Peanut Butter (with recipe)

            The most popularly used “nut” butter is that made from the peanut – usually the small variety known as the Spanish peanut. Because peanut-butter cravers run rampant hereabouts – and because many of them are children – it is important to realize the horrors that are perpetrated by the food industry on this highly nutritious comestible. Many commercially fabricated peanut butters contain as little as 75 percent peanuts. The rest is made up of hydrogenised fats (to prevent oil separation), sugar (for added sweetness and to mask the taste of inferior peanuts), emulsifiers (against oil separation), texturizers (to aid spreadability and counteract the butter’s natural tendency to stick to the roof of the mouth), and degermed (for infinite shelf life) peanuts. Doesn’t that sound appetizing!

            Buy your peanut butter freshly ground and pure. Refrigerate during hot weather, and give it a stir before using, to redistribute the nutritious oils that rise to the top. Small trouble for the rich reward of delicious healthful peanut butter as it once was and still should be. See also Peanut.

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PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup pressed vegetable oil or butter

1 cup peanut butter, unhomogenized

1 cup honey or sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil two cookie sheets.

2.      Mix oil and peanut butter. Add honey, salt, and baking soda, stir well. Add eggs and vanilla, then flour.

3.      When well blended, spoon onto the cookie sheet by the teaspoonful. Press down with a floured fork if desired. Bake for 10-11 minutes. Let cool on pan several minutes or cookies will crumble.

4.      Makes approximately 50 cookies.