[HN Gopher] A Brief History of Peanut Butter
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A Brief History of Peanut Butter
Author : collapse
Score : 46 points
Date : 2021-01-05 21:02 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com)
| hackeraccount wrote:
| Is it me or was that really weird? There were 2 bylines in what
| seemed like a single article. I understand why the bit about
| Carver was there - honestly if you had asked me I would have said
| he invented it; that he didn't was the most surprising thing in
| it.
| JonathonW wrote:
| It's an article with a separately-written (and credited)
| sidebar in the print magazine.
| mywittyname wrote:
| It's pretty common to mention the fact that GW Carver did NOT
| invent peanut butter anytime the history of peanuts is
| discussed.
| fingerlocks wrote:
| I specifically remember being taught in elementary school
| that GWC was the inventor, and I carried that misconception
| for decades. I appreciate the correction.
| cafard wrote:
| My favorite childhood breakfast was peanut butter on toasted
| Wonder Bread. This was probably about as bad as 1960s processed
| food got, Velveeta apart. But it sure tasted good.
| cosmie wrote:
| My childhood was a few decade after that, but peanut butter on
| toasted white bread and Velveeta (+ Rotel[1]) were pretty much
| stables of my youth.
|
| [1] https://www.ro-tel.com/products/original
| finnh wrote:
| Bummer that George Washington Carter died penniless and insane,
| trying to make a peanut into a phonograph needle.[0]
|
| [0]https://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84iminute.phtml
| hairofadog wrote:
| This is one of those things that will still be rattling around
| in my head long after I've forgotten everything else.
| frotak wrote:
| Related - how peanut butter was central in food regulation:
|
| https://www.marketplace.org/shows/the-uncertain-hour/s02-1-p...
| mesofile wrote:
| As a US native who otherwise mostly abstains from sugary
| processed foods, big-brand peanut butter is one part of my
| country's food culture that I absolutely cannot shake. I don't
| eat fast food or drink soda, but I must have a jar of Jif around
| at all times. I have tried every type of organic peanut butter
| and found them all more or less vile, mostly due to the oiliness
| but there's also usually something flat & colorless about the
| flavor -- not just missing sweetness but something else. On the
| other hand the less adulterated alternatives do taste a lot more
| like actual peanuts, which makes me dread to know what it is that
| I'm missing.
| pavon wrote:
| I find the no-stir sugar-free peanut butters to be much more
| bland than the ones that separate, likely because the palm-oil
| dilutes the flavor.
| josefresco wrote:
| You're still addicted or accustomed to a high level of sugar.
| It takes time for your body to adjust to lower sugar intake but
| until you do, healthy alternatives to sugar-laden (or salt-
| laden) foods will not "taste good" for you.
|
| Also, you probably just need to try more alternative peanut
| butter. It took me a few tries to find something I liked.
| chihuahua wrote:
| Costco's Kirkland brand natural peanut butter (ingredients:
| peanuts, salt) takes some getting used to. The first time I
| bought it, I felt it was so bad that I thought about
| returning it. But after a while I got used to it, and now I
| love it and don't like regular peanut butter (with
| sugar+salt) any more because it tastes overly sweet and fake.
|
| However, it is pretty annoying how much work it takes to stir
| it to incorporate the separated oil. Particularly because it
| comes in a big 28 ounce jar.
| jasonv wrote:
| I like the oily ones, where you have to mix it in, with no
| additional ingredients (except salt). The stuff in Reese's Pb
| cups.. I don't care for.
|
| I carried peanut butter with me on long trips to Europe. Never
| found anything that satisfied my homegrown PB yearnings.
| 17a9f4a4f4e5b3f wrote:
| It took me months of living with someone eating peanut-only pb
| to get used to it, at some point I stopped thinking about how
| gross it was, and then I tried ye olde sugar pb again after a
| year and almost gagged. You totally can get used to it.
|
| Some quality of life tricks to make it easier:
| buy multiple jars and store them upside down so gravity can
| help you start mixing mix initially (if you're able)
| by rapidly rotating the jar in your hand (twisting your
| forearm), this will get you 90% of the way finish
| off the mix with a knife keep the well mixed open
| jars in the fridge
| ballenf wrote:
| Also, if the jar is glass (many natural PBs are) then 30
| seconds or so in the microwave on first open makes it much,
| much easier to stir. It will be very runny until it cools and
| sightly hard to spread, but it will quickly cool on the bread
| and taste fine.
