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Peanut Butter

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Making food, this peanut butter for instance, from scratch has advantages that are numerous and varied compared with purchasing their commercially produced counterparts. Clearly, the advantage my blog is most keenly interested in is the fact that making one’s own food is cheaper 99 per cent of the time. However, there is one only slightly less obvious argument for doing so – it makes it far easier to control exactly what goes into your recipes and diet.

For instance, even the most expensive supermarket brands of peanut butter contain palm oil, an ingredient both unnecessary and environmentally immoral – it has caused the destruction of the natural habitat of thousands of species of animals worldwide. The less said about cheaper products the better, for their recipes also contain brown sugar and peanut oil, in addition to palm oil. All of this unnecessary, environmentally damaging and unhealthy produce in a spread that really only requires two ingredients; peanuts and just a smidge of salt.

The trick to employ when making peanut butter is to process the nuts so much that they give up their natural oil –where’s the sense in adding peanut oil to peanuts?!Remember, they may at first appear to possess the unappetising quality of sand, but after a good four minutes of vigorous encouragement you’ll be in possession of the finest damn spread on Earth, that is, excepting marmite – I love that stuff.

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Flavour wise, I heartily encourage you to roast your own peanuts – salted peanuts tend to be of lower quality and, again, contain palm oil and sunflower oil. There’s something about home-roasted nuts that immediately trumps those that are pre-roasted – perhaps it’s the presence of the natural brown skin that lifts the flavour just that little bit? Either way, once you’ve tried this, you’ll never go back… it is seriously good, far healthier and exceedingly frugal.

Peanut Butter

Makes 1 jar

Ingredients:

• 200g natural, uncooked peanuts

• ½ tsp salt

Method:

1. Pop the nuts in a roasting tin with the salt and roast at 180C for 5-10 minutes. When done they’ll be crunchy all the way through, but make sure they don’t burn – it doesn’t take much.

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2. Leave your nuts to cool a little before popping them in the food processor and whizzing for 4-5 minutes until a smooth paste is left – you’ll know when to stop… if in doubt, carry on.

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Cost:A two-ingredient recipe is almost always going to be cheap. Depending on where you get them from un-roasted peanuts may be a little more expensive than roasted peanuts (which doesn’t make sense), but it’s worth it since they don’t contain anything superfluous. You’ll soon be enjoying this peanut butter for thefrugalprice of£1.30, far less than the£3.10asking price of the top-end stuff in supermarkets!

160 replies on “Peanut Butter”

I am eternally grateful that in the US finding “natural” PB is easy to find I grew up it so the partially hydrogenated stuff with palm oil is weird to me. Too sweet, too thick and too salty!!

Yes, I find it easy to get PB made from just peanuts (and usually, but not always, salt) in my part of the US, too. I hope it soon becomes more available in the UK. Here in Pittsburgh we have a natural foods co-op store where you can grind your own peanut butter into a jar you bring! It is quite tasty, and it’s fun to watch it come out of the grinder, though it tends to fall into the jar such that there are lots of air pockets and you have to keep shaking it down.

Nuts in jars, however, may be coated with all sorts of oils. I’m just starting to be more alert to the labels, after realizing that I was eating cashews coated in COTTONSEED oil–cotton is one of the most heavily pesticided crops and not even a food! Yuck!!

A little salt never hurt anyone :D. PB is extremely available in the UK, just not the stuff without palm oil. Cottonseed oil sounds a little gross – we don’t tend to have ingredients like that in our food over here…

Just can’t beat it! Good idea to roast them first – didn’t think of that. Just a note: you say it requires 2 ingredients: peanut butter and salt. I assumer you just mean peanuts and salt

I buy a brand called Adam’s which is just peanuts and salt as well, and I can probably buy it cheaper than I can make it, but sometimes homemade is just too good to pass up. I’m totally intrigued that you used peanuts with the skin still on! That must taste incredible.

I made my own tahini paste, my own hummus, now it’s time for my own peanut butter Thanks for this encouraging post.

I made my own pb several times (and other nut butters) but never thought of roasting my own peanuts. I’ll have to try that – thanks for the idea! And thanks for liking my antichef blog!

How frugal of you! In all honesty, I like making my own peanut butter too! Like you I hate the addition of sketchy ingredients to my peanut butter and also can’t justify overspending on something that can so easily be made at home.

Other than my beloved peanut butter, I can highly recommend making walnut butter at home, again, super easy and walnut butter is velvety smooth and is perfect eaten on a slice of toasted sourdough bread with a sprinkle of fleur de sel and a drizzle of honey. Sadly, walnuts cost an arm and a leg in Italy so I will have to wait till Christmas to stock up on supplies when I go home.

Reblogged this onSustainableeand commented:
Wow! Who knew that making a homemade jar of peanut butter could be so simple an affordable. Goodbye GMO, over-processed, sometimes salmonella infused peanut butter…hello wholesome, healthy, real peanut butter!

Totally concur .. just eating some lovely crunchy homemade PB right now! To that end, hold back about 1/4 of the nuts and add for a few seconds to chop them up nicely and you get the crunchy pb! It’s also really good if you add 1/2 tsp vanilla or cinnamon etc. Indulgent would be a little maple syrup … or chocolate. I love homemade nut butters and pb! So much cheaper and healthier. Love this post. Great way to reinforce the goodness

Ha! I just posted yesterday a 2 ingredient nut butter recipe too! Roasted Pecan Butter…out of this world….and made the best chocolate chip cookies ever, that I posted today. I love making homemade nut butters. Yours looks yummy!!

Brilliant! I can’t believe I hadn’t thought to do this until now! Everyone in my family loves peanuts and peanut butter…I can’t agree more, preparing food yourself is not only better for your budget, it’s also better for your body! Thanks!

