Simple How to Preserve Homemade Peanut Butter
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If you’ve been wondering how to preserve homemade peanut butter but looked on Reddit for Facebook and found DANGER, DEATH, DYING, BOTULISM, TOO DENSE…. look no further. I’m going to show you how to preserve homemade peanut butter without fridge or freezer involvement.
Because today I’m coming at you with common sense. And encouragement to make your own decisions. In the 1972 Ball Blue Book, there’s a recipe to make and can peanut butter at home.
Why did that fall off in the subsequent editions?
How to Preserve Homemade Peanut Butter Was Available in an older Ball Blue Book Edition….
I can’t really find a straight answer. For one, if you ask the Ball Canning Group on Facebook, Ball rigorously tests ALL their recipes by inoculation with a dedication that is unmatched. (Which I think is extremely false considering Mr. Ball himself came up with the mathematical equation for canning times in relation to acidity, temperature, and time…. but that’s a rant for another day).
A few searches gave me a worthless AI overview telling me “canning peanut butter has never been an approved process and has been found unsafe due to density and rancidity of the natural oils in nuts.” But you can store peanut butter at room temperature for a year and it doesn’t go rancid. So why does home canning make it rancid and dangerous?
So…. if Ball is such a governing power of testing and canning safety… they didn’t test it? And then just removed it from subsequent Ball Blue Book editions with no statement or explanation?! You’d think if they tested it and found it unsafe they’d sure be advertising like HEYYYY THROW THAT BOOK AWAY omg danger. But… crickets? And then, you know, all the people that probably died from poisoned home canned peanut butter. I guess we just assume they did?
It’s hard being me because I want straight answers. Right now. And the vagueness and inability to provide concrete proof and evidence makes me crazy. Just lay straight facts out. I don’t want assumptions. I don’t want the words may, might, could, possibly, potential, any of those. I want concrete evidence based science. The extension agencies will quote you misguided assumptions based on what they’re taught to say about canning things that haven’t been personally tested by someone and then adopted by the NCHFP. Â
They can’t tell you anything else either or they’ll lose their precious master preserver’s certificate.
So, then I go looking deeper… why is peanut butter so unsafe? There are no scientific studies showing its unsafe. Just assumptions. I can’t STAND that. Why are we stating that people that preserve homemade peanut butter are going to die of botulism when we actually can’t prove that? Fear sells… but common sense will save you money.
I found an extension agency answering a question about it saying it is not safe to can peanut butter at home due to its high density, high fat, and low acid. Which… ok… but then they said that we cannot mimic what commercial peanut butter processors do.
Cool. What do the commercial processors do? Looking at Skippy specifically… they had a YouTube video on their process.  Other brands did, too, but I chose to stick with one and follow it through. As I’m sure they’ll all quite similar.
The ingredients in Skippy peanut butter are roasted peanuts, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil (prevents separation/stabilizer), and salt. No preservatives. Got it.
Then I watched several videos on how commercial peanut butter is made and preserved. It’s really not that impressive of a process. From what I can find, the peanuts are brought in, roasted, pitted, and then ground into the peanut butter.
They then add in the hydrogenated vegetable oil so the peanut oil stays homogenized and you don’t get a floating fat layer like you do natural peanut butter. They add sugar and salt for flavor and mix it.
While mixing, the peanut butter is heated to 60 degrees C (140F) before cooling to the prime packaging temperature of 38C (100.4F) where peanut butter flows from the dispensers easily. Nowhere am I seeing unattainable temperatures or crazy sterilization temperatures that make it “safer” due to high botulinum spore risk.
After cooling, they fill PLASTIC JARS, slap an airtight foil seal with an induction sealer on it and screw a lid on. They are now shelf stable for one year. Longer if they beat the air bubbles out of the mixture.
No extensive processing. No massive heating. Nothing. Just a little warm to mix it up and blend the sugar in and then….. jarred.
So, you’re telling me that commercial store brand peanut butter is so much safer than homemade because… they…. barely heat it… and then… put it… in plastic…. jars… with a vacuum seal?! 140F doesn’t even neutralize salmonella.
OK.
If your expectation is high heat and pressure processing and extremely sterile and clean environments… I’d say store bought peanut butter is not for you.
So, that’s why I’m happy to show you how to preserve homemade peanut butter at home. Let’s get started!
Equipment You Might Want
- Heavy Duty Food Processor
- Pint or smaller canning jars
- Canning lids and screw bands
- Water Bath Canner
- Jar Lifter
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds Spanish peanuts (roasted)
- 4 pounds Virginia peanuts (roasted)
- Salt, to taste
Step 1: Make the Peanut Butter
Working in batches, blend together about 1 part Spanish peanuts to every 2-3 parts Virginia peanuts. My food processor was about 4 total runs for this amount of peanuts.
Turn food processor on and in a couple minutes you will have peanut butter. Trust the process. First you will see peanut meal and may need to stop the food processor and break the pieces back up. Then it will start making butter at the bottom. At this point you may need to stop it again and push the big hunks apart.
Continue blending until it is the consistency you want. Dump into a large mixing bowl.
Once all peanuts are blended, mix together thoroughly in your mixing bowl, adding salt to taste.
Step 2: Canning
Spoon into pint, or smaller, canning jars to 1 to 1/2″ headspace. Roll the jar upright between your hands briskly to work any large air bubbles to the top.
Wipe jar rims, add lids and screw bands.
Process jars in a water bath canner for 1 hour, adjusting time for elevation is needed.
Once processing time is complete, remove jars to a heat proof surface lined with a towel and allow to cool undisturbed for 18-24 hours.
Step 3: Storage
Once jars are cooled, remove bands, test seals, wash jars, label, and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight. Proper storage temperatures are 50-70 degrees F.
Once opened, a jar will keep fine in a cool pantry area for a couple months or in the fridge for even longer.
Equipment
- pint or smaller canning jars
- Canning lids and screw bands
- jar lifter
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds Spanish peanuts roasted
- 4 pounds Virginia peanuts roasted
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Working in batches, blend together about 1 part Spanish peanuts to every 2-3 parts Virginia peanuts. My food processor was about 4 total runs for this amount of peanuts.
- Turn food processor on and in a couple minutes you will have peanut butter. Trust the process. First you will see peanut meal and may need to stop the food processor and break the pieces back up. Then it will start making butter at the bottom. At this point you may need to stop it again and push the big hunks apart.
- Continue blending until it is the consistency you want. Dump into a large mixing bowl.
- Once all peanuts are blended, mix together thoroughly in your mixing bowl, adding salt to taste.
- Spoon into pint, or smaller, canning jars to 1 to 1/2″ headspace. Roll the jar upright between your hands briskly to work any large air bubbles to the top.
- Wipe jar rims, add lids and screw bands.
- Process jars in a water bath canner for 1 hour, adjusting time for elevation is needed.
- Once processing time is complete, remove jars to a heat proof surface lined with a towel and allow to cool undisturbed for 18-24 hours.
- Once jars are cooled, remove bands, test seals, wash jars, label, and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight. Proper storage temperatures are 50-70 degrees F.
- Once opened, a jar will keep fine in a cool pantry area for a couple months or in the fridge for even longer.
I let my processor blend not stopping or pulsing till smooth approx 5 min. It will work the thick chunk into smooth without having to touch it. Then pour into jar using a spatula to help it along
I’ll try pouring next time. I was afraid of making a mess :D
Am I able to add any kind of sweetener and still process it for canning purposes?
absolutely!