I have this great peanut butter - all natural (nothing added) and is stays pretty well mixed.

My question is if you don't have to refridgerate peanuts how come you have to peanut butter?

Our fridge at work is looted by strangers every night and it would freak me out if someone put a finger in my peanut butter so I haven't brought any into work...

What are your thoughts.

Thanks.

lol...I have often wondered about this and quite frankly, have NOT refridgerated my peanut butter lately and have not gotten ill (lol..watch me get ill now!). SInce its only ground up peanuts??? right?

I think if you keep it in a cool place the bacteria growth is nullified or at least lessened.

Thanks Yvonne.

You have to refrigerate the peanut butter because there are no preservatives (i.e. SUGAR) to prevent the peanut/peanut oil from going rancid. The refrigeration also helps slow the natural break down of the peanut butter, so it lasts longer, preserves flavor and it keeps the oil mixed into the peanut butter.

As far as taking peanut butter to work, invest in some of the smallest ziplock/glad plastic containers (about 1/2 cup) or some Tupperware minis and take a little peanut butter to work at a time. I do this with my butter, salad dressings, etc. and it works really well.

How long a shelf life would it have then???

Shelf life...dont know about that one.

I thought that youd only have to refrigerate it to reduce oil seperation?? Ive kept Smuckers Natural in the cupboard for 10 days with no ill effects.

Ive done this cuz with the Smuckers Ive found it tedious to get all the oil stirred up so I just stir as I eat it, rather than have parts of it dry and parts oily all refrigerated up lol.

So...if you go through your peanut butter quickly ...I dont see it harmful to just kept a bottle at your desk provided that its keep out of heat.

C.

Refrigerated, natural peanut butter will last for about one year. Unrefrigerated, you should not eat it after two months.

Natural peanut butter has no preservatives, so no refrigeration = microbe growth. You may not see, smell or taste anything different, when you don't refrigerate it, but you can be sure there's some nasty stuff going on in them peanuts.

Besides, if you store it in the fridge, just nuke it for a few seconds to soften it up.

I took a tablespoon of natural pb, nuked it for about 20 seconds and added some DaVinci's Chocolate SF syrup - YUM!

If you want to keep others at your office from eating it, how about dumping some (natural) food coloring in it? Give it a green tint--that should do the job, and then you can keep it in the fridge.

(This may sound ridiculous, but I've actually done it from time to time.)

Kinda like marking the territory huh? Nevermind the greenstuff its MINE NO TOUCHY the um um Snail Slime...yes snails slime green didnt ya know...yes I like to eat snail slime...nevermind just no touchy the jar of green stuff

hehe.

Rose...you met your goal...congrats.

I don't keep my peanut butter in the fridge. Here though, it is not very humid so it lasts a long time in the cupboard!

Just because it's not humid, doesn't mean that you don't have microbe growth. Microbes are air borne, regardless of climate, though they tend to grow faster in humid climates. The elements of peanut butter - regardless of location - also provide an almost perfect nutrition source for microbes. Like I stated previously, the peanut butter may not taste, look or smell different, but it is harboring relatively large numbers of microbes.

The two months is a maximum recommended for unrefrigerated, regardless.

Two months!!! COOL!

FYI - thank you all for your great ideas, thoughts and humor!

FWIW, roasted peanuts don't have a long shelf-life either, once the package is opened. Peanut oil is polyunsaturated ... which means light, air and warmth will contibute to its oxidation over time. And we all know what oxidized fat can do to our health

However, peanuts still in the shell last much longer.


Doreen

Wow! I really learned something today! I only eat natural pb and was wondering what the shelf life was. I buy a brand called Crazy Richards and it claims no refridgeration is necessary. The list of ingredients are as follows: PEANUTS...hmmmm. I usually go through a jar in 3 weeks though so I should not have any issues.

Yes the oil is the reason Natural peanut butters should be kept in the fridge. If it get to firm just nuke it for 30 seconds to soften. Just one more reason to stay away from the Skippy type spreads, they are loaded with sugar and lard and perservatives.

Kathy