[HN Gopher] Show HN: Peanut Butter Spinner
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Show HN: Peanut Butter Spinner
Author : cdaringe
Score : 113 points
Date : 2024-05-18 18:43 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (cdaringe.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (cdaringe.com)
| cdaringe wrote:
| Arrrg meant to add Show HN:
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Yes please! "Natural" peanut butter tastes better, but the
| stirring is IMO not worth it. If the jars were designed better,
| ie with more empty space at the top above the PB, it would be
| acceptable. Instead they are designed in such a way that it
| initially A: Makes you feel like you are bad at it and should try
| harder and practice, then B: Realize that that this is like those
| plastic clamshell packaging on some consumer goods: There is no
| right way to do it; it's a hostile design.
| jhbadger wrote:
| I think if they took your advice, people would complain that
| they were selling misleadingly empty jars (even if they
| correctly specified the amount you were getting on the label).
| montebicyclelo wrote:
| This seems likely. I wonder if explaining it through the
| packaging, e.g. coloured stripe marked "stir space" and an
| explanation on the back saying don't worry you are only
| paying per gram of peanut butter...
| ripped_britches wrote:
| Except that the larger packaging size is not totally free -
| makes shipping more expensive and less units per shelf
| space. Not sure by how much. I bet peanut butter margins
| aren't great.
| close04 wrote:
| The top part of a plastic jar could be
| expandable/collapsible maybe. Thinking of something
| similar to the bendy bit in a plastic straw.
| dnfsod wrote:
| I stir once when I get home from the grocery store then place
| it in my fridge upside down.
|
| The peanut oil congeals and then you have perfectly mixed
| smooth pb on demand.
| mhb wrote:
| Except that
|
| 1. Cold peanut butter is a misery.
|
| 2. Removing the lid after it's been upside down is an oily
| mess.
| dnfsod wrote:
| 1. Is cold peanut butter a misery? I grew up in a cupboard
| pb home, and I enjoy fridge pb as much as cupboard pb. What
| temperature do you keep your fridge at?
|
| 2. Storing upside down is a precaution against oily messes
| because the oils separate on top of the peanut solids, and
| so is under the peanut solids when upside down. Also, I
| mentioned that at the fridge temperatures the oil congeals,
| and so remains mixed when refrigerated, avoiding any oily
| mess.
| mhb wrote:
| De gustibus non est disputandum
| mordechai9000 wrote:
| For years we stored Adams natural peanut butter at room
| temperature with no ill effects. A large jar usually lasts
| less than a month. Then one day I noticed it says refrigerate
| after opening on the label. I wonder if that is the reason
| why, or if it's really prone to spoilage.
| nkrisc wrote:
| I would guess it's because it will just last longer in the
| fridge, so they're recommending it be refrigerated. I have
| lots of stuff that say the same that do fine in a cool,
| dark pantry. Though I'm sure if I left it long enough it
| would spoil sooner than in the fridge.
| briHass wrote:
| It will spoil/go rancid. Even the 'non-natural' big brands
| like Jif/Skippy taste and smell 'off' if they sit out for a
| few weeks after being opened.
|
| There's no winning here, because putting it in the fridge
| makes it hard to spread. The best approach is to take out a
| week's worth or so and put it in a small/airtight
| container. Leave that out but put the main jar in the
| fridge.
| progbits wrote:
| I've been buying 100% peanut butter for years, never
| stored it in a fridge and never had it go bad. Maybe your
| room temperature is higher? It's strange as with a single
| ingredient product I would expect we would have the same
| results...
|
| The separation and mixing is a pain though. Love the
| mixer idea!
| majikandy wrote:
| Same here. Never even thought of the fridge or what cold
| peanut butter would be like. I just can't imagine it and
| have never needed to. Weird. In other contexts too I've
| never experienced it. Work breakfasts, hotels, I really
| can't ever recall fridge temperature peanut butter. Not
| to mention the size pots we buy would be annoying.
