I love peanut butter but now realize that, although peanuts are realtively health, the oils added to peanut butter make it less so.
I’m thinking of making my own. Any suggestions?
Does anybody kick it up a notch, as Emeril would say? A little mustard maybe? Cayenne pepper?
I love “natural” peanut butter, peanut butter that is just peanuts and salt. I’ve never made it myself, but it should be pretty easy to make. At whole foods, there are grinders where you can add peanuts and dispense your own peanut butter into a tub.
If you’ve never had it before, the oil does tend to separate without the stabalizers that “regular” peanut butter uses. Usually, I open a new jar and give it a really good stir, it’s kind of a gloppy mess, but worth it. I can’t stand normal peanut butter now, it has a weird, waxy offputting texture and it’s usually too sweet.
As far as add-ins, maybe you can get some ideas from these sites?
http://www.ilovepeanutbutter.com/items_4.html
http://www.pbloco.com/Browse.asp?category=peanut%20butter
Well, Glory’s answer is so perfect, there’s not much I can add except that I, too, can’t abide the taste of processed peanut butter – WAY too sweet for me! And yes, isn’t that texture awful? It’s like eating shortening!
If you make your own peanut butter, be sure not to put in any peanuts that look shrivelled or dark. Peanut mold is nothing nice. But, you are much better off eating homemade or natural product. The only downside: It’s hard to eat horizontally, because it slides off your bread. 
a lot of stores (well a few anyway) have grinders right there in the store, also you can always go the “Adams” route, its a brand that sells natural styles including one whos ingredient list is “Peanuts”
the stuff is heaven compared to standard brands.
also almond butter is some damn good stuff as well.
And when you keep the “natural” stuff around, you’re like 30 seconds away from peanut sauce!
Mmm.
It’s easy to make peanut butter in a food processor. Just dump in the peanuts, turn it on and watch. It usually takes several minutes for it to go from finely chopped peanuts to peanut butter.
You can experiment with different types of peanuts. Virginia peanuts are good but often low in oil. Spanish peanuts are higher in oil. Some like people peanut butter made with the skins (not the shells!) left on.
Refrigeration helps prevent the oil in natural peanut butter from separating. The oil gets thick when it’s chilled.
My Vita-Mix makes stellar peanut butter. My favorite experiment was simply honey roasted peanuts. OMG! as a dip for sliced celery or apple wedges or graham crackers or marshmallows or bits of chocolate. It was amazing on a piece of toasted whole grain bread, too.
And when you perfect your peanut butter grind, try cashew butter and almond butter!
I don’t think I’ve ever purchased peanut butter with “added oils”. I’ve never been to a grocery store that didn’t have some jars that were just peanuts and salt.
First of all, there aren’t any stabilizers added to brands like Jif or Skippy that stop it from separating. What they do is remove the peanut oil, hydrogenate it, and then mix it back in. That is why it doesn’t separate, it is a room temperature solid trans-fat. Cheaper brands will even substitute a cheaper hydrogenated oil like rapeseed oil and sell the (unhydrogenated) peanut oil off for a premium price to people with better taste. This creates a flat tasting peanut butter, so to spark it up they add sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
If it says anything but “Peanuts, salt” on the label, run away. And it is super-easy to make on your own.
I haven’t tried it, but I’ll bet filbert/hazelnut butter would be great!
If it can be invented, it will be invented. Peanut butter stirrer for natural PB.
I have one of those - I love it!
I tried some natural PB using one of those in-store grinders. Fun little trick, but it was actually just a bit too bitter for me. Maybe I’m just used to the sweetness of manufactured PB, but it wasn’t exactly the experience I’d been hoping for.
I often stir toasted sesame seeds into my PB – it’s super yummy.
Another trick for preventing natural PB from separating is to store unopened jars upside down. That way the the oil starts moving back to the bottom, making it better distributed when you open the jar.
For longer term storage of opened jars, lay the jar on it’s side. Instead of needing to stir the solids/oil up from the bottom/top, you’ve got an even layer of solids on the side and room to stir the whole jar together.
(< peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth smiley)
CMC +fnord!
A shop near my mother’s place sells home-made peanut butter. They just grind them up and put the stuff into jars. It’s delicious.
Just out of curiosity, I took a look at my jar of Skippy, and while it definitely lists partially hydrogenated oils including rapeseed and the other non-peanuty-goodness stuff, the nutrition label does say 0 grams of trans fat. No HFCS either, just plain sugar.
Not to say it’s any healthier or better than natural PB, but it’s good to know it’s not quite filled with the really gross stuff.
When I grind my own, I let the oil separate out and remove about half of it with no ill effects. More than that and it will be dry and hard to spread.