September 1, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Extra Crunchy Skippy Super Chunk. Ingredients Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Cottonseed, Soybean, and Rapeseed Oi) to prevent separation, salt. <1> Recyclable plastic, but who really recycles it? Does municipal recycling actually do it? But what has bothered me for decades since I learned that Palm Oil is the cause of so much deforestration in Indonesia is the orangatangs. Orangatangs live in the rainforest where Palm Oil Plantations are proliferating. Palm Oil is in 50% of all consumer products in the grocery store. I’m not sure why, but our peanut butter is what has always bothered me the most.

But then I learned to make peanut butter! Here is my post where I talked mostly about my own personal finance plans but also how easy it was to make peanut butter. https://drplasticpicker.com/the-road-to-fise-so-easy-homemade-peanut-butter/ I know this is being cross-published in our clinic BOTAY newsletter, but remember this is Dr. Plastic Picker’s blog so I can talk about myself as much as I want. Indeed this is the 300th post on my blog where I mostly talked about myself (and the earth).

But kidding aside, why did peanut butter become so complicated? Posting again from yesterday’s blog. There are tons of recipes online. But all you do is get roasted peanuts. We bought a pound and split it between a reusable container to just eat and to make into peanut butter. You put the peanuts in some kind of blender, I used our small food processor. You then blend it (I used the grind function). It takes about 5 minutes or so. About every minute or so, you take a spatula and just dislodge the peanut mixture from the impacted sides or bottom so it can continue to evenly mix. And then do what you want! Most recipes call for

• 2 cups unsalted dry roasted peanuts
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon honey

I used some brown sugar I had left over instead of honey. My instagram friend PaddleOutPlastic suggested “use 2/3 peanuts and 1/3 cashews. Makes it smoother. Another possibility is to melt some chocolate and add it to the blended peanuts. Or add it to blended hazelnuts and you get something akin to Nutella without all the additives.” She is really wise and collects plastic from LA Habour during her kayaking trips.

So I was walking around clinic yesterday so excited about making my own homemade peanut butter! The best ideas come when I talk to our pediatric RNs. I chatted with the RNs in our clinic, and then talked to nurse Jenny on the phone. Click here to read the post when I interviewed her about her orange water bottle that has a sticker of her beloved pug! She really loves pugs https://drplasticpicker.com/blinging-your-reusable-water-bottle-part-deux/ Yesterday when talking to the RNs it all clicked. As I posted on my personal facebook page,

“Hey guys! I promise you I’m not losing my mind. I’m trying to figure out life and why the world is the way it is (semi broken) and how I can fix it. My answer is peanut butter!!! Why is something so simple become so complicated? I don’t think most people want to kill orangatangs in the process (palm oil) and fill their bodies with sugar and pollute the oceans with more plastic. I figured out that it’s because it’s hard to start buying bulk peanuts! I’m doing this for clinics. But if you are in San Diego and want to try to make your own peanut butter, the premium supplier is in Ohio and is a family run business (Amazon you are not getting my money!!). I can get it with shipping for $1.33 a pound. Even compared to Sprouts, this is cheaper. Let me know if you want to try to make your own peanut butter! I have Venmo. You can pay me when you pick up. I may deliver to clinics if there are enough people. My only ask is you send me a picture of the peanut butter you made is some kind of reusable jar??? Let me know!!!”

And that is it. I’m going to buy fancy premium roasted peanuts direct from the supplier. I looked online and found

C.J. Dannemiller Co.
5300 S. Hametown Rd.
Norton, Ohio 44203

I called the 1800 number and talked to Alex, and they are a family run business that is well regarded and ethical in the nut world. We chatted and I told her all about the AAP Climate Change and Health Committee and Dr. Plastic Picker. Everyone is excited to make their homemade peanut butter. She pointed me to the best option which is the J Runner Blanched Roasted Unsalted Shelled, and even with shipping it ends up being just $2.33 a pound. The price went down 3 cents after chatting with her as she pointed me to a more affordable and essential same product. It sounds like they have their own Instagram and Facebook account, and I told her all about out Instagram community and we will cross post things after I get the montage of everyone’s peanut butter!!!

I am so excited to see what kind of peanut butter everyone makes. And that is how Dr. Plastic Picker is trying to help the earth and my community. Homemade Peanut Butter is so much healtheir. This way you can control the salt and sugar, and anything made with love tastes better. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s results. And the best thing is that other than some writing, a phone call, and thinking outloud with some amazing RNs – this cost me nothing. I am going to just ask folks to reimburse me cost. $2.33 for a pound of peanuts to make peanut butter is much cheaper than what Nurse Francis told me she saw at the Farmers Market. She said it was about $7 a jar for 1/2 Pound of Organic Peanut Butter ($1.16 worth of peanuts) which is about what it is online as well. That is 6x mark up.

I estimate that I will need to buy 60 pounds of peanuts. If we all make 1/2 pound jars. That is 120 jars reused. If I bought everyone the equivalent Organic Peanut Butter Palm Oil Free, it would cost be $600 and I don’t think folks would appreciate it as much. And the point is that we are all learning how to do things together as a community. I am hoping that like ocean plastic picking started me on my environmental journey, perhaps making homemade peanut butter will start my friends on their own journey. Project Homemade Peanut Butter in a Reusable Jar is deployed!!!