Friday, May 28, 2010

Questions about food: natural peanut butter

As the title would suggest, I have some questions about food. So I'm starting a little series, just in case you know the answers. (Ok, so far, I have two questions in mind, but that still counts as a series, right?)


So, first up: natural peanut butter. The Hubs and I recently bought a jar of natural, nothing-but-roasted-peanuts-and-salt kind of peanut butter.

We kept it in the fridge and stirred it before using it. It tasted pretty good, but the consistency was weird. It started out runny and gross-looking. Then, near the bottom of the jar, it got all clumpy. It was hard to get out of the jar and a little tricky to spread.

What's that about? Did we not stir it enough each time? Is natural peanut butter always like that? Is it just the brand (in this case, Trader Joe's)?

We actually just bought another jar, because we wanted to give it one more chance. But, this time, we want to get it right!

What do you know about natural peanut butter?

Photo by amanky.

7 comments:

  1. It does usually start out a little runny because you're fighting through so much of the oil. I have found that it helps to be vigilant about scooping out mostly peanut butter and leaving as much oil as you can in jar. It helps me prevent that unusable clump at the bottom phenomenon as well as not have not quite such a runny consistency at first. I do enjoy it though, if only for the fact that it feels edgy and avant guard while having a PB & J. :-)

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  2. Best one I found was Whole Food's brand. just a tad stirring and you're set for the life of the jar :)

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  3. Stir baby, stir. I love natural peanut butter but you do need to stir thoroughly. Make sure you get the knife all the way to the bottom. It's a little messy the first time but well worth it. I've found that I only need to do that the first couple of times I use it and then it's fine.

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  4. Thanks for the tips! It sounds like we just need practice. We're just gonna have to eat more peanut butter. (Darn.)

    Summer: Yay for edginess in sandwich eating! ;)

    Carol: I'll have to try the Whole Food's brand sometime. I don't get in there all that often, but that sounds like a good reason to go!

    Deborah: HA! Stir baby, stir! You crack me up!

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  5. I buy the Kirkland Signature brand organic peanut butter and I have had good luck with it. We store our jars upside down in the pantry before we open them so the oil has to mix a bit on the way up when you first open it. We then stir it well the first couple of times and it's usually good down to the bottom. =)

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  6. Liz: Great idea to store it upside down! I never would've thought of that.

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  7. I drain the oil off off the top scoop it into my food proccessor and add olive oil till it's nice and creamy. I also add some cinnamon and nut meg, but that's just cause I like my peanut butter with apples.

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