Also, you probably just need to try more alternative peanut butter. It took me a few tries to find something I liked.
However, it is pretty annoying how much work it takes to stir it to incorporate the separated oil. Particularly because it comes in a big 28 ounce jar.
Some quality of life tricks to make it easier:
buy multiple jars and store them upside down so gravity can help you start mixing
mix initially (if you're able) by rapidly rotating the jar in your hand (twisting your forearm), this will get you 90% of the way
finish off the mix with a knife
keep the well mixed open jars in the fridgeINGREDIENTS: MADE FROM ROASTED PEANUTS AND SUGAR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT.
Oh, maybe molasses (and yes probably the salt) is the flavor note I'm hung up on.
Anyway this is such a pure food-industrial-complex product that I am sure the ingredients list amounts to a sort of cover story. FWIW the parent company scores rates just OK on the 'Palm Oil Scorecard' from your linked page: https://palmoilscorecard.panda.org/check-the-scores/manufact...
The creamy solid frosting like texture of peanut butters like Skippy and Jif comes from the high content of saturated fats, which are more solid and shelf stable at room temperature. Traditionally they use hydrogenated vegetable oils to achieve this. The newer "natural" versions just use palm oil instead, which is naturally higher in saturated fats.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the type of peanuts used are unique to each company. Many of theses mega corporations breed their own specific cultivar of produce for their own use. Examples of this is (Nestle) Libby's pumpkin and Lays potatoes.
All of them are 99% peanuts, so I also wonder where the variety in taste comes from. My own theory is that it is a combination of the following: 1. How much the peanuts are roasted. 2. How much of the peanut ends up in the product. Some have a strong bitter taste that I suspect is from skins that haven't been properly separated from the peanuts. 3. Emulsifiers. 4. Oils and 5. Sugars.
Have you tried making your own and adding a sweetner? Easily made with a food processor.
- hydrogenated: oil doesn't separate, at the expense of your health
- sugar - on the Dr Rhonda Patrick episode of Joe Rogan, she said sugar+fat is really bad for you
- salt
That said, I agree with you on the organic stuff. You either get an oily mess or cement.
I carried peanut butter with me on long trips to Europe. Never found anything that satisfied my homegrown PB yearnings.
These have a lot more piping than oil tankers, so each cargo compartment can be loaded with a different industrial commodity, some of which are known to be highly incompatible, such as acids vs alkalis. There's usually 10 or 20 different chemicals on a vessel at any one time.
This way if they are careful, the operators on board and on shore can transfer the parcel, without significant enough contamination from foreign chemicals in other tanks, otherwise the material would fail to meet specifications.
Not everyone is as careful as they should be all the time.
When a cargo does go off-test it can take a lot of prime material to blend it with in order to pass.
It can be a headache of industrial proportions. Lloyds of London can get involved.
For that reason I hate it when a benzene or methanol transfer picks up a little too much palm oil.