Homemade peanut butter

gnolan

Looking into making this, as peanut butter is basically just ground peanuts, with a bit of oil and salt if necessary. Has anyone tried this before and how did it work out?

I have several questions. Does anyone know of a good place to get large bags of skinless unsalted peanuts? I notice that a lot of brands have palm oil in them; does this act as a preservative? What kind of shelf-life can i expect and is there any need to refrigerate?

Thanks

rubadub

I have liquidised up nuts before. The added oils are just to make it more spreadable. Asian shops usually have unsalted raw cashews and sometimes shelled pistachios, unsalted peanuts are harder to find in bulk at a good price, but I think holland & barret might do them, they might be still skinned though. They might not be roasted though, the meridian unsalted 100% peanut butter is made with roasted peanuts.

Dunno about storage, mine would be lucky to last a week anyway! Sometimes I just put whole nuts in bread for a peanut sandwich, just the same thing, like extra crunchy peanut butter.

Google should have lots of info, found this site first hit
http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com/recipes/index.html

gnolan

Does roasting the peanuts affect the fats in the peanuts in anyway? Thats probably a fairly difficult question to answer i realise. I read on that link:

"Regular peanut butter does contain a tiny, tiny amount (far less than 1%) of partially hydrogenated oil. It keeps the oil from separating out of the peanut butter and rising to the top of the jar, makes the peanut butter creamier, and dramatically increases the shelf life of the peanut butter. "

I'm wondering whether this is due to the roasting or is added in elsewhere.

rubadub

Not sure, but I think it might be added. I get this one
http://www.meridianfoods.co.uk/index.asp?Dietry=Wheat%20Free&details=146

Says roasted with skins on. I have to stir it up as the oil separates so I am guessing the others do add hydrogenated fat separately.

Roasting does do something to the oils, regular roasted peanuts look more oily than raw skinned ones. I read on some other thread about people roasting them below a certain temp to stop something happening, not sure what happened at higher temps but it was "bad" to some degree.

gnolan

rubadub wrote: »

Not sure, but I think it might be added. I get this one
http://www.meridianfoods.co.uk/index.asp?Dietry=Wheat%20Free&details=146

Says roasted with skins on. I have to stir it up as the oil separates so I am guessing the others do add hydrogenated fat separately.

Now that you mention that, i do remember that we have a 20kg bag of peanuts with skins on at home. Pretty sure they were bought in a pet shop. Too risky?!

rubadub

gnolan wrote: »

Too risky?!

Probably. I saw them in my local pet shop and they were actually cheaper in tescos!

I have gotten wheat and other grains in pet shops, not for eating, and I have found stones and other grains in them.

Since you are roasting them it would probably kill off any nasties, but I would still sooner buy new ones, pet shop stuff does not tend to be in properly sealed bags, could be gone rancid or anything.

EileenG

I just buy the cheap nuts in Tesco, rub them in a tea towel to get rid of most of the salt, throw into a blender, and blitz. If you drop them in gradually through the opening in the lid, they do more evenly. Then I put into a wide jar, sometimes with a little olive oil, and mash them hard with the back of a strong spoon. That does the trick.

rubadub

Tesco value nuts are stupidly cheap, think 200g for 49cent maybe 39cent. Lidl do 500g for ~1.30

I also rub some salt off, just with my hands, their cashews have lots of salt but you do not eat it all since it all gathers in the end of the bag. You could also rinse off the salt with water and just let them dry, or stick them in the oven to dry off, I imagine they would liquidise/mash better while warm too, and nuts taste lovely warmed up too.

I must try mashing in the jar, I got these free wooden tool things for mashing lime for mojitos which would do it well. Bonne maman jam and squeeze marmalade some in tapered wide mouth jars which would be ideal.