Oh MAN…does anyone remember when that site became popular? I feel like that was almost right after the internet was really getting ‘big’. Isn’t it crazy to think that we were alive for the invention of the internet? Well, I was anyway…oye I’m getting old!
ANYWAY…in my previous post, I had a couple of great comments that inspired me to create this post about peanut butter! First of all, ‘mrk’ had a GREAT comment about something I forgot to mention. If you are going to be making trail mix, make sure to buy unsalted nuts…adding salt can add 300mg of sodium per serving! Yikes! So, please, make sure to buy unsalted nuts :)
Now, onto peanut butter. I am a HUGE advocate of buying organic peanut butter. What caused me to switch initially? The ingredients. I mean, what is peanut butter? Isn’t it just mashed up peanuts? Well, it should be. Let’s take a look at the ingredients in a very popular brand of non-organic peanut butter (I won’t name the brand haha):
From their website: MADE FROM ROASTED PEANUTS ANDSUGAR. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLEOILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT.
Isn’t it funny how they make sure to say ’2% or less’…I think it’s so funny the way these companies always try to fool the buyers…you pick it up in the store and think ‘oh 2%, that’s nothing’., but just stop to think about it for a second…if peanut butter is mashed up peanuts…why do we need sugar? And molasses? Why do we need extra salt? And what is this Mono and Diglycerides crap?
Mono and Diglyceridesare emulsifying agents – they are both hydrophilic (attracting water)and hydrophobic (repelling water), so they are soluble in both waterAND fat. Why are they in peanut butter? Well, they are used to keep oils from separating out of products and used toincrease shelf life – the same reasons that trans fats are used in mostproducts. When you get traditional peanut butter, it is super creamy and spreads oh so nicely, plus you don’t have to keep it in the fridge. This is a result of the Mono and Diglycerides added to the mix. From what I’ve read, these can be derived from animals, vegetables, or even synthetically produced. To read a little bit more about the chemistry of it all, go HERE.
For the heck of it, I decided to look at the ingredients in their peanut butter that they call ‘natural’…
MADE FROM ROASTED PEANUTS, SUGAR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: PALM OIL, SALT, MOLASSES.
Okay, so now let’s talk about some GOOD peanut butter. The peanut butter B (my husband) and I buy at the store will be labeled with the USDA Organic seal (or another Organic certification) and will have ONE ingredient: Peanuts. If you want to know what’s in our fridge right now, it’s THIS (I literally just walked to the fridge, got it out and looked it up online). I’m sure I bought this brand because it was the cheapest of the organic peanut butters at our local grocery store…and because it had just one ingredient. We like our peanut butter to be just that, peanuts (and we like it crunchy..yum).
Just be careful because you’ll find added ingredients in organic peanut butter too like salt, sugar, palm oil etc. Granted it will be organic, but you could be adding fat, sodium and calories that you don’t necessarily need. So, just be sure to check the ingredients and nutrition information. Just balance what’s important to you..if you like the taste of salt, get the organic peanut butter with sea salt added…the important thing is that it’s organic, after that it’s up to your personal preference. If you like tobranch out and get peanut butter with salt or sugar, or even try something like almond butterinstead, by all means do it! You can find some yummy stuff out there!
There’s just something satisfying about pulling that organic peanut butter out of the fridge and knowing that all it is, is 100% peanuts. That alone was enough to sell me on it! It also takes amazing, too. It might not be as convenient as conventional peanut butter, but I think the stirring is worth it!
Let me know if you have any other questions regarding peanut butter and I’ll do my best to answer!
January 28, 2010 
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Hi and welcome! I'm Jenny - a green living new momma, adoring wife, and MSU fan.
I'm super-commenty today… here's another instance where buying in bulk is helpful. At a large "Natural-style" grocery store (okay fine, Whole Foods) near my house you can actually grind your own peanut butter… you can physically see the peanuts and then they are ground into butter… it's nice because you can 1. see the peanuts and that there's nothing added and 2. buy only a quarter-pound, for example, if you don't use peanut butter that often and are nervous about the remainder spoiling. I would imagine also that in some bulk food stores you could bring your own container, which would be nice.
I wish we had Whole Foods where I live! I want to make my own PB!
But I'll live with the Tropical Tradition coconut peanut butter. It's seriously the best stuff I have ever tasted! Mmmm…
Great post. Well researched and I love the facts.
Oh, and you know the internet was invented in the 60s, right? :) Though the World Wide Web didn't exist until 1989.
Huh, I guess the old-fashioned peanut butter that I got from my grandparents was the real deal, instead of these thick gooey ones that do not need refrigeration these days.
Thanks for sharing (and for the follow!). And oh, I love your header! :)
Following you back chic!! Cute blog and looking forward to reading your journey through the year 2010 and seeing if you can get your 101 things done. :)
You are absolutely right! I am grossed out to think of all the trans fats and sugars I ate eating processed peanut butter. We were really lucky when we found out my son had a peanut allergy b/c it sent us in all kinds of new directions. I make almond butter at home, from just almonds and it is so yummy! And I love that it's "just almonds".
Tropical Traditions is awesome. I've reviewed a bunch of products from them. They're very crunchy and also yummy. :)
We LOVE our organic peanut butter! DH gets upset that it has to stay in the fridge because it "breaks his bread up" from being cold and hard, but each time he tastes it he can't help but exclaim "mmm, so worth it though" in the muffled peanut butter mouthed tone :-) Love your blog, now following you!
Hello there, my dear jenny, thanks so much for your visit on my Recupefashion web shop. as it is more of a shop then a blog, though I use it sometimes to exhale some news.
I also wanted you to know that I used your Peanut butter article on one of my other blogs which a eco blog also, I hope you do not mind.
Here is the link
http://nathaliebrault.blogspot.com/2010/01/hello-and-good-afternoon.html
Let's keep in touch
Better yet let,s exchange buttons
We are huge peanut butter fans here! Thanks for the link!
Now following your wonderful blog! :)
MRK – YES I LOVE making my own peanut butter at the store. New Seasons by me (similar to Whole Foods but it's local) has it too, and I LOVE doing that when we got there. It's rewarding :)
Eco Friendly and Frugal — hahaha yessss that's what I meant the WWW!
Thanks ladies for all the comments!!
Nathalie – no I don't mind at all!! I'm off to check out your blog now :)
I generally eat Trader joes organic no salt peanut butter, but I've also made my own at whole foods. I never put it in the fridge though, and I haven't had a problem :).
I have a friend that told me that peanuts are chock full of pesticides and all the crap in the ground, even if they are grown organically. I wonder if you ever heard anything like this??
Nice job on the peanut butter post. I remember Eco Friendly's post too. THat was nice of you to throw a shout out to her too!! You have a great blog. Very much enjoying your site.
Green Mama – I just created a post answering your question :) I hope it clears things up a bit!
Organic — I'm really glad that you're enjoying my site!!!