| morsch wrote:
| We sometimes use one of these with dairy butter though
| I'm not sure how well it would work with peanut butter.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_butter_dish
| chubs wrote:
| My solution is to have 3 kids. Peanut butter has no
| chance of spoiling around here, we go through it like
| it's going out of fashion! On a more serious note perhaps
| simply buy a smaller jar if it spoils before you eat it
| all.
| majikandy wrote:
| Why upside down?
| dnfsod wrote:
| Likely unnecessary cope.
|
| When in a cupboard the oil separates on top, so it can make
| mixing more difficult by both having the oil spill out when
| stirring and having the driest peanut bits stuck deep at
| the bottom.
|
| Upside down places the oil underneath and the driest parts
| more accessibly near the removable part of the container.
|
| I always imagined after stirring and placing it in the
| fridge upside down provides that "last mile" guarantee
| until it gets to temp in the fridge.
|
| After the first use it goes back in the fridge right side
| up.
| namdnay wrote:
| I get these big 1kg tubs of the pure peanut butter on Amazon,
| the advantage is they're perfectly cylindrical, so it's easy to
| just give a good mix with a butter knife before spreading
| cdaringe wrote:
| Amazon marketplace has a 35lb bucket . Can you imagine? Id
| need a soft serve style dispenser. Thatd be so great.
| bsmithers wrote:
| I find that storing the jars upside down works surprisingly well.
| cascades42 wrote:
| This is what I do as well. Still requires some stirring but not
| as much.
| viciousvoxel wrote:
| Brilliant. Literally could have used this tonight for a jar of
| tahini.
| mvkel wrote:
| This is neat!
|
| But you can also just store the jars upside down in the fridge.
| No need to stir.
| byteknight wrote:
| holy crap i cant wait to try this
| coffeedan wrote:
| Came here to say the same thing. No reason to put it in the
| fridge though.
| gnicholas wrote:
| Do you have to fridge it first right side up, to firm it up
| before you turn it upside down?
| mvkel wrote:
| Nope! From the grocery store straight to the shelf in the
| fridge, upside down.
|
| It actually mixes fairly well even at room temperature, too
| cdaringe wrote:
| We do both. Id say works OK at best. Need better mixing perf!
| BeetleB wrote:
| If you have a Vitamix, you can use roasted peanuts and just make
| your own preanut butter. It's trivial. No separation to worry
| about either.
| shepmaster wrote:
| That's what I came here to ask. When I make peanut butter in
| the Vitamix, I roast the peanuts and then blend them. I've
| never experienced separation, although I do store it in the
| refrigerator.
|
| What's so different about this way of making peanut butter that
| results in no separation?
| dmbche wrote:
| Fridge and time on shelf. I'm not even sure the oil is liquid
| when in the fridge! And the jars at the grocery store
| probabky have been stored longer than you take to go through
| your PB.
| philips wrote:
| We do this too. And we buy huge bulk peanut bags from Azure
| Standard and store them in food bricks. My kids eat A LOT of
| peanut butter.
| gnicholas wrote:
| How much do you lose cleaning out the vitamix? I've found that
| PB costs the same amount as peanuts, by weight. If I had to
| roast and grind them I feel like that would take a while and
| result in some loss.
|
| Is this better than using the in-grocery grinders?
| halostatue wrote:
| Very little (I rarely make peanut butter, but I roast
| hazelnuts and make homemade "Nutella" with dark chocolate).
| Out of about 900 g hazelnuts (minus a bit of "shrinkage"
| because warm roasted hazelnuts are delicious) and 70 g dark
| chocolate (Costco Suisse Delice) we get about 850g or more of
| blended hazelnut chocolate goodness.
|
| Add some almond milk and other stuff to the Vitamix and you
| can make a really nice power shake from the residue, and lose
| only a few grams to the soap and water cleaning required.
| abdullahkhalids wrote:
| I just buy them from Bulk Barn, here in Canada. They do that in
| store with a grinding machine.
| anfractuosity wrote:
| Ooh interesting!, looks a little like a gemstone tumbling
| machine.
| isoprophlex wrote:
| Nice, that's a table top ball mill! Now instead of peanut butter,
| put a chemical oxidizer, some metal salts and a fuel in there and
| you are in the business of preparing DIY pyrotechnics!
| klyrs wrote:
| Stay away from my sandwich!
| r00fus wrote:
| I always fantasized about putting my peanut butter jar in one of
| those vibrational paint shaker devices you see at Lowes or Home
| Depot when you select a paint color.
|
| But this seems a lot safer and less expensive.
| fallingsquirrel wrote:
| I found a youtube video that shows exactly that. Looks like it
| would work!
