How is peanut butter made?
Over the last century, the process for making peanut butter has become more automated and efficient, but generally has changed very little. Here are the basic steps: • Peanuts are delivered raw to the manufacturing facility, where they are inspected to assure quality. • The peanuts pass through a special oven that roasts them to develop flavor. • To stop the roasting process when the peanuts reach their optimum flavor and color, they are cooled quickly with fan-circulated air. • A machine called a blancher removes the outer skin from the peanuts, after which they are split, cleaned, and sorted. • The prepared peanuts are ground in two stages to avoid generating too much heat, which can reduce flavor quality. The first stage reduces them to a chunky paste. The second stage incorporates additional ingredients—such as sugar and salt—and reduces the peanuts to the familiar, smooth peanut butter texture before final packaging.
