# The taste of peanut butter vs. peanuts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905 "2018-01-18T14:25:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/1 "2018-01-18T14:25:34Z")
My peanut butter of choice consists of nothing but peanuts and salt. Why doesn’t it taste exactly like salty peanuts? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/2 "2018-01-18T14:37:25Z")
[It’s not the same peanut.](http://nationalpeanutboard.org/peanut-info/peanut-types.htm) > [@](#): > > **Runner Peanuts** > Uniform in kernel size (which allows for even roasting), the runner peanut is most commonly used for making peanut butter. It is typically grown in the states of Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Oklahoma; and accounts for 80 percent of the peanuts grown in the United States. > **Virginia Peanuts** > The largest of all peanuts, the Virginia peanut is also known as the “ballpark” peanut and is often used in gourmet snacks. Virginia peanuts account for about 15 percent of total U. S. production and are grown mainly in southeastern Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, South Carolina and West Texas. Virginias are a popular peanut used for all-natural peanut butter. Spanish peanuts also get used for PB. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/3 "2018-01-18T15:11:08Z")
Plus, a very large part of what we think of as “taste” is actually texture or mouthfeel, and that’s certainly different between whole peanuts and peanut butter. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/4 "2018-01-18T16:54:23Z")
And on top of that, there are tasty compounds found in peanuts that are not released by simple crushing. You have to really grind them fine. In peanut butter the peanut oil is “right there”, even floats to the top of the good kind. But you don’t generally don’t get an oily mess if you chop peanuts with a knife or crush them with your teeth. So actually grinding them so fine the oil is released both substantially changes the mouth feel and texture, as Chronos mentions, and adds more readily accessible peanut oil taste. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/5 "2018-01-18T16:57:26Z")
And why doesn’t hazelnut flavored coffee taste like hazelnuts? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/6 "2018-01-18T17:04:13Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > And why doesn’t hazelnut flavored coffee taste like hazelnuts? Because of the coffee. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/7 "2018-01-18T17:27:31Z")
Since I love eating natural PB straight from the jar, **panache** ’s question had been in the back of my mind as well. The Dope, where your questions can be answered even before you ask them! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/8 "2018-01-18T18:29:31Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [It’s not the same peanut.](http://nationalpeanutboard.org/peanut-info/peanut-types.htm) > > Spanish peanuts also get used for PB. But, wait, that makes it sound like the same peanut: the Virginia peanut. Or at least when I think of peanuts, I think of what you eat at the ballpark. That said, I’ve never noticed a big difference between ballpark peanuts and Planters. They all taste like peanuts to me. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/9 "2018-01-18T19:20:42Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > And why doesn’t hazelnut flavored coffee taste like hazelnuts? Because it tastes like filberts. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/10 "2018-01-18T20:21:22Z")
There really ought to be a comic strip or something with an old married couple named “Hazel” and “Filbert”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-taste-of-peanut-butter-vs-peanuts/806905/11 "2018-01-18T20:45:10Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > And why doesn’t hazelnut flavored coffee taste like hazelnuts? It does, which is why I never drink it!