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b0DUL2ckwY
| cdaringe wrote:
| This man is my hero
| dtgriscom wrote:
| Looks like this would only work with really thin peanut butter,
| or a really enormous jar. Or, running it at about 0.1RPM for
| days.
| logdahl wrote:
| Sorry, I don't understand why you would be spinning the bottle.
| Someone care to explain? :)
| londons_explore wrote:
| I believe European and US peanut butter is rather different.
|
| European peanut butter is solid, with the consistency of
| refrigerated butter, or of fudge.
|
| US peanut butter is a thick liquid. Over time, it separates and
| you get peanut oil on the surface. That oil is unpleasant, so
| this machine can help mix it back in.
|
| Hence, Europeans wouldn't see the need for this, because they
| have never witnessed the problem this machine is intended to
| solve.
| kn100 wrote:
| afaik they're basically the same thing. The need to stir
| comes from peanut butter that is literally nothing other than
| minced peanuts. Brands like Jif and the such add a bit of
| palm oil, salt, and whatever else which I guess helps to
| stabilize the mixture and make oil separation less likely.
| "pure" peanut butter like the kind the author likes here is
| available just the same in the UK with exactly the same
| problem!
| mtsr wrote:
| You can get both kinds here, but the emulsified kind is more
| common. This has been slowly changing with additive-free food
| popularity and therefor 100% peanut-butter.
| nels wrote:
| The main difference in peanut butter isn't about being
| European or American actually--it's about the recipe. Some
| brands add extra oil, like palm oil, to keep it from
| separating (Skippy (US) and Calve (EU), for instance).
| Without it, peanut butter can separate, leaving oil on top.
| schainks wrote:
| You seem unfamiliar with the great American tradition of
| inventing things to solve problems for the fun of it.
|
| Please view these commercials for reference:
|
| 1. https://youtu.be/FqWgTM4di4s, remixed version:
| https://youtu.be/-gLOALCvlMI
|
| 2. https://youtu.be/4rBAmrZX5XQ
| KineticLensman wrote:
| UK here. Yes, our peanut butter is typically solid and has
| similar consistency even after a couple months in the larder
| (never even thought about using the fridge).
|
| Tahini on the other hand separates very quickly into
| oil+solid so perhaps could also do with a spinner
| namdnay wrote:
| That's probably because your peanut butter isn't just
| peanuts. If you're buying Skippy or whatever the additives
| give it a stable textur. But if you buy pure (aka
| "natural") peanut butter you'll see separation, just like
| any other nut butter, including tahini
| phatfish wrote:
| The 100% peanuts varieties separate out a bit due to the
| oil in the nuts. Most UK supermarkets have an own brand
| 100% nut option that is usually a good deal compared to the
| branded stuff like Whole Earth (which has something
| added/removed to avoid having to stir it I guess).
|
| Same goes for Tahini, you can get bottles that never
| separate, or jar of 100% sesame seeds that needs a stir.
| cortesoft wrote:
| Most Americans actually buy peanut butter that doesn't need
| mixing, too... brands like JIF mix oils into the peanut
| butter which keep it from separating.
|
| "All natural peanut butter", which is what a lot of us like
| and what the OP is talking about in their article, is made
| with just peanuts blended, and the oil separates after a
| while on the shelf.
| dnfsod wrote:
| If only there was a blog post that you could read just the
| first paragraph of to find the answer to your question...
|
| From TFA:
|
| > I love peanut butter. I also hate mixing it. There are many
| products available to mix peanut butter for you, but I wanted
| my own design that took no effort to use. I'm looking for a
| "set it and forget it" solution. For those who don't know what
| I'm talking about, many natural peanut butters are not
| homogeneous at all times. The oil and the nutty material
| separate, and thus require mixing to return it to buttery
| consistency.
