• KoboldCoterie@pawb.socialEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      Non-US peanut butters typically have only one ingredient (peanuts) and therefore you get peanut oil separating out that needs to be stirred in. American peanut butter (at least the ‘popular’ brands) tend to be so full of preservatives and shit that they hold their state.

        • Einskjaldi@lemmy.world
          04·
          2 months ago

          Incorrect, hydrogenated is a synthesis artificial process that chemically alters them and turns them into dryer texture but it’s less healthy and more artificial. I avoid it.

          • Frenchgeek@lemmy.ml
            9·
            2 months ago

            That’s a bubbler leaking hydrogen while submerged in the oil, and it’s mostly a fancy word for margarine.

      • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        2·
        2 months ago

        it’s not the preservatives, it’s the hydrogenated oils that are added - basically they substitute some of the peanut oil that would separate out for oils that won’t separate (and stay hard, like a butter or like margarine)

        even the “healthy” no-stir peanut butters do this

    • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      3·
      2 months ago

      lots of US peanut butters are “no-stir” by substituting some of the oil with basically a margarine-like fat (solid, hydrogenated oils replace some of the peanut oil so that the oil never separates and needs to be stirred in again)

      If you use normal peanut butter, here are some tips I’ve found:

      • turn the peanut butter jar upside down so the lid is at the bottom where the solid peanut butter collects, and the oil collects at the “top” (which is now the bottom of the jar). This means when you open the jar and stir it, the oil is already at the bottom and you don’t have hard peanut butter stuck at the bottom that you can’t ever get incorporated
      • once you have opened a new jar and stirred it thoroughly, store the peanut butter in the fridge to make the peanut oil become more solid and doesn’t separate as quickly, and in my experience this prevents having to stir it again for the rest of the life of the jar

      But I also just eat the no-stir hydrogenated peanut butter now because it’s extremely cheap and I’m unemployed.

    • stenAanden@feddit.dkOP
      2·
      2 months ago

      https://www.gamintraveler.com/2026/03/01/why-you-cant-really-find-american-peanut-butter-in-spain-and-most-of-europe/

      The problem is that much of what Spain sells as peanut butter is built around the European expectation:

      • simpler ingredients

      • fewer sweeteners

      • “natural” separation accepted as normal

      The EU keeps strict maximum levels for contaminants in foods, including aflatoxins. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 sets tight contaminant limits, and the EU’s own 2023 summary notes that maximum levels are set at strict levels considered reasonably achievable.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aflatoxin

      Aflatoxins are various poisonous carcinogens and mutagens that are produced by certain molds, especially Aspergillus species such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus.

    • bizarroland@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      Many US peanut butter manufacturers add emulsifiers and other chemicals into their peanut butter so that it remains homogenous.

      The realization is that the person would be eating those emulsifiers, and some people have claimed that they have negative health consequences, which is probable, although I don’t know if they do or not.

        • bizarroland@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          2 months ago

          Many things are probable.

          I chose that word because it is possible that there could be health issues caused by the emulsifiers in american peanut butters, but also I don’t know if it is.

          Probable is an apt word when something isn’t necessarily impossible.

          You will also note that I didn’t use the word likely, because I can’t say whether it is likely or not.

            • bizarroland@lemmy.worldEnglish
              02·
              2 months ago

              I meant it in the secondary definition of the term, which is “establishing a probability”.

              Plausible is also a good word for it, but probable is still apt

              • otp@sh.itjust.works
                2·
                2 months ago

                This is the first time I’ve heard that definition. It seems like a niche definition that can easily result in misunderstandings

              • blarghly@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                2 months ago

                You aren’t establishing a probability.

                Or, by saying “probably” you are establishing a probability of > 0.5… with absolutely no proof.