Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Products I Would Like to See: Category Peanut Butter

I am currently on a low glycemic index diet. 

Fortunately, peanuts are consistent with the diet and I like peanut butter. 

Unfortunately, the standard commercial versions of peanut butter have quite a lot of added sugar, which is not consistent with the diet. 

Fortunately, a number of firms make "old fashioned peanut butter," which contains only peanuts. 

Unfortunately, such peanut butter tends to separate, with the oil rising to the top. Stirring it is messy, especially when the jar is full, and one tends to end up with hard, dry peanut butter at the very bottom.

I think it unlikely that sugar keeps peanut butter from separating, although I could be wrong, and so conjecture that one of the other ingredients added to the standard brands is what does it. If so, it should be possible to make peanut butter that does not have sugar and does not separate. 

I want it.

What I want cannot be found, at least so far by me. I conjecture that part of the reason is information cost — the fact that the old fashioned peanut butter separates is an easy signal that it only has peanuts — and in part religion. The religion in question is the popular form of nature worship that equates "natural" to "good," and so rejects "chemicals" in food whether or not there is any reason to believe that they are bad for us.


12 comments:

Paul miller said...

Isn't this just an emulsifier https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulsifier. I agree with why you can't find it but maybe it'd be easy to add to "natural" peanut butter?

Rebecca J said...

I believe that the ingredient that keeps peanut butter from separating is the hydrogenated vegetable oil or natural palm oil, though I haven't looked at a label on such peanut butter in quite a while. I solve the problem by grinding my own peanut butter at places like Whole Foods or Fisher Nuts (here in Illinois) and then eating it relatively fresh instead of letting it sit on the shelf for months in a jar. It's really delicious.

Also, you can store the separated peanut butter upside down. That sometimes helps, unless it's already horribly solidified down there at the bottom before you try it.

If you search on "no stir" peanut butter, it mostly has cane sugar added, among other things, which won't really help.

Rebecca J said...

Aha! Here you go: https://www.walmart.com/ip/6-Pack-Maranatha-No-Stir-No-Sugar-No-Salt-Added-Peanut-Butter-16-Oz-Jar/900971949?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222222343014542&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=e&wl1=s&wl2=c&wl3=74423320944717&wl4=pla-4578022857231341&wl5=&wl6=&wl7=&%20wl10=Walmart&wl12=900971949_0&wl14=keto%20no%20stir%20peanut%20butter&veh=sem&msclkid=5ca6452bae3a1165e7cf1a4ad2697a8b

Maranatha is a good brand. The only extra ingredient in this one is the palm oil, which is naturally solid at room temp so it needn't be hydrogenated, which is where you get the trans-fats. Anyway, maybe you can find it somewhere.

David said...

Storing natural peanut butter in the refrigerator slows down the separation process significantly. I have also had good luck with Costco's store brand natural peanut butter, which keeps a reasonable consistency even over a week or two outside the refrigerator.

Anonymous said...

We like Adams No-stir. Peanuts, a little chemically-altered vegetable oil and salt.
Our favorite, so far.

Walt G

rob said...

I don't think it stops it from separating but if you store peanut butter lid-side down then when you open the jar you have ready access to a layer that is spreadable without the need to to stir it.

Dave Lull said...

I eat Smucker’s Natural Creamy Peanut Butter that’s been stirred with the R W Witmer Natural Peanut Butter Model 100 Crank Mixer. I store the peanut butter in the fridge and have had no problem with separation.

offby1 said...

I liked Amazon's

365 Everyday Value, Organic Creamy Peanut Butter, Unsweetened

but it's not available now 😬

rtanen said...

Santa Cruz Peanut Butter sells no-stir no-sugar-added peanut butter as well. As others in the comments have said, the secret is typically in the palm oil.

Iris Engelson said...

Skippy makes a version with no sugar: https://www.peanutbutter.com/peanut-butter-spread/skippy-creamy-peanut-butter-no-sugar-added

Anonymous said...

until you find your holy grail peanut butter, you could use the tip my brother-in-law taught me. before you open it, turn it upside down and shake it vigorously until it's mixed. if you don't want it to separate again, keep it in the fridge.

William H. Stoddard said...

C and I have lost our taste for peanut butter (though Laura Scudder's makes a sugar free peanut butter that we used to like, though it does have maltodextrin), but when I buy cashew butter, I turn the jar upside down in the refrigerator. That causes the separated oil to diffuse upward and infiltrate the grains of cashews. You might try it if you can't find the product you want.