Are you allowed to ask a two part question about peanut butter?

I don’t stir in the oil. I pour it out. What remains suits me just fine.

1. I don’t know, but I suspect it’s the same process that makes it taste disgusting.

2. “Natural” all the way. Stir it well the first time and refrigerate it so the oil doesn’t just float to the top again.

I suspect it’s some kind fo chemical “emulsifier.” I’ve gotten Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter and stirred, not shaken.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen oil in my peanut butter…..

Jif and Skippy use hydrogenated vegetable oils (soybean, rapeseed, etc) to prevent separation.

I like the organic kind, where I use the power grinders at Whole Paycheck to make my own. No stirring is required; the infinitesimal amount of separation that occasionally happens at room temp, is easily resolved by the spreading process itself.

@Dutchess_III
Then you should try the stuff Trader Joe’s sells.
It tastes more like peanuts. Has a better texture. It’s gooey-er. I love it on celery.

Gooey-er!! Love it.

I am with @Brian1946 – I get fresh ground almond butter from the machine at Whole Foods, needs no refrigeration, and the oil doesn’t separate out.

Awful, sticky, sickly sweet, calorie laden mush.
Not surprising it’s popular in america.

Well, generally speaking, I’m not that much into peanut butter, except for the very rare sandwich.

For your statistics, my husband likes Jif (what we would call the kid stuff) and my sister likes the natural (her favorite is Trader Joe’s) and both of them won’t eat the other. I would prefer my husband eat the natural, but he doesn’t eat peanut butter very frequently, so let him eat what he wants I guess.

I think the natural ones don’t add sugar, or maybe some do. I think the sugar is part of why people who are used to products like Jif don’t like the organic and natural brands.

I don’t eat peanut butter, except in a recess peanut butter cup, and I use a little in a chicken dish I make. I use whatever is in the house when using it in cooking. I do use tahini in cooking also (sesame) which separates like peanut butter. Also, Cheesecake Factory has an amazing peanut sauce, I should look up a copycat recipe.

@Dutchess_III At your supermarket they don’t have natural peanut butters with the oil sitting on top?

I have never met a peanut butter that I didn’t like. Regular, natural, crunchy, smooth, Jif, Skippy, or store brands. They all taste a bit different, but they’re all good.

Why don’t we…buy a bunch of peanuts and make our own!

One of my favorite dishes in the whole world is Sesame Peanut Noodles, made with peanut butter:

https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/cold-sesame-peanut-noodles/

Peanut butter is just one of those things, like mustard, to me. I am very limited on what I like the stuff with.
Peanuts alone are good, as long as they are in the shell.

Fresh roasted peanuts in the shell, right out of the oven are so good.