Have you ever made your own peanut butter at home?
What equipment did you use? Was it easy to do? Does it make a mess?
What kind of peanuts did you start with?
I ask because my husband wants to get a food processor to chop things up with, and he’s asked me to research what kind to get. I grew up with a Cuisinart and so started by looking at those – they’re expensive, even used (we’d probably get a used one), compared to other similar-looking brands. But if you can make PB with a Cuisinart, as Cuisinart says you can, it might be worth it; we like the stuff and go through an awful lot of it… I used to love grinding it fresh at the co-ops where we’ve lived before, though sadly there’s no place to do that anywhere near where we live now. But hey, maybe you can make PB in other food processors, too, if they have enough horsepower. Or maybe it’s a pain in the ass no matter what home equipment you use.
I make peanut butter (and hummus and other good stuff) at home with a little Sunbeam Oskar. It works like a charm. It is easy: just dump in the nuts, turn it on, dribble in some oil until the mixture goes gooey, and blend to desired smoothness. There is no mess, the mixture is warm after blending and scoops out easily with a spatula. It firms up as it cools.
I just use bulk unsalted roasted peanuts. If you like the taste of commercial peanut butter, you could add salt and sugar to the mixture.
Peanut butter is easy to make in a food processor. You don’t even need to add oil - the nuts have plenty of oil. All you have to do is dump in the nuts, turn on the processor and wait. Some peanuts are oilier than others - some Virginia peanuts are pretty dry, while Spanish peanuts are quite oily. The texture of peanut butter made this way is a little grainy compared to store-bought peanut butter. This doesn’t bother me at all, but if you like your peanut butter really smooth it might make a difference to you.
Cleaning up afterwards is just a matter of soap and water.
Technically, this is true; however, what I have experienced is that the nut mixture often needs a little encouragement to go from peanut “flour” to peanut butter. It does not take much–just a matter of teaspoons to get the mixture to change state. As you indicate, YMMV depending on the type of peanut being used.
How smooth can you get it? Personally, I really don’t like chunky peanut butter. I like it as smooth as possible. Is that attainable with a food processor?
If you’re talking “Jiffy” smooth, then no. If you’ve tried the natural peanut butters, that’s what you can expect. Not chunky, but grainy like a dijon mustard.
I don’t eat mustard, but I thinking it’s going to be like hummus. Love hummus, but that texture wouldn’t appeal to me for peanut butter. Oh well, no big deal. It just seemed like a fun project.
I am sorry for thinking that YMMV. I see how wrong I have been for falsely believing that sometimes a little oil is needed. Now I know it is never needed. Thank you so much!