Natural peanut butter

Which brand do you prefer? And have you ever made it from scratch? If so, what was the consistency like?

I was just thinking to myself that I like Smuckers because it's different from TJ's in that Smuckers is sort of difficult to stir, yet it's worth it at the end to get a somewhat stiff texture. Whereas with TJ's, you hardly need to stir, and it seems very oily and gloopy.

But then I thought, "Hey, maybe TJ's is actually the most normal and Smuckers is unnatural, but I'll never know, having never made peanut butter from scratch."

Thoughts?

I think Costco's Kirkland Organic Peanut Butter is very good.

Never made peanut butter at home, but it feels like it would be a lot of work / time in comparison to grabbing a jar off the shelf

Peanut butter is easy to make from scratch.

1 cup roasted salted peanuts
1 to 1.5 tsp peanut oil

Put into blender or food processor and blend until desired consistency is achieved.

Oh, I didn't know oil is added to it. That's probably why the 2 peanut butters I had in mind are so different. So then it's all a matter of taste.

I don't have a Costco membership, but I'll look into it, and thanks, mchodera.

Cooks Illustrated recently did a peanut butter tasting and rated Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter #1. The entire article is here (membership may be required.)

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/tasting/TastingPeanutButterMJ01.pdf

stevez wrote:Cooks Illustrated recently did a peanut butter tasting and rated Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter #1. The entire article is here (membership may be required.)

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/tasting/TastingPeanutButterMJ01.pdf

(Fortunately, no membership was required.)

Oh, wow. I'm surprised to see Smuckers Natural tested dead last! It must be an acquired taste.

I gotta say, we're a skippy household, too. Skippy plus some chopped peanuts makes for some truly excellent peanut butter cookies. Which is about the only time we use peanut butter.

The CI taste-off doesn't include many other options (understandably).
I stopped using JIF when I saw 'palm oil' among the ingredients. We have a new TJs which is getting a bunch of my business - I like their natural pb - there's also an organic 'from Valencia peanuts' which is better but the margin doesn't (for me) justify the extra cost. These are made simply with 'roasted peanuts' (and salt if applicable). For the price, beats making my own.

In another thread - the wholekids pb was mentioned, though I haven't tried it.

The homemade PB from Whole Foods is the best I have ever had. It's in the bulk section and sold by the pound. Some of them even let you grind the peanuts yourself (i.e., flip the switch on the tank).

My daughter refuses to eat any peanut butter except Fisher's creamy style. She's not a big fan of nuts in general, but she loves this peanut butter. I must say, it has very little sugar, no trans fats and it tastes really good.

Suzy

stevez wrote:Cooks Illustrated recently did a peanut butter tasting and rated Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter #1. The entire article is here (membership may be required.)

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/tasting/TastingPeanutButterMJ01.pdf

While I love CI and value their dedication, I truly can't imagine Skippy being number 1!!!! But, it is amazing that something with so few ingredients can taste so different jar to jar, especially among the "natural" ones that I tend to buy. Not sure which is our favorite of these. . .I just know that it isn't Skippy or other processed brands with things added besides salt!

I love peanut butter and hate to admit that I usually eat JIF. But my boyfriend prefers natural, and I do at times too. He grew up in Washington (State) and has always loved Adam's Peanut Butter - now Smucker's distributes it so you can find it here. The crunchy is a little salty for me, but I love the creamy.

I have to put up another LOUD vote for grinding your own peanut butter at Whole Foods [used to be able to do this at Home Economist, too, but I think the few that are left might not have sufficient turn-over to have fresh enough peanuts to grind].

Not only are you likely to have fresh, organic peanuts to grind [and no added oils], but if you hurry on home you can refrigerate the PB before the oil starts to separate and not have to worry about mixing the PB up thoroughly enough. And that's a good thing.

The down side is that you can't have chunky peanut butter this way . I've had good experiences with some of the TJ's PB, but really freshly-ground is the best.

