i made my own peanut butter today

[phantasmagoric]

and it turned out surprisingly well! its dryer and thicker than commercial stuff, which makes it a little bit harder to eat (sticks to your tongue), but its not bad. :)

here's what i used:

2 cups raw peanuts - i shelled them myself
1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp peanut oil
6 drops stevia

i put the peanuts and oil in the blender and blended for 5 minutes, occasionally scraping the sides into the middle. once i started to get a creamy texture, i added the stevia, and blended for another minute.

my only complaint is that its a little too dry for my liking. i think next time i might use a bit more oil, and let it blend longer.

[monkeyfrog]

Hi, I always make my own peanut butter as it is hard to find here in Mexico. (Or the ones you can find are FULL of sugar.)

I use 1 lb. of dry roasted peanuts
3 packets of Splenda
1/4 cup of peanut oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt


I blend this in a food processor for about 3 minutes, and it comes out quite tasty!

[Gaelen]

Phantasmagoric, I have to agree...use a touch more oil, drizzling it in until you have the consistency you like.

I also like to use roasted nuts for a nuttier flavor. A 'chunky' variation--to each cup of creamy peanut butter, mix in 1/4 cup of coarsely chopped peanuts for 10-15 seconds at the end.

This is the kind of job the Magic Bullet was made for.

[mcsblues]

I guess this is an American thing, but why on earth do you add sweeteners to peanut butter?? (or oil for that matter!)

Here we can get fresh ground PNB from health food stores (you can set the grinder depending on how smooth you want it - just like a coffee grinder) which has nothing but roasted peanuts in it. I don't get it often though, because peanuts are pretty carby ... and it doesn't last long around here.:o

[Mitra]

You did it again, Malcolm. I've been wondering the same thing :confused:.

[Gaelen]

If you get raw peanuts and roast them yourself, you don't need to add too much oil...but if you purchase roasted peanuts, you might need to add peanut oil, depending on how fresh they are. Roasting does take out some of the oils...and I really prefer the taste of roasted nut butters to the taste of raw nut butters.

That said, I don't add any sweeteners...usually just nuts, and a pinch of salt. I'll keep some nut oil on hand just in case I don't like the consistency.

But Malcolm--peanut butter is 'carby'? Where are you getting your peanuts? ;) One tablespoon of fresh, even commercial, smooth peanut butter with no sugar added comes out around 2g ECC for 4g protein. Almond butter is 3g ECC for 2g protein. Each features over 100mg of potassium and good fats as well. As carb bargains go, that's right up there.

[mcsblues]

OK, carb counts depend on the source which as you know varies a lot. Also it depends on how the nuts are prepared (raw, dry roasted, oil roasted etc) - this seems to apply especially to peanuts! But this is a good indicator (thanks ZG!:)) FANZ is 'our' USDA.



Nuts – Carb counts for 100g servings
FSANZ database used - www.foodstandards.gov.au (http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/)
Brazil nuts 2.4g
Walnuts, raw 3g
Almonds, blanched 3.9g
Almonds, raw 4.4g
Pinenuts 4.5g
Macadamias 4.5g
Pecans 4.9g
Hazelnuts 5g
Coconut flesh, dessicated 6.7g
Coconut flesh, raw 3.6g
Peanuts, raw 8.9g
Peanuts, oil roasted 14.1g
Peanuts, dry roasted 9g
Water chestnuts, canned 12.3g
Pistachio, raw 15.1g
Pistachio, roasted 16.2g
Cashews, raw 16.8g
Cashews, dry roasted 17.5g
Cashews, oil roasted 26.4g

Your USDA has dry roasted peanuts at 16. oil roased 11.5, almonds 8 and macadamias 5. (Oops forget the peanut figures it only lists mixed nuts with or without peanuts - weird!!)

Your Nutrition Data !;) has dry roasted peanuts at 14, raw and oil roasted at 8 (see what I mean!) almonds 7 and macadamias (my favourite) 5.

