Comments on: Stirring peanut butter

Question: Stirring peanut butter

climalene — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:56:35 -0800

Is there a neat trick for stirring up natural/old-fashioned peanut butter? I prefer the pure nuts-and-salt taste and gritty texture of stir-it-yourself peanut butter. But I get oil everywhere trying to work it through a full jar, and I never seem to do a thorough job, because the bottom of the jar is usually a little chalky. It's even harder once the jar's been refrigerated. Has anyone discovered any techniques for stirring up oil-on-top peanut butter? Or am I the only one inept enough to have this problem?

By: MonkeySaltedNuts

MonkeySaltedNuts — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:01:46 -0800

I store my jar on its side - makes it much easier to stir.

And I don't think you need to refridgerate it. My jar of Smuckers says: "Refridgerate to reduce oil seperation".

By: paulsc

paulsc — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:07:38 -0800

There ain't a better mousetrap made, that the Google doesn't know about.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:12:03 -0800

that's funny paulsc... myself, when I buy the jar I turn it upside down for a day or two then open, then store in fridge.

By: Camel of Space

Camel of Space — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:35:44 -0800

Put a knife into it and stir it. Just be patient as to not have peanut butter go over the edge. I does take me about 5 minutes to do it thoroughly.

The bottom for me is always a little more solid than the top, but I deal with it. If it's really bad at the bottom, just add a little olive oil and stir that in.

By: holgate

holgate — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:28:13 -0800

Stir with a skewer: ideally one with a ring-end to grip.

By: donguanella

donguanella — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:56:02 -0800

My Kitchenaid hand mixer has an attachment called a Liquid Blender Rod. Its designed for, say, mixing a protein shake. However, it rules for mixing up peanut butter.

If you refrigerate it after mixing, I haven't experienced any post-separation.

By: bink

bink — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:58:55 -0800

I dump it into a stand mixer. Takes seconds, and cleaning it up is no worse than the oil down the side from the traditional stirring-with-a-knife method.

After you get it all homogenized, store it in the fridge and it won't separate again.

By: robinpME

robinpME — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:06:45 -0800

I use a fork and mix the oil into the top ~3/4 inch of peanut butter with the tines. Once the oil's mixed in and won't slop over the sides I use the whole fork to mix the bottom layer with the "oily" top layer.

By: ohio

ohio — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:16:57 -0800

At many natural grocery stores (including Whole Foods) you can grind your own peanut butter. The fresh ground stuff tastes better than even the natural style bottled stuff, and, here's the kicker, it doesn't separate. I guess the separation takes lots of time, and I've never had a fresh ground peanut butter long enough for it to separate. No separation = no oily mess!

By: scarabic

scarabic — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:17:54 -0800

I find piercing the entire thing with chopsticks helps the oil run to the bottom. Makes stirring a little less dangerous.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:21:25 -0800

I'm with Edgeways: I store the unopened bottles upside down, and flip them just before opening and stirring them for the first time.

You still have to be careful but it's a lot easier if they've spent a couple of days upside down first.

By: jholland

jholland — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 20:10:58 -0800

Nobody's mentioned warming up the peanut butter first. The brand I buy comes in a glass jar so I microwave the lidless jar for one minute (500 gm jar). Once warm the peanut butter is easy to scoop into a bowl to mix together with a spatula then scoop back into the original jar. Store in the fridge.

By: lhauser

lhauser — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 20:11:26 -0800

Interesting, scarabic... I always stab ours with the stirring knife before actually stirring it. Patience is indeed important. We never put ours in the fridge...can't stand cold peanut butter.

By: Eater

Eater — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 22:23:10 -0800

I'm with jholland. One minute in the microwave sans lid makes it effortless to use a broad-bladed butter knife to stir the peanut butter around in the jar vigorously, without spilling, no bowl-transfer necessary. If this process weren't very easy indeed, I would have given up natural p.b. long ago. After it's stirred, refrigerate and it'll stay stirred.

By: joeblough

joeblough — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 23:15:31 -0800

huh, i thought i read this on the green some time ago. the advice given was to open up a hole in the middle of the peanut butter with a knife by putting the knife all the way down to the bottom of the jar and moving the knife to the side.

that way all the oil goes down toward the bottom, and makes stirring the peanut butter much easier/safer. sort of like robinpME's method above.

By: Manjusri

Manjusri — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 00:43:24 -0800

I gave up on stirring. Now I just reach down in the solid stuff with a spoon and scoop it out. It gets a bunch of oil on it when you bring it out, and I mix it up while smearing it on the bread.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 06:09:14 -0800

I use jholland's method. But when it doesn't work out, I add more oil to the bottom, like Camel of Space. Except that I use peanut oil.

By: climalene

climalene — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 07:04:51 -0800

This is great. Had I the time, I would make a flowchart of the options available to me, because there are many. In the past I have tried flipping the jar, and I've tried any number of methods of careful stirring with a knife, spoon, or chopstick, and those weren't quite magical enough for me. I will give stirring another chance, but here are the new ideas I'm most excited about:

a. Put it in the microwave.
b. Transfer it to a bowl and stir it there, then return it to the jar with a rubber scraper.
c. Add oil to the bottom of the jar if it gets dry.
d. Dont refrigerate it. I dont know how this will fly, but I really hate cold peanut butter, too (and I swear my peanut butter re-separates even in the fridge -- maybe because it's poorly stirred).

paulsc, if you or anyone else has tried that contraption, I would love to know how well it works.

By: dersins

dersins — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 12:54:09 -0800

Late to the party, but storing the jar upside down for at least a few days has made all the difference in the world for me in the past.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 14:17:59 -0800

b. Transfer it to a bowl and stir it there, then return it to the jar with a rubber scraper.

That's what I do. It seems like more work, but I find it's actually less mess in the end. Less spilling oil everywhere.

By: Huplescat

Huplescat — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 14:33:49 -0800

This caught me five days into a week long experiment, so I terminated early in order to share preliminary results with the public.

I stored my peanut butter (with occasional shaking) upside-down for two days, then right-side up for a day, then upside down for a day, then right-side up again. I just now opened it and stirred down to the bottom with a knife to see how well mixed it was. It was about 90% mixed with just a few less well mixed lumps lurking in the center.

By: SoftRain

SoftRain — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 14:40:15 -0800

I can't believe how much effort you people all put in. I stopped putting mine in the fridge and now it doesn't get all crusty at the bottom, and is easier to spread. It doesn't say anywhere that you have to refrigerate it on the Canadian brand that I buy.

By: sevenless

sevenless — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:26:13 -0800

The brand I sometimes get is way too runny if you don't refrigerate it. But, you don't need any special attachments, just use a regular old hand mixer, but only put one of beaters on. Mix until mixed.

Then lick the beater clean. Much healthier than cookie dough, but maybe not quite as good.

Warming it up first is a good idea, though. I'll try that next time.

By: electroboy

electroboy — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 07:44:43 -0800

I second the Amazon link. My brother got me one and it's magic. MAGIC, I tell ya.

By: Monkey0nCrack

Monkey0nCrack — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:10:14 -0800

I do the upside-down store method, as well as microwave. I do not like cold peanut butter, so I nuke it before I eat it.

Maybe I'll just store it in the pantry now, not the fridge.