Sometimes the planets align, and things come together. One of the kitchen tools that I grew up with is a hand grinder, and I don't think I could cook without it. But sometimes, we never really look at familiar things. I'd never, ever, paid any attention to this particular choice of cutter wheel. See what it says?
Well, I also still had about a half pound of raw peanuts. These were the last of a larger bag that SIL, Loretta, brought to us at Christmas. They were getting stale, and so I decided to bring those two entities together.
So, I began. Wow! I'm not a weakling, but I sure learned that if I were going to make my own peanut butter on a regular basis, I'd gain a muscle or two. Nevertheless, I soon had a dish full of little maggoty-looking peanut shreds. It didn't appear to have enough oil, so I went right to the internet.
Yup, you have to add extra oil. I didn't have any peanut oil, so I just used Canola. It seems fine, but it took more oil than I expected to make it spreadable.
I also ground up some salted peanuts to add to the raw ones. It ended up with a pretty good taste. But I like crunchy peanut butter. So I changed cutter wheels, and ground up one more little pile of peanuts. Overall the background texture is much grainier than store peanut butter, and the peanuts that were a little stale make... stale-tasting butter. That's not exactly a surprise. But I'll eat it. I was surprised at how much butter I ended up with from what didn't look like a very big pile of peanuts.
Would I do this again? Maybe. I'll tell you after I eat up this batch.
10 comments:
My old mincer is still set up in the shed for the odd times I make bird cake for the wild birds - I grind up peanuts and sunflower hearts to mix in.
The good old meat grinder. I have a lot of fond memories of it. I don't have one anymore.
I never thought of using one to make PB. Love the Nut Butter cutter label. I guess that is how butter was made in homes. I use my processor to make PB. it does a great job. However I would love to try a grinder. I know There is one at Dads. I will have to find it.
Hmmmmm, I have never thought to make my own peanut butter. I'll bet it is good. Would it keep on the shelf or do you have to store it in the refrigerator then?
I used to puree my own baby food back in the day. The colors were so much more vibrant than the store stuff. Can't believe I had the time to do that back then!
For the two and a half years that we lived in Ecuador, Sylvia made peanut butter for the boys. As I recall she added oil and sugar to the ground peanuts.
Mmmmm, peanut butter ...
I thought about trying to make my own peanut butter once but that's as far as I got :) Might be kind of fun to try though.
I'd love to have one of those. That seems more fun than the food processor. It's definitely more of a workout, but my arms could use some definition anyway. :)
Carol- they sure work without error, don't they!
Russ- I wonder who still uses them?
Auntie E- you would have good fun with it!
Lin- they say in the fridge, but if you don't make too much at one time, it should be fine.
Chuck- never thought about places where there is NO peanut butter. Frightening! (I have to have pb)
Dennis- yup!
Ann- I read that it's quite easy in a food processor, just not as much fun.
Ivy- yes, I like the hand methods too
I never thought of making my own peanut butter - though I'm sure it would be easily done in my Cuisinart. I just bought almond butter, for the first time, the other day...it's good but I am so used to the taste of peanut butter, it took me awhile to get used to it.
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