Do I need to refrigerate home-made peanut butter?

1. 84

   theframjakposted 12 years ago

   Do I need to refrigerate home-made peanut butter?
   
   I just made peanut butter with my food processor and was not sure if it needs to be refrigerated.

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2. 72

   MickiSposted 12 years ago

   There is no need to refrigerate it for freshness or to prevent spoiling.
   
   The one advantage to refrigerating it is that is will prevent the oil from separating from the solids. The downside, it that the colder temperature tends to dampen the flavor.
   
   So, if you don't mind stirring the oil back in when you use it, I recommend no refrigeration. I regularly make a cashew butter, http://mickis.hubpages.com/hub/cashew-butter-2, that I never refrigerate as it doesn't contain much oil to matter and it lasts for several weeks in an air tight container.

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   1. 82

      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Very interesting! I suppose this makes sense as one does not need to refrigerate natural peanut butter before opening a jar.

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3. 72

   fitmomposted 12 years ago

   I buy fresh made cashew butter and I do not refrigerate it. It's never gone bad and is delicious! It's much healthier than the store-bought butters that have all kinds of additives and other oils.

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4. 69

   Mary Stuartposted 12 years ago

   I usually mix my fresh ground nut butter up really well so the oil is not separated and then refrigerate it to keep it from separating. i think it will store just fine in your cupboard you will just have to give the nut butter a good stir before you use it. Yummy!

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5. 81

   Gemini Foxposted 12 years ago

   I eat a natural peanut butter that has a layer of oil on top when opened and that has to be stirred before eating - and it says on the jar that it must be refrigerated after opening.  But maybe that is because the peanut butter and oil will separate again if left out?  And this would apply also to home-made peanut butter?

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6. 87

   Wasteless Projectposted 11 years ago

   I agree with everybody else so far that you generally won't need to refrigerate Peanut or other Nut-Butters. There can be exceptions though - we are living in the suptropical climate of Mumbai, India and here for a fact we need to refrigerate our home-made peanut butter. Otherwise the oils turn rancid in no time! For the same reason we here even need to store nuts and seeds in the fridge. I guess that the climate in the States will hardly ever require refrigerating, even though I don't know about warm and humid climate regions such as Florida... But in the end of the day our peanut butter usually gets eaten so fast that it doesn't get a chance to turn rancid - with or without refrigeration;)

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