The Great PB Poll

Premise - the best peanut butter has only one ingredient - peanuts.

No salt, no sugar, no preservatives....agree or disagree?

Disagree, it needs a little salt to really bring out the flavor. BUT NO SUGAR, dammit!

this is one of those moments when I want to hide my head in shame, but, I eat JIF.

It's only a sin if you like it, John.

I'll disagree, too. Roasted peanuts and a bit of salt make for the best peanut butter, IMO.

I'm with Mike. I don't even need any emulsifier.

[Robin Garr]

I'll disagree, too. Roasted peanuts and a bit of salt make for the best peanut butter, IMO.

It would be pretty darn bland without the salt! I'm not even absolutely sure that I'd reject a tiny bit of cane sugar or honey in an otherwise all-natural peanut butter, but it's certainly not necessary.

Jumping on the Mike bandwagon for peanuts and salt.

For me it's Teddie peanut butter for 40+yrs. Teddie's factory is in what was my grandparents backyard (well, a block away but the aroma of a peanut butter factory is pretty pervasive) and everytime I open a jar, the smell brings me right back to playing in their yard.

This one is still fresh in my mind....it has to have salt. Pure peanuts with nothing else in it? Never again.

Thinking back on it...I hate unsalted peanuts. So why did I out and purchased unsalted PB?

Richard

Unlike many people I do not consume vast quantities of salt - and even if you aren't one of the people that grabs for the salt shaker before they bother tasting their food, you'll find an amazing/dismaying amount of salt in many commercial soups and other foodstuffs.

So I am used to only adding salt when I want ti, and don't make the assumption that anything will be better with salt, than without. You think that's bad, what about the ketchup adders - to everything whether it needs it or not?

I undertook a scientific test after you salty dogs posted - a taste of Adams brand PB on two crackers, with and without salt. I am just fine with the no salt version, but I can see how the halo-heads would prefer the added salt.

IMHO, the solution is NOT to add salt to the product, thus depriving the no salt segment of their options. Just leave it alone without salt and those that want it can add as much as they want, and you appeal to both groups.

On sugar, I remain adamant - empty calories totally unecessary to the enjoyment of the food.

I guess we could have a sub-poll about peanut oil - are you a stirrer or a pourer off? Either way the neutral oil doesn't affect the taste, only the consitency.

[Jenise]

this is one of those moments when I want to hide my head in shame, but, I eat JIF.

John, that's two of us.

I have Jiff Chunky and smooth in my pantry.......for no reason other than the grandchildren eat it. When I do get a yearning for PB, I have a spoonfull. I dislike the type that need to be mixed, so I avoid those.

[David M. Bueker]

Hmm...peanut butter snobbery. Shouldn't there be a whole forum devoted to this?

A different angle that no one has mentioned (that I saw), though some of you may have heard of it:

It may not yet be in the New Yorker (like the olive-oil story) or the New York Times (like chef D. Patterson's truffle-oil revelations, sample below), but a biochemically-trained friend who watches the scientific literature has been warning me off of a couple of classes of foods for some years. These are foods processed from peanuts and corn,* where you don't see the original kernel. His point is that both types of plant kernels experience fungal growth that can leave significant natural toxins -- if I remember, in one case a segment of the population is particularly sensitive. The issue for consumers is that kernels that are visually unattractive end up in processed foods rather than sold whole. (Peanut butter, corn chips, etc.) And fungal infestations are a reason why they are visually unattractive. Moreover, this friend asserts that US standards for such toxic residues are much looser than in some other countries. The friend gave up peanuts altogether, not just peanut products (citing concern about aflatoxin residues).

If there is interest in this, I can probably dig up some sources. (Or you can, by searching based on content above.)


*Non-North-American readers, please note that I mean the more specific sense of the word "corn" (called "maize" in non-US English, where also "corn" is a more general word for grain).


Food quotation for the day:
--
Truffle oil: Chemical nightmare or culinary miracle?
By Daniel Patterson
NEW YORK TIMES 16May07

Excerpt:
Most commercial truffle oils are concocted by mixing olive oil with one or more compounds like 2,4-dithiapentane ... their one-dimensional flavor is also changing common understanding of how a truffle should taste. ... [some chefs] are surprised to hear that truffle oil does not actually come from real truffles.

Aflatoxin is indeed a potential problem in peanut butter as well as other sources. It is routinely tested for, although as you state, we allow higher levels than the Europeans do.

I have been told that the best way to minimize your aflatoxin exposure via peanut butter is to eat the major name brands (like Jif and Skippy). This is ostensibly because they store their peanuts for a relatively short time prior to grinding them. Next up would be major name brand organics. Last on the list is the grinder full of peanuts at your local health food store. The peanuts in that grinder have likely sat around prior to shipping to the store and then sat around in the grinder for an indeterminate amount of time, possibly allowing for significant fungal growth and aflatoxin production.

Next up would be major name brand organics. Last on the list is the grinder full of peanuts at your local health food store. The peanuts in that grinder have likely sat around prior to shipping to the store and then sat around in the grinder for an indeterminate amount of time, possibly allowing for significant fungal growth and aflatoxin production.