| nhf wrote:
| I've found the Whole Foods store-brand smooth peanut butter is
| a good happy medium between Jif and the organic stuff. It stays
| emulsified a lot longer than others, but has more roasty peanut
| flavor (and less sugar) than the cheap stuff.
| boogies wrote:
| It seems that palm oil makes a decent alternative to
| hydrogenation. My current favorite butter is Trader Joe's
| Crunchy No Stir, which contains 90% roasted peanuts, powdered
| sugar (cane sugar and cornstarch), palm oil, and sea salt (in
| that order on the label). 3g total sugar (2 added) in one 2
| tablespoon / 32g serving.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| Palm oil cultivation is responsible for massive rainforest
| deforestation.
| fuzzfactor wrote:
| Palm oil comes in chemical tank ships.
|
| These have a lot more piping than oil tankers, so each
| cargo compartment can be loaded with a different
| industrial commodity, some of which are known to be
| highly incompatible, such as acids vs alkalis. There's
| usually 10 or 20 different chemicals on a vessel at any
| one time.
|
| This way if they are careful, the operators on board and
| on shore can transfer the parcel, without significant
| enough contamination from foreign chemicals in other
| tanks, otherwise the material would fail to meet
| specifications.
|
| Not everyone is as careful as they should be all the
| time.
|
| When a cargo does go off-test it can take a lot of prime
| material to blend it with in order to pass.
|
| It can be a headache of industrial proportions. Lloyds of
| London can get involved.
|
| For that reason I hate it when a benzene or methanol
| transfer picks up a little too much palm oil.
| mcculley wrote:
| I have been buying the Smucker's natural peanut butter directly
| online a case at a time as I cannot reliably find it in local
| retail stores: https://www.smuckers.com/products/peanut-
| butter/natural-pean...
| fsflyer wrote:
| Here in the central US, I'm able to find Smucker's natural
| peanut butter at Walmart of all places. The other grocery
| stores don't carry it.
| fingerlocks wrote:
| They're all just ground up peanuts, right? Some brands have an
| emulsifier to avoid separation. Big brands add a little bit a
| sugar.
|
| Have you tried making your own and adding a sweetner? Easily
| made with a food processor.
| seiferteric wrote:
| Considering most of my peanut butter consumption comes in the
| form of PB&J, I find that the jelly/jam provides more than
| enough sugar and I don't miss it at all in the peanut butter.
| Only downside for me is mixing the natural stuff, it can be
| quite a workout. What I discovered recently is storing your
| next jar upside-down for a week or so on the shelf will make it
| much easier when doing the initial mixing since the oil will
| try to float up through the whole jar, so it kind of softens
| the stuff on the bottom. Once mixed, put it in the fridge and
| it will stay mixed.
| germinalphrase wrote:
| An "old fashioned peanut butter mixer" is one of the few
| single purpose items that I keep in my kitchen. It doesn't do
| a complete job, but cuts the effort by 90 percent.
| cecilpl2 wrote:
| Definitely do not do this if the jar is already opened, as
| the seal isn't perfect and you will end up with oil all over
| your pantry.
| mortenjorck wrote:
| I've seen the oil seep through the safety seal when left
| long enough, too. This was with sunflower butter rather
| than peanut butter, but I don't imagine their oils are that
| different.
| phonypc wrote:
| You're probably just noticing more salt in the processed stuff.
| Usually the only other additives are sugar and hydrogenated veg
| oil.
| amelius wrote:
| Might be worth it to find out if your brand of peanut butter
| contains palm oil (many do).
|
| https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/8-things-know-about-palm-oil
| mesofile wrote:
| That would be exactly the kind of thing I dread to know -
| this is the last item in my cupboard whose ingredients label
| I studiously avoid reading in order to keep enjoying it. But
| this is HN, so, let's see:
|
| INGREDIENTS: MADE FROM ROASTED PEANUTS AND SUGAR, CONTAINS 2%
| OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS
| (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT.
|
| Oh, maybe molasses (and yes probably the salt) is the flavor
| note I'm hung up on.
|
| Anyway this is such a pure food-industrial-complex product
| that I am sure the ingredients list amounts to a sort of
| cover story. FWIW the parent company scores rates just OK on
| the 'Palm Oil Scorecard' from your linked page:
| https://palmoilscorecard.panda.org/check-the-
| scores/manufact...
