Home-Made Peanut Butter

“If you can't control your peanut butter, you can't expect to control your life.”
- Bill Watterson (1958-)

To answer the famous query of who got chocolate on whose peanut butter? I would say the Aztecs. Just a hunch. Anyway, I'm not going to get into the silly question of who invented peanut butter as it seems to revolve around who patented it first and ignores the people like the Aztecs who made a paste of peanuts centuries before the patents were forwarded in the late 1800s. There are peanut "butters" being eaten around the world and poor dogs in kitchens in faraway countries are probably slobbering like mad, tongue working to get at the dollop stuck to the roof of their mouths by mischievous owners.


Peanut butter is one of those products that is cheaper to buy than to make. Home-made peanut butter is so good I am willing to pay the extra and really, what am I missing? Partially hydrogenated palm oil? Preservatives? No problem. This recipe is so versatile that it really needs only your attention to detail and taste-buds. After making it once you should be able to alter it to your liking.

Ingredients
3 cups of roasted nuts (whatever rocks your boat, I've done dry-roasted peanuts, hickory-smoked almonds, etc)
2 (or more) tbsp of light oil (I like to match the oil with the nut, peanut oil for peanuts, hazelnut for hazelnut, and so on)
honey, to taste

Method
Put the nuts in a blender and pulse to start breaking them down. Add a little oil and pulse some more. Repeat until you get the desired consistancy. I like to let it puree for a while to really get a smooth result, but stop earlier if you like it chunky. I always finish with a little honey to round off the saltiness. I suggest putting a tiny amount of honey, taste, and repeat until you get a balance you're happy with.

1 comments:

Becca said...

I LOVE peanut butter. I might have to try this out. Thanks!