Directions for Making Wholesome Nut Butter
By O. M. Hayward
Take enough Spanish No. 1 peanuts to make a layer one-half inch in thickness in the dripping pan. Place in a moderate oven, leaving the door slightly ajar. Allow the nuts to stay in the oven until they become so dry that the hulls rub off easily. Care must be taken to avoid a too high degree of temperature. Oil appearing on the outside of the nuts is evidence of too much heat. The color of the nuts should not be changed in the least by this drying process. If they begin to turn brown, the oven is too hot. When the nuts have been sufficiently dried, remove the hulls, either by some kind of blancher, rubbing them between the hands, placing them in a cloth bag and rubbing and jostling the nuts together until the hulls are removed, or by churning them in a rather deep vessel with a wire potato masher. When the hulls have become loosened, they may be blown out by pouring the nuts from one dish to another in a slight breeze. Next, grind the nuts into a fine meal or butter. The Quaker City mill, or some other mill that cuts rather than mashes the nuts, is preferable to those that grind by pressure. The meal thus prepared should be placed in a tightly covered glass or glazed or metal receptacle, and kept in a cool, dark place. The butter is prepared from this meal in the following manner: take the quantity of meal desired, and add a sufficient amount of water to reduce it to the consistency of a moderately thin gruel. Place this in some vessel, preferably the inside part of a double boiler, and set it upon the top of the stove, where the temperature is not too high, and stir occasionally. The mixture may boil moderately in this situation; but as soon as it shows the least tendency to adhere to the bottom of the vessel, it should be placed in the outer part of the double boiler, containing boiling water, and allowed to cook in this manner for at least two hours. Four or five hours' cooking is better than less. When this mixture becomes cold, it should be nearly the consistency of butter. Salt may be added as desired when the butter is taken from the stove. If any of the oil is separated from the mass, the whole should be thoroughly whipped before cooling. It must be remembered that butter cooked in this manner will keep but a short time, and should be handled with the same care as dairy milk. If put in sterilized, air-tight receptacles, in the same manner as canned fruit, it will keep indefinitely. In open dishes it can be kept several days in the refrigerator. Peanuts prepared in this manner furnish a delicious and wholesome article of diet, which can be used constantly, in proper quantities, without ill effect. Nut meal prepared as above is better and more wholesome than any free fat or oil as a shortening for buns, sticks, etc.