Pure Schmatural—This Is Why “Junky” Peanut Butter Is Higher, Based on a Professional Chef

For years, I saved a jar of pure, natural, one-ingredient peanut butter in my pantry—healthful, barely oily, and at all times in want of a stir. This was again after I lived within the Hudson Valley, surrounded by well being meals shops on each nook. Abandoning my beloved Skippy for the all-natural “higher” stuff was inevitable.

Earlier than I knew it, my grocery tote had full of maca-dusted goji berry–chia seed–flaxseed granola; grains every extra historic than the final; antioxidant superfoods by the handfuls; and—naturally—a jar of peanut butter fabricated from simply peanuts. However as soon as I switched to pure peanut butter, the urge to dig a spoon straight into the jar all of the sudden disappeared—and with it, one in all life’s small pleasures.

Residing in New York Metropolis has a manner of stripping the pretense from issues. Since transferring right here, I’ve traded the open greenery of the Hudson Valley for Brooklyn’s neighborhood parks and nook bodegas. And simply as I not suppose twice about consuming a greasy slice of pizza at 1 a.m., I’ve stopped overthinking peanut butter. I am going to preserve the pure type readily available for stews and sauces, the place it shines, however after I desire a spoonful of one thing scrumptious or want the right PB for baking, I attain for the undeniably scrumptious, creamy, sweetened, emulsified stuff. Name it self-reclamation, name it a return to what feels acquainted—both manner, my jar of Skippy is again in my pantry the place it belongs.

Why Is Creamy Sweetened Peanut Butter So Rattling Good?

So what makes the sweetened standard peanut butters comparable to Skippy, Jif, and comparable retailer manufacturers, so good? It is extra than simply nostalgia, although that performs an element, for me at the very least. The true reply lies within the components: a little bit of sugar and salt, plus stabilizers and emulsifiers that preserve all the pieces clean and shelf-stable.

In contrast to pure peanut butter, which separates right into a layer of oil and gritty solids, standard grocery store peanut butter usually accommodates added oils—typically hydrogenated vegetable oils—that act as stabilizers, stopping that separation. Via hydrogenation, hydrogen atoms are added to unsaturated fat, changing them into saturated or partially saturated fat. This alters the oil’s construction, making it extra stable and clean at room temperature and much much less vulnerable to separation.

Emulsifiers like mono- and diglycerides or lecithin are additionally generally added to maintain water and fats sure collectively. In the meantime, a bit sugar (or corn syrup) and salt spherical out the flavour. The result’s a constantly creamy, secure unfold that will not cut up or seize when launched to moisture.

When to Use Stabilized, Emulsified “Junky” Peanut Butter

That stability makes a giant distinction in baking. Emulsified peanut butter folds seamlessly into melted chocolate, butter, and batter with out turning grainy or oily. It stays clean in frostings, holds its form in no-bake bars, and makes cookies softer and extra cohesive. In pies and fillings, it blends evenly for a silkier end. Pure peanut butter, however, could cause mixtures to grab, separate, or bake up dry and crumbly. Even exterior of baking, creamy stabilized and emulsified peanut butter is extra sensible: It spreads effortlessly on toast, would not want stirring, and delivers that clear, dense spoonful once you’re standing within the kitchen, searching for a fast pick-me-up.

When Pure Peanut Butter Is the Greatest Match

That is to not say pure peanut butter would not have its place. Its wealthy, nutty depth of taste and the truth that it is usually not sweetened make it a greater match for savory dishes comparable to West African peanut stew or Sudanese mullah kombo, the place the toasty taste of the peanuts can come via with out interference. Simply be prepared to present it a critical stir—with out emulsifiers, the oil separates and wishes a bit effort to convey it again collectively.

A Consolation Price Reaching For

For me, creamy emulsified peanut butter is a reminder that not all the pieces within the pantry must be virtuous. Typically it simply must style actually, actually good. Typically a spoonful of flippantly sweetened, completely clean peanut butter straight from the jar is the form of quiet, transcendent consolation that cuts via the cacophony. That, to me, is a straightforward pleasure value holding.