All In Good Taste / July 2006
Smooth Eating
Africans ground peanuts into stews as early as the 15th century, the Chinese have crushed peanuts into creamy sauces for centuries and Civil War soldiers dined on ‘peanut porridge’, but today nearly half of the US peanut crop is used to make peanut butter.
In 1890, a St. Louis physician supposedly encouraged the owner of a food products company to process and package ground peanut paste as a nutritious protein substitute for people with poor teeth who couldn’t chew meat. He began selling the peanut paste out of barrels for about 6¢ per pound.
Around the same time, the Kellogg brothers began experimenting with peanut butter as a vegetarian source of protein. The 1895 Kelloggs’ patent for the “Process of Preparing Nut Meal” described “a pasty adhesive substance that is for convenience of distinction termed nut butter.”
In 1922, peanut butters came on the California market that were churned like butter so they were smoother than the gritty peanut butters of the day.
One of the first companies to adopt this new process was Swift & Company, renamed Peter Pan in 1928. In 1932, a disgruntled employee began producing peanut butter under the Skippy label and created the first crunchy style peanut butter two years later by adding chopped peanuts into creamy peanut butter at the end of the manufacturing process.
In 1955, Procter & Gamble entered the peanut butter business, introducing Jif in 1958. They now operate the world’s largest peanut butter plant, churning out 250,000 jars every day.
Peanuts are planted after the last frost in April with specially grown, treated peanut kernels from the previous year’s crop. The shelled peanut itself also is the seed
Runner peanuts are preferred because they are uniform in size, important to achieve evenly roasted peanuts for the best tasting peanut butter. Runner peanuts are grown primarily in Georgia, Alabama and Florida, states which account for 60% of the U.S. Crop. There are 16,000 peanut farmers in nine primary peanut-producing states states in the US. Peanut farms are mostly operated by family farmers who grow an average of 98 acres of peanuts each year on a 3-year rotation with cotton, corn, soybeans and grass crops.
Peanut butter manufacturers inspect the peanuts to ensure high quality then roast them in special, even-roasting ovens. After roasting, peanuts are fast-cooled by suction fans that circulate air quickly, to halt the cooking process, retain an even color and prevent the loss of too much oil.
Another machine rubs the peanuts between rubber belts to remove the outer skin. Kernels are split, the hearts removed and peanuts are cleaned and sorted a final time.
Finally, the peanuts are ground in two stages. A single, long grinding would produce too much heat, damaging the flavor. Peanuts are ground alone first, then, in the second stage, salt, sweetener and stabilizer to keep the oil from separating, are added.
Peanut butter today is remarkably like that made 100 years ago. It contains, by law, a minimum of 90% peanuts, with no artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives. Some brands add about 7% natural sweeteners and 1% salt for taste, plus a stabilizer to keep the peanut butter fresh and the oil from separating. “Old-fashioned” or “natural” peanut butter doesn’t have the stabilizer so oil separates and should be stirred back in before using.
Peanut butter has been a pantry staple in households for generations. Best known for its starring role in the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it’s also a nutrient-dense food that can be used in a variety of dishes and snacks as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Take a peanut butter sandwich and add a little creativity with ingredients like shredded coconut, honey, chopped apples, shredded carrots or diced celery for great taste and great nutrition. Or, combine peanut butter with high fiber foods, like whole grain bread or apple slices, for a more satisfying snack. In cases of midnight hunger pangs, a jar of peanut butter and a spoon is a sure, quick fix.
Peanut Butter Soup with Pepper Jelly
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons grated onion
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup light cream
2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, chopped
½ cup hot pepper jelly
Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat; add onion and celery. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add flour and mix until well blended. Stir in chicken broth and simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat, strain broth. Stir the peanut butter, salt and cream into the strained broth until well mixed. Serve hot, garnishing each serving with a teaspoon of chopped peanuts and a dollop of jelly. Makes 4 servings.
Peanut Butter Punch
1 ¾ cups evaporated milk
1 ¾ cups water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons peanut butter
Sugar (optional)
Freshly grated nutmeg
Combine all ingredients except the nutmeg in the container of a blender. Blend for about 10 seconds. Garnish with grated nutmeg. Yields 4 servings
Peanut Butter Casserole
1 lb ground round steak
1 ½ cup cooked rice
¾ cup peanut butter
1 cup sliced carrots
¾ cup tomato sauce
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 eggs
¼ cup green peppers, chopped
1 tsp each, salt and pepper
Brown the ground round steak with chopped onion. In a casserole dish, mix the peanut butter and tomato sauce together well. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Bake at 350º F. for 1 hour.
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