I stir once when I get home from the grocery store then place it in my fridge upside down.
The peanut oil congeals and then you have perfectly mixed smooth pb on demand.
The peanut oil congeals and then you have perfectly mixed smooth pb on demand.
There's no winning here, because putting it in the fridge makes it hard to spread. The best approach is to take out a week's worth or so and put it in a small/airtight container. Leave that out but put the main jar in the fridge.
The separation and mixing is a pain though. Love the mixer idea!
Refrigerated peanut butter sounds like an unnecessary hardship.
Loves cake tho. Little debbie snack cakes, pancakes, waffles, cup cakes.
But not donuts, bread, croissants or thick pizza.
I wish I had the discipline to keep a jar of peanut butter around long enough for it to spoil. :)
Growing up we put the peanut butter in the pantry without separation issues because my parents were either fine with or oblivious to the stabilizing additives in the mass produced peanut butter brands.
Now, when I look at the ingredients list I only want to see “peanuts”! (And maybe <1% salt)
1. Cold peanut butter is a misery.
2. Removing the lid after it's been upside down is an oily mess.
2. Storing upside down is a precaution against oily messes because the oils separate on top of the peanut solids, and so is under the peanut solids when upside down. Also, I mentioned that at the fridge temperatures the oil congeals, and so remains mixed when refrigerated, avoiding any oily mess.
To that point my favorite peanut butter is hot melted peanut butter warmed by being spread over recently toasted bread.
I primarily put peanut butter on toast. Cold peanut butter will tear apart a piece of toast (and also make it into cold bread).
I stir it with a mixer (I have these corkscrew-like attachments for my hand mixer that are perfect). Then put it in the freezer.
It gets bounced between fridge and freezer: when it's showing a little hard, it goes into the fridge. When it softens there, back to the freezer.
When in a cupboard the oil separates on top, so it can make mixing more difficult by both having the oil spill out when stirring and having the driest peanut bits stuck deep at the bottom.
Upside down places the oil underneath and the driest parts more accessibly near the removable part of the container.
I always imagined after stirring and placing it in the fridge upside down provides that “last mile” guarantee until it gets to temp in the fridge.
After the first use it goes back in the fridge right side up.