| downboots wrote:
| same idea as a rock tumbler
| booleanbetrayal wrote:
| I have an old rock tumbler hanging out in my garage. Now I have
| a practical near-daily use for it. Hindsight is 20/20.
| Ardon wrote:
| Also you can mix a tiny bit of xanthan gum in on your initial
| stir and then it stays mixed. I've never noticed a textural
| difference.
| imp0cat wrote:
| That's a great idea, I need this!
| gnicholas wrote:
| I use a metal chopstick to stir my PB (after pouring off a bit of
| the oil). It's a bit smaller than a butter knife, which means it
| can glide through the PB without risking spilling. But honestly
| what makes the most difference for me is that when I'm serving PB
| I use the knife to reach all the way down to the bottom.
| Otherwise it ends up getting pretty hard down there, even if it
| was initially very well mixed.
|
| Also, I'll there's a lid-based mixer [1, scroll down a bit] that
| apparently works well, but kind of looks like a mess to clean up.
| I believe that it is very effective though -- much better at
| getting down to the bottom than any non-invasive solution.
|
| 1: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-creamy-
| peanu...
| halostatue wrote:
| I've had one of those. They aren't nearly as mess-free as they
| claim to be. The lids don't _quite_ fit right over the jars I
| get here in Canada, and I always get a bit of oil spillage.
|
| Since we started buying the Farm Boy 500g Organic Peanut
| butter[1], I haven't had an issue. It's a good size, lasts a
| few weeks (my wife has some every day; I have some
| periodically), and is quickly stirred well on opening with a
| simple butter knife without spilled oil.
|
| [1]: https://www.farmboy.ca/products/farm-boy-organic-crunchy-
| pea...
| mhb wrote:
| Jif, ftw!
| shermantanktop wrote:
| I spent hours and hours on a train through Malaysian palm oil
| plantations. I'm happy to do a bit of stirring.
| dpedu wrote:
| I 3d printed and built a rock tumbler that was effectively the
| same device as this, some time ago. I put O-rings on the wheels
| for grip instead of a rubber band on the jar :-P
| cdaringe wrote:
| Ya, improved grip is needed. I was gonna use rubber wheels but
| got lazy and wanted to use what i had on hand
| daemonologist wrote:
| I also put one of these together, but I find it mixes much better
| if it turns very slowly over a long period. I have it set to do
| ~1/4 of a turn once per minute and usually run it at least
| overnight before putting a new jar in the fridge. Also helps to
| put the jar in the fridge on its side so it doesn't separate back
| out as much before solidifying.
| namdnay wrote:
| You put peanut butter in the fridge !?
| cortesoft wrote:
| After opening, yes, especially if it is all natural.
| StevenZhang6769 wrote:
| Would it work for something other than peanut butter?
| cdaringe wrote:
| We also mix our spicy oil for a common breakfast meal we make
| on it sometimes
| joncp wrote:
| You can also just use a hand mixer with only one beater inserted.
| 93po wrote:
| and fling peanut butter everywhere, and spend 3 minutes washing
| the beater off
| fortran77 wrote:
| It's the same mechanism as a rock tumbler, scaled down a bit.
| halostatue wrote:
| My only complaint about this would be that it's _noisy_ in your
| video. I already have my dog bark his damned head off when I turn
| on the Vitamix for anything.
|
| I think that someone's suggestion for rotating it slower and
| longer might alleviate the noise issue.
| cdaringe wrote:
| The noise is my stove top fan :) Its the absolute worst.
| paulhart wrote:
| I just use my electric drill with a paint mixer attachment, like
| https://www.homedepot.ca/product/a-richard-paint-mixer-16in-...
| and I've only had one spray incident, when I forgot to hold on to
| the jar while running the drill. It was epic!
| foobarian wrote:
| Might as well store the PB on this so it never becomes a problem
| anonu wrote:
| Just buy the super homogenized peanut butter with the additional
| ingredients with hard to pronounce names.
| bilsbie wrote:
| I wish they'd sell it in a wider jar. It's always so hard to get
| the past third out. Maybe a butter tub type design?
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