The process begins at harvest time.
As the peanuts are dug out of the ground with the plant still attached, hang them upside down on a fence, or put some stakes in the ground to hang them from.
As the peanuts are dug out of the ground with the plant still attached, hang them upside down on a fence, or put some stakes in the ground to hang them from.
If rain is expected, or there is fear of animals eating your bounty, hang the peanuts in a barn or outbuilding that has free air movement but is still secure.
After hanging for about three weeks, the peanuts will rattle in their shells. Now it's time to remove them from the plants & shell them. Don’t throw away the plants! Store them for later use as a high protein animal feed, or return them to your garden or field & plow them under. Return the shells to your garden or field as well.
Once you have all the peanuts shelled, it’s time to make peanut butter.
Start by roasting the peanuts. Peanuts can be roasted dry in the oven, or in a skillet with a dab of oil. Allow freshly roasted peanuts to cool to room temperature.
Working in batches, transfer the roasted peanuts to a food processor. The rest is quite simple.
Because different varieties of peanuts contain different amounts of oil, sometimes the addition of a slight amount of oil is necessary. Oilseed varieties work best & do not require additional oil. Run the food processor until the peanut butter is nice and smooth.
Transfer your homemade peanut butter into jars removing any air bubbles with a table knife. Fit with lids and bands. They will not be processed in a canner, so they will need to be refrigerated or kept in a nice cool place to be used within about a month or so.
While commercial peanut butter can sit in your cabinet for an indefinite amount of time without spoiling, this is not the case with the homemade stuff. Without the preservatives it will go rancid after a while. This is of little or no concern however because the whole peanuts will last quite some time. Just make as much peanut butter as you plan on eating within about one months time, & save whole peanuts in dry storage for making a fresh batch later.
Enjoy!
Mississippi Foundation for Renewable Energy & BackwoodsEnergy.org will not be held responsible for any mishaps incurred as a result of YOUR application of any instruction provided in this document. We strive to provide accurate, helpful information through our tutorials, ebooks, & printed documents, but cannot account for the way said information is applied. Please follow all standard safety precautions & be responsible. All information conveyed in any of our publications is to be applied “AT YOUR OWN RISK & DISCRETION”. Please be careful.
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