Homemade peanut butter

Let's find out how to prepare peanut butter with the traditional recipe. Genuine and creamy, it is perfect for breakfast or as a snack.

Homemade peanut butter is a more wholesome alternative to commercial products, ideal for those who want to have full control over the ingredients. More famous in the United States, in Italy it is particularly appreciated by athletes both for its energy intake and its high protein content.

Preparing it at home is incredibly simple: all it takes is a few minutes, some roasted peanuts and a powerful blender . The creamy consistency and intense flavor are ideal for spreading on bread, adding to smoothies, desserts or simply enjoying alone. The choice is yours whether to maintain a crunchier consistency, with a few pieces of peanut, or whether to make it creamy.

How to make peanut butter recipe

1. To start, remove the shell and skin from the peanuts .
2. Prepare the baking tray, line it with baking paper and spread the peanuts making sure they do not overlap. Toast them in the oven at 170°C for 10-15 minutes, taking care that they do not burn. If they are already toasted you can skip this step.
3. Take them out and let them cool to room temperature.
4. Once cold, place the peanuts in a kitchen blender , add the peanut oil and blend, letting it work until you obtain a soft cream. After an initial phase in which the peanuts turn into powder you will notice that they will begin to release oil. From this moment on, blending them will be easier but if after about ten minutes you still haven't achieved the right consistency, then add another drizzle of oil.
5. Finally add a pinch of fine salt .
6. Take a previously washed glass jar and place your peanut butter in it, which will have to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours before being served.

To speed up the preparation you can also follow our recipe with the Thermomix . The power of this appliance allows you to obtain a perfect consistency in a short time. In fact, if your robot is sufficiently powerful as seen in this video it will not be necessary to add oil. This way you will obtain a butter made of 100% peanuts.

Peanut Butter: Calories and Nutritional Values

Its origins are American, it seems that upon discovering this butter it was born to be used as a meat substitute. We can therefore state that the nutritional values ​​of peanut butter will include a high percentage of proteins (almost 23 g in a 100 g portion). Even the caloric intake is not insignificant, which is why it must be enjoyed in moderation: per 100 g of product it provides 588 kCal (more than double the same quantity as a margherita pizza).

However, it must be said that in the right quantities it is able to raise good cholesterol levels . Furthermore, peanuts contain p-coumaric acid and resverotrol, a powerful antioxidant and anticancer .

Conservation

Being free of additives and preservatives (the only preservative is the oily part made with peanut oil) it is easily perishable, so remember to always keep it in the fridge tightly closed and consume it within 2 weeks .

Origin and history of peanut butter

We learned about this typical ingredient of Anglo-Saxon and American cuisine thanks to films and TV series. Today, although it is not among the most consumed foods in our country, it is gradually gaining popularity thanks to its high protein content . But what is the history of peanut butter? Alas, it is not so simple to disentangle the various hypotheses.

Trying to follow a timeline, the first appearance of peanut butter is traced back to 1890 . It was created by a pharmacist from Saint Luis, Missouri, looking for a meat protein substitute to give to her patients.

It is also associated with the name John Harvey Kellog (yes, the same as cereal). In fact, it seems that the man created it for the patients in his clinic who were unable to chew. At that time, however, peanut butter was already sold as a snack along the streets and it was only thanks to the Universal Exposition of Saint Louis in 1904 that its diffusion grew.

Beyond the fact that a peanut-based cream was already produced by the Aztecs, this mass production would not have been possible without the patent of a special machine for its production filed by George Bayle .

A truly interesting story. Too bad all this would not have been possible without George Washington Carver , an American agronomist who introduced the cultivation of peanuts to stem the spread of an insect that devastated cotton plantations. Called peanut man , he invented over 300 products based on this ingredient but not peanut butter as many believe.

A further step forward in its production occurred in the early 1920s when the invention of the hydrogenation process prolonged its conservation by preventing the separation of the solid component from the oily one. From that moment on, peanuts, considered food for animals and for the poor and used only for the production of oil, entered Americans' homes in the form of butter.

This nutritious cream then became one of the main foods of American soldiers during the two world wars.