How to Make Homemade Peanut Butter

Here's how to make your own natural homemade peanut butter from fresh or roasted peanuts. There are many reasons to do so: taste, nutrition and safety. Almost all of the commercial peanut butters contain added sugar, salt, oils, and often preservatives. Home-made peanut butter is not only healthier, is also tastes much better! You can make it smooth, chunky or in between! You can use peanuts, cashews, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, or other nuts, including a mixture.

You won't need to worry about your homemade peanut butter being contaminated with Salmonella nor cancer-causing alfatoxins (see this page for more information about aflatoxins). If you need a reminder that you shouldn't trust your health to corporate processed foods, just read about the 2007 recall of Peter Pan peanut butter and the January 2009 outbreak of illnesses caused by Salmonella Typhimurium from peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) at its Blakely, Georgia processing plant. See this page for details of those recalls.

So let's see how easy it is to make your own peanut butter! Here's how to do it, complete instructions in easy steps and completely illustrated.

Prepared this way, the jars have a refrigerator shelf life of 3 or 4 months and indefinitely in the freezer. Unfortunately, it is not considered to be safe to "can" peanut and other nut butters at home.

Directions for Making Peanut Butter

Makes about 1 quart of peanut butter

Ingredients

1 bag of unshelled peanuts or 1 can (2 cups or 1 lb) of shelled, raw or roasted peanuts (I think unsalted is healthier - you can always add salt, if you want to)
Vegetable oil (just a small amount, 1 or 2 tablespoons). I prefer peanut oil, but corn, sunflower, safflower, etc,. all work. I would not use olive oil because it would adversely affect the taste.

Equipment

Blender or Food processor (a blender or fine food grinder seems to work best)
Bowl
Spatula

Recipe and Directions

Step 1 - Shell the peanuts

Unless you bought shelled peanuts, you will obviously need to shell them and discard the shells (they make great mulch in the garden or add to your compost). I just quickly shell them by hand, and don't bother much with the thin read skins. When I have the peanuts shelled, I take them outside and just blow into the bowl while stirring it. The skins float away!

Step 2 - Assemble your blender or food processor and ingredients

Set up your blender or food processor with the metal food processor blade attached, and add 2 cups of raw or roasted shelled peanuts into it.

Step 3 - Get chopping!

Cover the bowl with the blender's lid and chop up the peanuts continuously for 2 to 3 minutes or until the mixture starts to clump up and is finely chopped.

Step 4 - Scrape and finish chopping

Scrape down the food processor bowl to mix back the peanuts that are pushed to the outside where they won't get chopped. Process until you get the consistency you like (chunky or smooth).

Step 5 - Add the vegetable oil

Most peanuts don't contain enough oil naturally to make a smooth butter. You only need to add about 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vegetable oil (peanut oil is best, obviously, but any neutral flavored oil, like sunflower or canola oil works). Just mix it in with a fork. Your blender may not be powerful enough to do this without sticking, so you may want to mix the oil in, in a separate bowl.

Step 6 - Tasting

Taste the peanut butter and add a touch of salt, if you like! For those that prefer a sweet peanut butter, you can add 1 tablespoon of honey, brown sugar or, if you are diabetic, Splenda or other artificial sweetener.

Step 7 - Eat or store

Just spoon peanut butter into a jar and seal. Store it in the refrigerator until you use it. It should keep for a month or two. You can also freeze it. It will keep indefinitely in the freezer. In both cases, you may need to stir the peanut butter to mix the oils back in (the oil tends to separate over time). And no, you cannot "can" the peanut butter - it is too low acid to safely can with home equipment.

* All the tools you need for hot waterbath canning - in one comprehensive set!
* Complete with 21 1/2 qt. enameled waterbath canner and "Ball Blue Book" of canning.
* Also includes canning rack, funnel, jar lifter, jar wrencher, bubble freer, tongs and lid lifter.
* A Kitchen Krafts exclusive collection.

Average Customer Review:
Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Home Canning Kits

Features:

Everything you need to get started with waterbath canning (fruits,pickles, jams, jellies, salsa, sauces and tomatoes)
21-1/2 qt. enamel water bath canner
Funnel, jar lifter, lid lifter, bubble freer spatula
Ball Blue Book

This is the same type of standard canner that my grandmother used to make everything from peanut butter to jams and jellies to tomato and spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs, lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel, labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball Blue Book. You'll never need anything else except more jars and lids!

VillaWare V200 Food Strainer

With this Food and Vegetable Strainer, you'll be able to prepare more healthy foods, make natural sauces, soups and jams - even your own baby food! The tedious job of peeling and coring is eliminated as the strainer continuously separates the seeds and skins from the juices and pulp with just a turn of the handle. The highly polished body contains no paint or coatings that can chip or peel off, is easy to clean, and stands 19-in. high with the attached hopper. Click at left for more information, images accessories or to order.

Features:

Stainless-steel construction
Manual crank system
Replaces peeling and coring
Assembly required
Wash all parts in hot, soapy water
Optional additional screens for berries, pumpkin, salsa, tomato sauce

Deluxe Food Strainer & Sauce Maker

See this page for more information, reviews, descriptions of other strainers and supplies or to order!

With the Deluxe Food Strainer/Sauce Maker, you can make creamy apple sauce and smooth tomato sauce without having to peel and core! This multi-use strainer forces food through a stainless steel screen, automatically separating the juice and pulp from the seeds, shins, and stems. Perfect for purees, creamed soups, baby foods, pie filling, juices, jams, and more. Save time, effort, and money by preparing your own tasty sauces to be used immediately or boiled for future use. Do bushels with ease and in a fraction of the time. Includes the tomato/apple screen with easy twist on design and instruction/recipe booklet.

The Deluxe model comes with the standard Tomato/Apple Screen; as well as the Berry Screen, Pumpkin Screen, and Grape Spiral. Note

Lids, Rings, Jars, mixes, pectin, etc.

Need lids, rings and replacement jars? Or pectin to make jam, spaghetti sauce or salsa mix or pickle mixes? Get them all here, and usually at lower prices than your local store!

Get them all here at the best prices on the internet!