Giovanna

I started making my husband both peanut butter & almond butter recently. Both easy to do. Just grind one cup of nuts, he prefers unsalted and I roast the almonds before grinding in a processor. I don't add oil unless I'm having problems grinding. The peanut butter didn't need any but the almond butter needs about 1/2 to one teaspoon of oil. I use peanut oil for this so it is a lot healthier then most naturals that use palm oil. He thinks this is the best. I buy the almonds at Costco which are $9 something for about three pounds, finding unsalted peanuts is harder although I did find some at Trader Joes I don't remember the price.
Paulette

paulette wrote:I started making my husband both peanut butter & almond butter recently. Both easy to do. Just grind one cup of nuts, he prefers unsalted and I roast the almonds before grinding in a processor. I don't add oil unless I'm having problems grinding. The peanut butter didn't need any but the almond butter needs about 1/2 to one teaspoon of oil. I use peanut oil for this so it is a lot healthier then most naturals that use palm oil. He thinks this is the best. I buy the almonds at Costco which are $9 something for about three pounds, finding unsalted peanuts is harder although I did find some at Trader Joes I don't remember the price.

I'm a fan of TJ's almond butter and I have started considering making my own. Do you skin the almonds first?

Best,
Michael

paulette wrote:I buy the almonds at Costco which are $9 something for about three pounds, finding unsalted peanuts is harder although I did find some at Trader Joes I don't remember the price.

Paulette,

Unsalted peanuts (and almonds for that matter) are available at Lincolnwood Produce for relatively low prices. There is a large display of dried fruits and nuts in the produce dept.

Michael, No I don't skin the almonds. I don't always roast them either although I did last time in the oven for about 10 minutes basically I roasted them by smell not time or color.

Steve,
Thanks for the advice on nuts and fruit. I have been using a lot of both in baking and cooking lately.

Since I retired I have gone back to basics and been cooking and baking like I did over thirty years ago when the kids where little and I was a stay at home mom.

Paulette

The best natural peanut butter that I've found is Cream-Nut, which is manufactured by the Koeze Co. in Grand Rapids. I'd never been a big fan of natural PB until I found this. I use it for all savory cooking and I use it for the rare peanut butter sandwich that is consumed, though my son has just started to like it with either my strawberry jam or rhubarb-grapefruit marmalade. You can find it at Bouffe and at Treasure Island. (Though I discovered it first from the Zingerman's catalog).

For baking, at least when I'm using someone else's recipe, I still use Skippy's: it's a consistency thing.

I think I've found, for me, the perfect peanut butter - Parker Farms which I find at Whole Foods in the refrigerated section. It's all natural - no oils or sugar added, just peanuts and salt. But you don't need to stir it at all (once in a while there's a thin film of oil at the top, but that's rare). But the best thing about it is that the crunchy style has nice big bits of peanut - many whole and half peanuts. And it's sorta kinda local - or at least Midwestern. It's made in Minnesota (though I'm sure the peanuts travel a ways to get to Minnesota). And last I bought it, it was $3.39 I think for 16 oz. -not much different from Smucker's IIRC.

I am home sick with a bug today and wanting some PB on toast and was sad to discover that I was out. Hence, my writing longingly about peanut butter on a Tuesday afternoon.

yes! i second Parker's farm! love it! i first tried it at the Marion cheese market a few years back, and up until then had been grinding my own at Whole foods. i was thrilled when Whole started carrying it. i am partial to the honey roasted. it's even better smeared on warm toast with some rare bird preserves. yummy thread!

Been eating the organic natural PB from Costco for a while - it lacks all the non-Peanut weirdness in other commercial peanut butters. Just bought a bottle of the natural almond butter from Costco - not bad. It's odd that it doesn't have an ingredient list though - even the natural PB had a list of items.

I've tried Maranatha almond and peanut butter (from Costco and Meijer, respectively) and while their almond butter was scrumptious, the peanut butter was a little pasty and bland for me. I can't find it in the fridge at the moment, but I suspect it was a no-stir variety. I dearly love Krema, particularly because it has a homemade gritty texture and only one ingredient. That delectable grittiness might not win it many fans, but it reminds me of my childhood, when I discovered with the Campfire Girls that all it takes is a blender to make amazing things happen with food.

