Yes, you need a peanut butter mixer
by Girlfriend@Gaiam | October 23rd, 2008 | Comments (3)
topic: Girlfriend@Gaiam, Health & Wellness | tags: cooking for kids, healthy-eating, natural food, organic foods, peanut butter, peanut butter mixer
I have to admit that I’m not much of a peanut butter fan, but my nephews were coming to stay with me for the weekend so I picked up some kid friendly organic foods for them.
Like any 6-year-olds, they love their PB&J sandwiches. So, I bought my first jar of organic peanut butter. I’d heard that natural peanut butter separates and that peanut butter mixers are recommended, but I thought, Do I really need a special tool for peanut butter?! I’ll just use a knife.
I was wrong.
When I opened the jar I found a half inch of oil that separated to the top. And when I stuck my knife in to stir it, the oil immediately oozed over the side of the jar, spilling all over the counter and my hands. With each subsequent stir, more oil spilled over the side into a big pool on my counter. It was so laughable it almost resembled a Saturday Night Live sketch.
My nephews just kept watching me and rolling their eyes — and asking where my peanut butter mixer was … you know, the one their mother uses. And after all that work, the peanut butter was a gooey unstirrable mess.
We ended up going out for lunch.
I’m sure you can imagine the jokes my family now makes about me. Even though I’m an excellent cook, I’m now known as the girl that can’t even make a PB&J sandwich. Please, take my word for it when I say, “Yes, you need a peanut butter mixer.”
I had no idea such a thing existed – thanks for enlightening me! Having experienced the same Exxon-Valdez mess on my counters years ago, I gave up on natural-natural and switched to natural PB (PB “lite”). Now I can have my natural oils and mix them, too!
What works for me with peanut butter: I buy it at least several days ahead of when I will need to open it, and store it upside-down on the pantry shelf. That makes it MUCH easier to stir when you open it, whatever stirring method you use. Once opened and stirred, I store it in the fridge – upside-down at first, but once it has cooled off enough, I have found I can then keep the jar right-side up.
This lady has the right idea – we always store the unopened jars upside down also. One thing I might add would be to use something bigger than a regular dinner table knife. A long spreader that comes with a carving knife set works well for us, with a handle big enough to get a good grasp on, and a blade that’s long enough to reach to the bottom of the jar without getting your hands peanut-buttery. Always put it into the jar slowly when you first start the stirring project, because an air bubble might otherwise cause the oil to “erupt”.