Benefits of Homemade Peanut Butter

As a stay at home dad, you are probably the one who does the grocery shopping for the family.  If this is the case, you have probably noticed that the cost of food has been slowly, but steadily increasing.  On average, the cost to go shopping has increased from April to May of this year.  New York Times reports food prices up .6%.

One staple in most American households with kids is peanut butter.  It’s a healthy snack, if you buy natural peanut butter that is just peanuts and oil, but have you seen the prices of peanut butter this year?  Due to a bad peanut harvest this year leading to a shortage of peanuts, coupled with a growing world-wide demand for these little legumes, the cost of peanut butter at the checkout stand is up 20% – 40% this year.

Is Natural Peanut Butter a Healthier Alternative?

If your only option is to buy peanut butter, then it is better to buy natural peanut butter that is only peanuts, oil and salt.  The regular smooth or crunchy peanut butter from the national brands contains partially hydrogenated oil, sugar, cottonseed oil just to name a few ingredients.

Peanut farmers still spray the crop with pesticides, so even though peanuts grow under the ground, they still absorb all those chemicals, which means your kids are digesting a whole bunch of bad stuff.  You can buy organic peanut butter, which is pesticide-free, but at $9-$12 a jar, this is a costly healthier alternative.

How to Roast Peanuts for Peanut Butter

While you can make peanut butter with roasted peanuts,  the flavor is more intense and this also raises the oil content, so you may not even need to add peanut oil.

The process is quite simple.

• Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place shelled peanuts on a roasting tray
• Bake for 15-20 minutes.
• Move around once about half way through the roasting process to prevent burning.
• After 20 minutes, take the peanuts out of the oven and let them sit until cooled.
• When they are cool to the touch, set up your Omega 8006 Masticating juicer with the nut dispenser, and follow the instructions per the video.
• Run the peanuts through the masticating juicer until peanuts reach a slight creamy consistency.
• If the peanut butter is not a creamy as you would like, mix in 1 to 2 tablespoons of peanut oil to get that store-bought creamy consistency your kids know and love.

How to Make Peanut Butter at Home

While the national brands are cashing in at your expense, the good news is that if you have a little time and the right kitchen equipment, you can make natural, healthy and delicious natural peanut butter at home for a fraction of the cost of store bought peanut butter.  You can use a blender, but you will not get that store-bought creamy peanut butter consistency.

To make creamy peanut butter, you need to use a masticating juicer.  This will thoroughly grind up the peanuts to extract the oils and make delicious and healthy peanut putter your kids will love, and will definitely taste the freshness of home made peanut butter.

Happy Cooking,

Ken

the-cookingpot.com

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Ken Weiss

Ken Weiss is a blogger and stay at home dad.He is the founder of the-cookingpot.com, a cooking blog for stay at home dads, that offers cookware reviews, easy recipes and tips on how to make money with a blog.

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