work.)

What's the problem with store-bought PB? For starters, sweeteners--notably icing sugar (aka confectionary sugar)--and the wrong oils. The food industry adds cheaper non-peanut oils, such as soybean, cotton and palm, as well as hydrogenated vegetable oils (imagine eating a dollop of Crisco) as stabilizers. On the label of our jar, this last ingredient is followed, ominously, by "(1011C)", which I can only assume refers to a lab formula.** Another problem is value for money--the price of your PB and J has likely risen in the last year, and the jar sizes keep shrinking, which is the same thing, but quite a big bag of peanuts in the shell is not expensive.

I should note that the brand-name product we tested (sample Y below--and okay, it's Kraft) is actually unsweetened and unsalted. The label makes several health claims on a green banner festooned with the tagline "Sensible Solutions": "Source of 5 Essential Nutrients; Trans Fat Free; Low in Saturated Fat". The five nutrients are Vitamins E and B3, folate, magnesium and phosphorus. This is a perfect illustration of  nutritionism, an ideology and ultra-effective marketing tactic, which Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto exposes. I've been reading that book today--not new, of course, but I'm finally getting to it. Oh, the lies we've been sold over the years--processed nutrients of all kinds marketed as better for you than the real food they replaced.

All-natural PB is available in supermarkets, but a) my kids hate it, and b) the oil slick on top is messy and unappetizing. Our homemade PB didn't separate during a week in the fridge. No need for stabilizers.

Raise your hand if you ever made PB in kindergarten--long, long ago, before peanuts were booted out of the schools over allergy concerns. Today's pupils will never know that joy. They'll have to make do with shaking a jar of cream until it turns to butter (so boring!), but anyone without allergies can try this at home. It's satisfying to puree the peanuts, which takes almost no time. Siblings can work out their aggressions by punching the buttons of the food processor or blender, and the grinding noise will drown out bickering. What does take time is shelling the peanuts. Do that chore ahead, or better yet, delegate it.

I found numerous recipes online, all variations on the following basic idea:

2 c. shelled peanuts (roasted, salted or not)

1 tsp salt (optional--and I found this amount to be too much, so maybe start with less)

1 tbsp honey (also too much--it's totally optional)  

Small amount of oil (anything but olive oil) added during processing--a tablespoon or 2--until the desired consistency is reached.

Store in refrigerator.

I made one batch with just peanuts, salt and oil (sample X), and another with the honey added (sample S). Both homemade PBs tasted genuine, fantastic, and still the rotten kids picked Y. How I missed my eldest girl the day we sampled! She would have been on my side. Best-in-show PB, according to me? The two homemade variations combined.  

PS: We do have a family friend with a peanut allergy, so all of this handiwork will vanish when he's around.

** In the US, FDA rules require PB to contain at least 90% peanuts by weight, or else it can't be called peanut butter.  See explanations 1 and 2 (both short!, from an organization that certifies food as kosher) on the need for stabilizers in commercially prepared PB, and the food industry's success in convincing the FDA that any hydrogenated vegetable oil will do for this purpose, not just hydrogenated peanut oil.