Interesting and sounds plausible. So a brand in a jar would be better than Whole Foods grinding it up in front of you from possibly older nuts!

And better than doing it yourself? I have made cashew butter in a Cuisinart from time to time - do they have aflatoxin like peanuts? If so I'll have to remember to test it first on She-who-must-be-obeyed or Jenise or someone. How long does it take to have effect......

[Jenise]

If so I'll have to remember to test it first on She-who-must-be-obeyed or Jenise or someone. How long does it take to have effect......

Note to self: avoid all spreads at Bill's house

If so I'll have to remember to test it first on She-who-must-be-obeyed or Jenise or someone. How long does it take to have effect......

Note to self: avoid all spreads at Bill's house

Note to self - don't offer Jenise any spreads - including foie gras in paté form....

Below in the "fine print" I take the liberty of forwarding informal remarks related to my previous posting.

On a slightly wider subject but probably of interest: The University of California's principal agricultural campus (at Davis) has a team of food scientists who specialize in food toxicology (both natural and manmade). In recent years they've put out fairly accessible, broad-scope papers, some of which I've read, in such media as Food Technology and Journal of Food Science. An upshot is that you can't generalize as to the benefits of organic farming, the details vary enormously with the crop. Counterintuitively, some food crops are so prone to infestations with side effects (as I mentioned), or else produce defensive pesticides themselves when they sense insect attack, that the residue of dangerous chemicals at harvest goes down on average with intelligent use of man-made pesticides. (They also remark that many people are unaware of this, and the intuition of "organic" produce being healthier resists hard evidence to the contrary where it does exist.) Also they say this isn't true of all crops by any means, and that it presumes correct and responsible use of the pesticides.

--
Natural toxins are seldom carcinogenic. Manmade molecules are often based on benzene, napthalene, or anthracene core structures, because these are common feedstocks available to the chemical industry. Many derivatives of these structures are carcinogens, and some are quite potent carcinogens. Aromatics in general [benzene-ring chemicals -- MH] should be viewed with suspicion.

Certain classes of manmade toxins are not likely to be carcinogens, such as the acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. They are usually small molecules lacking any aromatic structure. Just because it is manmade does not mean it is likely to be carcinogenic.

There are some natural toxins which are powerful carcinogens. Aflatoxin in peanuts and dried corn products is probably the most severe risk, which is why I don't eat those foods anymore. The aflatoxin is produced by mold infecting the product during storage. [Strong lobbying by the peanut industry] has kept U.S. regulations for allowed aflatoxin in food four times higher than that allowed in the EU.

Unlike many people I do not consume vast quantities of salt - and even if you aren't one of the people that grabs for the salt shaker before they bother tasting their food, you'll find an amazing/dismaying amount of salt in many commercial soups and other foodstuffs.

So I am used to only adding salt when I want ti, and don't make the assumption that anything will be better with salt, than without. You think that's bad, what about the ketchup adders - to everything whether it needs it or not?

I undertook a scientific test after you salty dogs posted - a taste of Adams brand PB on two crackers, with and without salt. I am just fine with the no salt version, but I can see how the halo-heads would prefer the added salt.

IMHO, the solution is NOT to add salt to the product, thus depriving the no salt segment of their options. Just leave it alone without salt and those that want it can add as much as they want, and you appeal to both groups.

On sugar, I remain adamant - empty calories totally unecessary to the enjoyment of the food.

I guess we could have a sub-poll about peanut oil - are you a stirrer or a pourer off? Either way the neutral oil doesn't affect the taste, only the consitency.

Bill,

Your position on salt and sugar is exactly what mine is.

I don't cook with salt and I don't add it to food (except for French fries).

I also dispute the claim that salt is "necessary" to bring out food's natural flavors. Many foods contain sodium levels of their own and I've found that spices are quite good at helping flavors along.

My theory is that people have been inundated with salt and sugar additions to food for most of their lives and so they have been conditioned to think the substances are indispensable. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Just a few days ago I had this discussion with a few people and someone was incredulous that I swipe my ears of corn with olive oil and lemon instead of salt and butter. Did it tonight and loved every kernel--naturally sweet corn meeting acidic oil and lemon...

As for PB, stopped eating that stuff a long time ago, after I realized I didn't particularly like it.

Thomas - do you salt your pasta water?

I got out of the habit of salting and buttering corn a while back. Now, I simply pepper it. If the corn is good, it really doesn't need any help.

I don't cook with salt and I don't add it to food (except for French fries).

That's pretty much me too, except I don't even add it to French fries.

My best friend uses tons of salt, and then adds more at the table. She even salts already-salted tortilla chips. If she knows I am having a meal there, she cuts back on the cooking salt at least.... but doesn't eliminate it.

My theory is that people have been inundated with salt and sugar additions to food for most of their lives and so they have been conditioned to think the substances are indispensable. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Actually, it goes beyond "thinking." The more you use salt and sugar, the more you need to experience their flavor. Once you've deprogrammed yourself from salt or sugar, you need far less for taste. For example, if you think ripe, unsugared strawberries are kind of sour, you've been eating too much sugar.

Thomas - do you salt your pasta water?

No, John. I use lemon juice, when I remember to use it.