Oh and just for the record, I am not one of those who can stop at a spoonful - in fact getting a jar of PNB and a spoon in the same place is a BIG mistake! (mind you a knife isn't much better!):o

[Gaelen]

Malcolm, the problem here may be that you are looking at 100g servings of whole nuts, while I was looking at 1 tablespoon (16g) servings of nut butters. There's a pretty big difference, and while I completely understand the whole can't-stop-with-one-tablespoon issue ;) , on the whole, peanut butter IS a carb bargain. You'll have better luck looking for both the peanuts and the peanut butters in the legume/legume products section of the USDA database, here:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-peanut000000000000000000000.html

I can't eat PB right now except in very small quantities (digestion issues), but when I was eating PB regularly, I kept my jar of natural PB in the freezer, in the back. Since I prefer it softer than frozen, having to chisel it out of the jar kind of took the impulse out of PB binges. I also made up Choubear's protein peanut butter balls and kept them in three-piece bags in the freezer...again, enforced portion control. Fresh PB does need stringent measures...you might try a wide-tined fork. ;)

And I agree, macadamia nuts are among my favorites...but alas, I'll have to wait a few more months before I digest more than a tablespoonful of nuts or nut butters.

[monkeyfrog]

Malcolm,
You must understand that with a food processor or blender as the tool to grind the peanuts you would end up with a pile of dry, very fine crushed nuts unless you add oil.

With a proper nut grinder the oil is not needed as the grinder crushes the nuts completely forcing the natural oils to come out of each nut and be blended in.

As for the sweetener, Three packets of splenda in one pound of peanut butter is far less than 4 grams per tablespoon in Peter Pan brand.

I like it just a little sweet.
Mitch

[mcsblues]

Gaelen, I’m sorry you have to abstain from nut products for the time being but at least you have something to look forward to, and it might be some comfort that I am keeping you company at the moment! I did quote the Nutrition Data numbers, but are you saying that USDA is now one and the same? For USDA;

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

I got this;

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/cgi-bin/nut_search_new.pl

-which is as I say is pretty weird!

As far as peanuts being a ‘carb bargain’ – I guess anything is if you eat small enough quantities but (depending on what figure you accept) peanuts are approaching the carb content of potatoes – which I’m sure you would agree are ‘pretty carby’! :p For the most part I try to stick to nuts at the true carb bargain end such as almonds (not sure how you got almonds with more carbs than peanuts!) and macadamias – I wish I liked Brazil nuts … and I am allergic to walnuts and hazelnuts.:(

As someone who has had problems with overeating, believe me I have tried the freezer scenario (“I’ll bake a batch of muffins and freeze all but one … or maybe two!”) The problem with that is my new fangled kitchen not only has a freezer ….



... it also has a microwave!!:o

Hi Mitch. Believe me you don’t need oil – the commercial kinds only add (hydrogenated) oil so that the oil doesn’t separate in the final product. Forget the sugar, this is the main reason to avoid the supermarket kind! I think the problem with food processors is they don’t crush the nuts like the health food processor does – but I have spoken to people who have made the real thing at home – you just need to process it for quite a while.

[monkeyfrog]

Ok, Malcolm you are the man!

The revised peanut butter recipe is:

1 lb. of dry roasted peanuts
3 packets of Splenda
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Mix in the food processor for 9 minutes and it is much tastier than with the added oil, and less calories too!


Thanks, Mitch
PS I still like it a little sweet.

[avnndd]

I made peanut butter with my students...just peanuts. They loved it! They couldn't believe that it didn't need sugar or anything else. They were amazed. I don't know where they thought peanut butter came from...

[mcsblues]

Wow Aaron! - if they could just take that message home (forget the pancakes!) just imagine how much transfats and sugar they would be removing from their diet.

What's next in your plan to spread the low carb message by stealth!? :)

[avnndd]

I talk about this kind of stuff all the time in my classes. One week we were making something (not low-carb) that called for margarine...NOPE! We used real butter, and I told them why...on a child's level, of course. The Phys Ed teacher happened to be in the room using a computer and overheard me. She thanked me for telling them the truth about fats.

[gator8me]

Gaelen said: I also made up Choubear's protein peanut butter balls and kept them in three-piece bags in the freezer

Is this receipe on the board somewhere? Sounds yummy!
Ally

[Gaelen]

The peanut butter balls and peanut butter maryjanes are right here (http://www.proteinpower.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49), Ally...in the Protein Bars thread of the 'Breakfast and Meals to Go' forum.

[BethB]

Ally, it's under the breakfast area in the recipe forum. Very yummy too.

[BethB]

Golly Pat we are on the same wavelength! ;)

[gator8me]

Thanks ladies! Geeze I must be blind! lol I did trying searching for them on my own... just didn't think to look in the protein bar section. lol
Ally
day 3