| tlavoie wrote:
| I usually buy Adam's, which would be the just-peanuts
| variety. I do find that it could use a little salt, so just
| add some. (Oh, and habanero powder out of a shaker, because
| nobody's peanut butter includes that.)
| danbolt wrote:
| My parents would always buy salted Adam's, and I remember
| finding the transition to unsalted difficult but
| satisfying.
| ulrikrasmussen wrote:
| I got hooked on peanut butter during a 6 month stay in the US
| and have also noticed a lot of variety in the products
| available here (Denmark). I really dislike most of the
| products, but have found a discount brand that is now my
| favorite.
|
| All of them are 99% peanuts, so I also wonder where the variety
| in taste comes from. My own theory is that it is a combination
| of the following: 1. How much the peanuts are roasted. 2. How
| much of the peanut ends up in the product. Some have a strong
| bitter taste that I suspect is from skins that haven't been
| properly separated from the peanuts. 3. Emulsifiers. 4. Oils
| and 5. Sugars.
| m463 wrote:
| I think the magic formula to "nice" peanut butters like
| jif/skippy are:
|
| - hydrogenated: oil doesn't separate, at the expense of your
| health
|
| - sugar - on the Dr Rhonda Patrick episode of Joe Rogan, she
| said sugar+fat is really bad for you
|
| - salt
|
| That said, I agree with you on the organic stuff. You either
| get an oily mess or cement.
| hobs wrote:
| Joe Rogan is not a person to quote as a source.
| [deleted]
| m463 wrote:
| I updated the comment to be more clear that the guest said
| it.
| GloriousKoji wrote:
| Jif uses molasses where as most peanut butters just have plain
| sugar. I suspect this is primary difference in flavor.
|
| The creamy solid frosting like texture of peanut butters like
| Skippy and Jif comes from the high content of saturated fats,
| which are more solid and shelf stable at room temperature.
| Traditionally they use hydrogenated vegetable oils to achieve
| this. The newer "natural" versions just use palm oil instead,
| which is naturally higher in saturated fats.
|
| I also wouldn't be surprised if the type of peanuts used are
| unique to each company. Many of theses mega corporations breed
| their own specific cultivar of produce for their own use.
| Examples of this is (Nestle) Libby's pumpkin and Lays potatoes.
| nineplay wrote:
| Pet Theory: The reason peanut allergies are more prevalent in the
| US as opposed to other countries that consume peanuts is a
| difference in the way the body processes peanut butter as opposed
| to regular peanuts.
| castlecrasher2 wrote:
| I'd guess that US peanut allergies are by and large due to the
| somewhat prevalent myth that pregnant mothers shouldn't eat
| peanut products.
| zwieback wrote:
| Hmm, interesting theory, what would the grinding change about
| the peanuts?
|
| My daughter ate PB&Js when she was little but developed a
| peanut allergy around 3 or 4. She also has tree-nut allergies
| that are more severe than her peanut allergy, though, so it's
| hard to say how that's all connected.
| exhilaration wrote:
| No I think it's because up until recently, American parents
| were told to avoid giving young kids peanuts or peanut butter.
|
| Israel has very low rates of peanut allergies and peanut butter
| is the main ingredient in a popular snack:
|
| _Peanut snacks called Bamba, which are made of peanut butter
| and corn, are wildly popular in Israel, where parents give them
| to their kids when they 're very young. That's very different
| from what parents do in Britain and the United States, where
| fears about food allergies have prompted many parents to keep
| their children away from peanuts, even though the American
| Academy of Pediatrics revised a recommendation to do so in
| 2008._
|
| -
| https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/23/388450621/fe...
| gnicholas wrote:
| Fun fact: they remove the little nub in the middle of the peanut
| (called the "heart") before making peanut butter. Apparently the
| heart is more bitter than the two halves.
|
| https://youtu.be/4iUduCtx7cA?t=96
| timonoko wrote:
| Observed Fact: If you make butter in blender from Lidl Salted
| Peanuts it is (very) good only for a day or two, thereafter it
| tastes little bitter. But you can compensate by adding raisins
| to the blend.
| 17a9f4a4f4e5b3f wrote:
| I'm quite thankful so much of How it's Made is available on
| youtube by Discovery, curious why they've even done that.
| luxurytent wrote:
| Oh no, this is not available in Canada?
| gnicholas wrote:
| Weird! It's "How It's Made" about peanut butter. Many of the
| episodes have British narration, and I watch them in the US.
| interestica wrote:
| And it's a Canadian (Quebec) production
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_It%27s_Made
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