How to make peanut butter at home!

We love peanut butter in our house! When I was a kid, I was the peanut butter girl, my sister the Vegemite girls and my brother allegiances changed daily depending whose side he was on that day!

I decided a while ago that the list of ingredients on the side of the peanut butter jar was getting a bit long for me... I mean what do you need all that other stuff for - just how long does it need to sit on a shelf for???

And then I discovered that it was so easy to make at home! This one is a good "cooking" project for the kids.

Here's what I do...

I buy my peanuts from Food Connect so that they are "good local peanuts" that have only traveled a hundred kilometers or so to me for about $6 for 500gms. These are biodynamically and organically grown as well as being local!

Then 1/2 of the packet goes into the blender (I have a VERY small blender!) and I add olive oil as they are being mushed up to get a peanut butter consistency.

Stop the blender every minute or so to check your consistency. Also have a taste and if you think it needs a bit of salt (or sugar - just a teaspoon can make a big difference) add it now so that it has time to meld through the whole mixture.

I boil up a jar 1/2 filled with water for 3 minutes (These ones are tomato paste ones - about 400 mls) in the microwave to sterlise them (and pour the boiling water on the lids in a bowl to sterilise them as well - don't put the lids in the microwave...bad things happen!) before putting the peanut butter in.

When I'm making home made peanut butter - I never get the smoothness that you get from the store bought stuff. I don't have the patience to wait that long for the blender to crush every single nut so my smooth is probably very crunchy and my crunchy has whole nuts in it... (makes really good satay sauce too, by the way!)

And voila - one jar of organic, biodynamically grown, low food kilometre peanut butter for $3!!!

Easy as!

Or one jar of crunchy and one of smooth for $6!

Not too bad at all!

This is one of the easiest things to make in the kitchen. Good for snacks - a little of this peanut butter goes a long way on a cracker or two! With a glass of cold milk - its almost like coming home from school all over again!

I like a bit of salt in mine but if you don't - you simply don't need to add it. You could experiment with different types of oils, but be warned, some may change the taste of your peanut butter so I tend to go for bland ones. Just add enough to keep the nuts moving or more, if you like your peanut butter smoother.

The addition of a teaspoon of sugar (that you cant actually taste) seems to balance out the flavours a bit as well - I don't understand why that would be, but I tried it one day and swore it made a difference... Let me know what you think!

I keep blending until I'm bored, think it looks ok or cant stand the noise of the blender anymore - there isn,t a specific time. If you are a peanut butter connoisseur, you will know when its right. If you are not - just taste it and if its good, its done!

Happy Peanut Butter creating! - K xx

Score card: 
Green-ness: 5/5 for organic, bio-dynamic, low food kilometer home made peanut butter in a recycled jar!
Frugal-ness: at only $6 for 2 400 ml jars?? That's real frugal!
Time cost: About 10 minutes from whoa to go!
Skill level: Blending, tasting and eating skills!
Fun-ness: Great fun to look at $9 jars of commercially made organic peanut butter in the shop and know you have 2 bigger and cheaper jars at home!