I'll give a third huge thumbs up to Parker Farms. Really really good flavor. It's always in the refrigerated section. I get mine at Harvesttime.

Not peanut butter, but I've recently tried some macadamia nut butter from Whole Foods. It's decent, but kinda misses the mark imho as the flavor is somewhat bland.

I was in Patel Bros. on Devon yesterday buying nuts for my Christmas granola. If you want to buy shelled peanuts to roast and grind, they've got 'em cheap. (All of their nuts--cashews, almonds, etc.--seem bargain-priced compared to other places.)

Also, I watched Dan Gill, noted bbq guy and owner of Something Different Country Store and Deli in Urbanna, VA, make cashew butter once--he just dumped a bunch of raw cashews, a shake of kosher salt and a glug of olive oil in an industrial food processor and whirled it until it looked right.

Patel Bros.
2610 W Devon Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
(773) 262-7777

Since making the conversion to natural peanut butter a few years ago, I haven't gone back and can really tell the difference. I do most of my shopping at your conventional grocery store (due to time constraints) and will pick up the Smucker's brand or whatever is on sale. My wife still buys Peter Pan and not only is it too sweet for me, it also leaves a strange oily film on my palate (I think due to the palm oil or trans fat ingredients). You really notice it when you go to clean the knife - the natural peanut butter requires hot water and a little rub in between your thumb and finger and the knife is clean (before it goes in the dishwasher) but the "other stuff" is like glue and needs a sponge. I know it sounds nit-picky but really, what else do you need in peanut butter besides peanuts and oil (and maybe a little salt)?

BTW, I think Alton Brown suggests using Spanish peanuts if you choose to grind your own.

Trader Joe's chunky peanut butter (green cap) is fantastic and relatively inexpensive. I go through 2 or 3 jars a month.

Trader Joe's chunky peanut butter (green cap) is fantastic and relatively inexpensive. I go through 2 or 3 jars a month.

You might be well-advised to try the Whole Foods 365 brand of natural PB. It's a whimsical $1.99 for an 18 oz. jar, and is invariably so fresh that it hasn't had time to settle into two layers. Available in both crunchy and smooth. (And for the purists among us, they also carry organic PB for about the same price of a similar-sized jar of Jif at the Jewels.) I like the grind-you-own option there, too, but it's far too dense to bake with.

My problem with the natural peanut butters (and most PBs, actually) is that they can differ quite a bit in terms of salt content. Some of what I consider to be blandness can be corrected with a sprinkle of kosher salt.

I tend to enjoy my PB with preserves on seed-studded bakery bread, toasted. While salting this is not hard, it is usually an extra step I don't really care to remember while bleary-eyed in the morning. I like Arrowhead Mills natural Valencia PB, but the mixing is sometimes a pain and this company only produces peanut butters without salt.

Over the last couple of months, I have been taste-testing many brands for the right balance of taste, texture (I like crunchy) and salt. I haven't found a winner yet. I don't even remember them all (steadily working through options at Costco, WF, TJ and local grocery), but the current choice, Tree of Life Organic Blended Crunchy Peanut Butter, has the unfortunate distinction of having weak peanut flavor, an unappealing pastey consistency, not enough salt as WELL as containing palm oil and being too sweet.

So far, my favorite has been the Arrowhead Mills with the sprinkled salt. I can go back to that in a pinch, but it seems crazy that there isn't a better option with salt out there. Maybe I will try the grind your own and see if the peanut flavor makes up for the lack of crunch.

I'll report back when I find the grail.

I'll report back when I find the grail.

Perhaps we should all join in seeking it. Anyone up for a peanut butter tasting?

Hellodali wrote:Perhaps we should all join in seeking it. Anyone up for a peanut butter tasting?

Absolutely. But only if there is no celery involved