I so agree about control of ingredients. I’m sure that’s why my children grew up strong and infection free – as did I. It’s horrific to read ingredients in manufactured foods. But alas for this recipe – I don’t like peanut butter. Love the smell, but even with crunchy it doesn’t do it for me. But keep cooking. Great recipes, mouthwatering photos

mmmm peanut butter… I’ve been meaning to make peanut butter for awhile now.. but with one addition..chocolate. mmmmm

Where do you get your unroasted peanuts? I don’t recall finding any bulk bins of nuts (off the top of my head) at Tesco or Asda.here in the US I can find them at a local store but as I am moving back to the UK soon any tips would be appreciated.

I have the advantage of living in SC USA so raw peanuts are readily available. I believe they are seasonal and available only in the fall and winter. You see vendors on the roadsides here selling hot roasted peanuts from a kettle all winter.

When I saw your picture, I just had to click it because Peanut butter is one of my favorite foods. I didn’t know you can make peanut butter out of just roasted nuts and salt until today. This is so easy! thanx! I’m definitely making this

Homemade peanut butter is worlds better than anything you can get at the supermarket, plus you have so much creative liberty! I love to add a dash of vanilla to mine, or a bit of cocoa powder and brown sugar for a nice treat. The possibilities are endless! I once saw the idea for a “trail mix butter’ that included peanuts along with chocolate candies, dried cranberries, raisins, and I believe they may have even been some pretzels thrown in!

这是一个哇…! !我们米ake a peanut chutney in India, using couple of other ingredients too. I tried store bought PB once. tasted it and just put it in the bin. When peanut goes in any recipe It has to be a star. I know this is a star. And whats the shelf life of this recipe ???

Yes that sounds like you! I’m sure that I used to buy peanut butter that contained nothing but peanuts and salt but I’ve forgotten which brand. Suma? Meanwhile I don’t eat peanut butter very often at all, now, because my digestive health’s not what it used to be (multiple sclerosis messes with all kinds of things) but I like the look of your recipe.

Did you see what one of our fellow bloggers wrote about palm oil? .http://anthropogen.com/2012/12/09/palm-oil-is-destroying-the-world/

I made my own sunflower seed (roasted) butter the other day. I roasted the seeds in a dry frypan myself and put them into the food processor that grunted…groaned…spun and generally complained itself to a degree of heat and an alarming smell that NEVER accompanies its production of minced meat…I am starting to think that I bought a carnivorous food processor that is bucking my vegan attempts to use it at every turn! I almost burnt out the motor trying to make my own coconut butter and I am starting to think that the big brand name on its front is really just a cheap Chinese import…sigh…oh well… I guess I will just use it to mince meat…I had to finish off my sunflower seed butter in my large mortar and pestle…it took me 30 minutes BUT at the end of it I was decidedly mellow… no thoughts of strangling anyone were settled deep in my psyche any more and I felt like I was walking on sunshine (PLEASE don’t sue me Miss Katrina! ) so I guess there are benefits to going old school on your nut/seed butter

You are so right! Homemade peanut butter is so much better than the commercial ones. I also like homemade cashew butter – so delicious!

I just made pecan butter the other night, complete with a touch of cocoa and sugar to make it chocolate. I am writing a post about it for tomorrow. All I can say is I had better not make big batches, because I am going to end up eating it all!

This looks fantastic and I will definitely be trying it! I love the idea of making almond butter too – I had no idea it was so simple! For those who might be put off by having to make it themselves, you can get peanut butter in health food shops which only has one ingredent, i.e. peanuts, or 2 ingredients – peanut butter and salt. Thanks for a great recipe!

This brings back good memories. A lady ordered a PB&J sandwich from a diner. The waiter brought some peanuts and jelly to her. The lady was surprised but I thought that making it from scratch is the way to go! Good stuff!!!

Quite possibly my favorite ingredient/food/meal. I’m in the middle of a PB post so this may inspire me to make my own. Is it shelf stable and for how long (not that it would last long!)?

Mmmmm….homemade peanut butter! Something I have been wanting to try for a while!!! Thanks for the inspiration! Thanks for stopping by our happy little homestead @ Stand Upon Grace for a visit! Stop by again sometime!
Blessings~Wendy

Which processor do you use for this? I am planning to get one but am really not sure about the brand, because most of them warn that processing for more than 2 or 3 minutes will burn the motor I am afraid to destroy such an expensive thing by making nut butters….

I would recommend against KitchenAid – I have had two different models crap out on me after only a few months of use (the first one was replaced under warranty, but now the replacement one is dead as of today, too.) Anyway, I’ve read some good reviews of Cuisinart food processors – I think that will be the brand I go for next.

What a great idea – I remember that years (decades?) ago Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden used to sell home-made peanut butter, which was made right in front of the customers. Not sure that they added anything to it then. Will definitely try to make this once my tub is empty. In France I get the raw peanuts by the kilo from Asian and North African supermarkets. I usually roast them in the microwave, works great!

I couldn’t agree with you more about what you’d said about controlling what goes into your diet by making your own food. I had someone give me an exasperated remark when I told them that something only took me about 45 minutes to make. I laughed, because to me that is actually great timing when working with all fresh/raw ingredients. I’ll take 45 minutes to make any of my meals from scratch over what people can get in 15 minutes from a box any day.

Oh wow, homemade peanut butter! Who would have thought it would be so easy to make? Thanks for the recipe Nick, I’ll definitely give this a go. My guess is, I’ll never buy peanut butter ever again!

Was just about to write to a local company (in Brussels) that makes peanut butter but creamy and too sweet. But thanks to your recipe I can make my own!! Thank you!

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