chemicals r scarry
edcation is laking
this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2026
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...are non-US peanut butters less viscous?
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.
Here's the full list of ingredients for Jif:
Made from Roasted Peanuts and Sugar, Contains 2% or Less of: Molasses, Fully Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed and Soybean), Mono and Diglycerides, Salt.
https://www.foodsco.net/p/jif-creamy-peanut-butter/0005150024191
It's not just peanuts but it's not really "preservatives and shit" either.
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.
That's a bubbler leaking hydrogen while submerged in the oil, and it's mostly a fancy word for margarine.
No salt? XD
You can get some brands which have a pinch of salt added, but in my experience, most brands don't...
Of the pure pbs, I've found several. I think Richards and Kroger do.
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
The problem is that much of what Spain sells as peanut butter is built around the European expectation:
-
simpler ingredients
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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.
Why do you call it "natural" separation lol
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.
I don't get it.
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.
Emulsifiers gonna emulsify 🚬
How to inhale peanut butter to undo ~10yrs of smoking?
I was curious.
Apologies if you're actually quitting. My jocularity is quite weird.
which is probable
Why would this be probable? Evidence?
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 impossible.
You will also note that I didn't use the word likely, because I can't say whether it is likely or not.
"Plausible" is what you wanted. "Probable" means "likely".
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
This is the first time I've heard that definition. It seems like a niche definition that can easily result in misunderstandings
You aren't establishing a probability.
Or, by saying "probably" you are establishing a probability of > 0.5.... with absolutely no proof.
That's why just buying peanuts and a food processor is the way to go and just make the amount of peanut butter you need when you need it.