Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Quick Tip Tuesday-What's In Your Peanut Butter?
If you haven't already done so, make the change to natural peanut butter. The other kinds have added sugars and hydrogenated (trans) fats. The hydrogenated oil is what keeps the peanut butter from separating at room temperature. It also is the source of trans fats, which are known to be harmful to your health (I could do a whole post on that topic alone). It really isn't a big deal to stir your peanut butter really thoroughly when you first open it to mix in all of the oil that has separated. Whatever you do, don't pour the oil off the top! Just mix well and store in the refrigerator. In the refrigerator, the oils don't separate, so you only need to mix it once. Make sure to scrape the bottom when you mix it. Otherwise, the bottom portion will be hard. Look for a peanut butter whose ingredients are simply, peanuts (and salt if you like it that way). All of the brands taste a little bit different, so try a few until you find your favorite. Just make sure to check the ingredients. You can't rely on the phrase, "natural" on the front label. Some of our favorites are Trader Joe's crunchy salted, Adams, and Natural Value salted. Let me know what you think...
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Fresh ground peanut butter is so simple and wonderfully nutritious! For those that are having a hard time switching away from JIF or Skippy (both loaded with sugar). Try mixing them half and half with all natural peanut butter and then slowly taper off the amount of processed peanut butter in the mixture.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I really appreciate it! That is a great suggestion. I was raised on Skippy-type peanut butter, but the natural stuff was love at first taste for me. That is not the case for everyone so weaning yourself off is a great idea. Most people who make the change can't believe they liked the other stuff when they try it years later.
ReplyDeleteA huge percentage of the peanut butter that I use is for dessert items like peanut butter cookies or Reeses PB pie. How does natural pb work in these types of recipes? If it's a good cooking match, I'd love to make the switch.
ReplyDeleteI buy Adams PB from Winco and it works great in all of my baking recipes. You can look forward to my peanut butter bread recipe soon. It's great. I haven't had any trouble baking with natural PB.
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