Homemade Peanut Butter

Beginning during the pandemic when places like Natural Grocers and Whole Foods stopped allowing their customers to grind their own peanut butter, I have been grinding my peanut butter at home and storing it in the refrigerator. As a vegetarian, I eat peanut butter daily as a source of protein.

It was often difficult finding enough unsalted peanuts during the pandemic, and I sometimes ordered peanuts in bulk from New Jersey. More recently, I have been able to find jars of unsalted peanuts at my local grocery store and at Whole Foods. I have discovered that the 365 brand from Whole Foods and the store brand at Price Chopper make more than three large mason jars of peanut butter while the Planters’ brand makes less than three large mason jars because of the amount of waste included—that is, the seed coat or the wrapper covering the peanut.

I made the switch from store bought peanut butter because of the amount of sugar, particularly the amount of high fructose corn syrup. In an effort to get away from excess sugar, I began buying the grind-it-yourself peanut butter at Natural Grocers and Whole Foods. During the pandemic, our son gave us a peanut grinder for Christmas. It took us a while to figure out that we still needed to chop the nuts first before transferring them. I am at the point now that I can grind six pounds of peanut butter in an hour. Cleaning up afterwards is a bit of a chore. I usually soak the peanut grinder for a few hours first.

My students in one writing class are currently working on their information essay, which requires that they describe how to do something that they know well. If it were me, I would be describing how to make peanut butter.

Addendum

I am adding two pictures from my most recent batch of peanut butter. I had to use four pounds of Planter peanuts this time, so the peanut butter is a bit dark because of the wrappers covering so many of the peanuts. I tried sifting them, but it didn't help.

These pictures come from the end of the process. The peanut butter left in the drum and on the stones fill up the third jar.