Do you make your own jellies or butters? I love peanut butter but I think the commercial ones regularly have too much sugar or artificial ingredients so I was thinking in making my own,but I´m not sure if it is a good idea. The closest thing I have done to making my own was when I was a kid and I´m not sure that counts haha Has anyone has experience on this?
I think making your own could cost more unless you buy peanuts in bulk and have good quality ones. The price has gone up recently and also you have to think about the right balance of oils because it can separate. I do think it's a good idea for people with allergies and who don't want sugar in it, but there is also the question of how long it will last. Home made items should be eaten as soon as possible and last no longer than 6-8 weeks. Is that economical, do you eat that much?
Once you learned how to make peanut butter, You can also make other kind of spreadables. You can make replace peanuts with other nuts and seeds to make "Nut butters" Pumpkin seed butter, Sunflower seed butter and almond butter have the same instructions with making peanut butter.
Homemade nut butter tastes better and you can even feel the natural taste of nuts. Especially for those who like licking nut butter, homemade is healthier. Once you know how to make yours, you will save a lot. You can save on transport costs and also no paying VAT since you are not purchasing nut butter anymore. Nut butter is very expensive in my town and it is 2 years now since I last used it. I will also have to learn how to make.
@Theo That is the thing I love "natural things" but I don't eat too much peanut butter or Straberry Jelly so it can be worth the time and money spent, but at the same time I try to take care of my body by cutting presevatives, etc. So, I guess maybe I'll try it once and see if I'm able to finish a jar in a month so it doesn't go bad. @mildredtabitha Also I think is easier to eat the nuts or seeds we are supposed to eat daily or like frequently in for of butter instead of their natural form and Pumpkin seed butter sounds tempting @Beast_Titan
I personally think it would be better to make your own sandwiches rather than purchase them. You can get peanut butter and jelly separate at a good price if you are careful. Plus, most of the time store made peanut butter and jelly are not always the best so you could wind up hating it and basically wasting money. Homemade PB&J generally tastes better.
I have never tried making peanut butter at home, but I do think that it would be healthier than what you buy in the store, which is full of sugar and preservatives. As @Theo mentioned, homemade would probably need to be used up faster because it does not have all of the preservatives, and the peanut oil would go rancid much faster. The other side to that is that you can make the batches of homemade peanut butter as large or as small as you want, depending on how much of it you use. Almond butter is supposed to be delicious also; but it is really expensive to buy it at the store, and I have never tasted any before. I do sometimes make my own almond milk though, and it is much creamier and not watery tasting like the almond milk from the store, and it is very easy to make if you have a blender.
I just tried making my own home made nutella. I just did the instructions of a peanut butter recipe replacing peanuts with hazel nut and adding chocolate powder to the mix. The result tasted similar to commercial Nutella but it tasted better.
I have to insist on the fact that not everything that is home made is better or healthier but in certain cases it can be far better.
I actually never though of it (making a small size butter or jelly) I think is because I'm so used to make big portions of everything even if I'm going to be the only one eating it. How do you make the almond milk and how much have it lasted in good conditions for you? @Beast_Titan I've never though of making nutella like that! I think in the next few days I'm going to be full of home made Butters and Jellies and probably will need to hit the gym due to that haha
The way I make fresh almond milk is with my blender, @LesY . I use about a cup of almonds for a quart of almond milk, and soak them overnight in lukewarm water. In the morning, the water will be discolored from the brown almond skin, so I pour that on one of my houseplants instead of using that water for the milk. I rinse the almonds a little bit more but I do not remove the skin like some people do. Then I put the almonds in the blender with a quart of water, and turn the blender on low speed, which crushes up the almonds, gradually increasing the blender speed until it is at its peak power. Once it is running at top speed, I let it run for about a minute longer; but each blender is different, so you will have to practice with your blender to see how long it needs to run. My blender is a Vitamix, and it is a very powerful blender, and by the time it is done, the almonds are totally pulverized into milk. I do not strain mine because the blender does a good enough job that there are no bits of almond left; but some people put it through a fine strainer. Sometimes, I add vanilla (or even chocolate) whey protein powder to the quart of almond milk, and this gives it a richer and sweeter flavor. Occasionally, I mix it half and half with regular milk, which also gives it a richer taste. I usually use the almond milk within a few days; so I do not know how long it would last if I used less of it.
Thanks for the recipe @Happyflowerlady sounds easy to do and worth the try. I think I´m going to buy a new blender because mine is standard but, I wanted to change it for a few months now so not a big problem.
