Peanut butter

[Elfmama]

If you can't find peanut butter cups, here is a recipe for Tiger Butter.

[stargazer]

I also am in California and thought jelly and jam are the same here except jam has "pieces" of the fruit in it so I always preferred jelly (because I like it smooth) although I will eat PB with Jam too.

When I was younger, my friend and I would get big chocolate bars and peanut butter and dip them chocolate bars straight in.  And then wash it down with Jolt cola.    We also did the same thing but with vanilla frosting instead of PB.

[Thipu1]

If I recall properly, 'jelly' in the UK refers to what we in the US would call a 'gelatin dessert'. 

My mother made both the US style of 'jelly' and 'jam' or 'preserves' when I was a child.  What we called 'jelly' was a fruit preserve that was strained to eliminate seeds and bits of skin.  It had the color and flavor of the  original fruit but was very smooth and easy to spread.

'Jam' included seeds or small pieces of the fruit.  Marmalade included bits of citrus skin.  Mom made 'Grapelade' that included bits of grape skin.  After all, any little bit of roughage is a good thing, isn't it?

[Lynnv]

Here is. more or less, what my canning sources have to say about the distinctions between the assorted fruit spreads (in the US, anyway):

Jelly is the jelled juice of a fruit (or something like wine).   Generally, jelly contains no pieces of fruit, although specialty jellies, like pepper jelly, may include pieces of jalapeno or other pepper.

Jam is made from crushed or chopped fruit. Jam often has a soft pulp, but it does not contain chunks of fruit.

Preserves are fruit chunks suspended in a jelly base.

Marmalade is a soft jelly, often citrus-based, that includes both the peel of the fruit suspended throughout the jelly base.

Conserve is a mixture of more than one fruit, often with added nuts and raisins.

Fruit butter, such as apple butter or prune butter, is fruit puree or pulp combined with sugar, lemon juice and spices.  It usually does not contain any added pectin-rather it is cooked down to its final consistency.  It doesn't actually contain any butter. 

[MacadamiaNut]

Never occured to me.  I prefer my PB warm, so that sounds amazing

It is!! I just make it like a grilled cheese, although with less butter on the bread because it's very rich otherwise.

I must send you eternal gratitude amylouky, as you have just solved a lifelong problem for me!  I like my PB warm and melty on toast PLUS I can't ever have it without a melted layer of butter under it.  The dilemma has always been how to spread the butter fast enough once the toast pops out that it's still hot enough to melt the PB.  And don't even get me started on times I want to add jam.  Cold jam over the PB then makes the PB cold!  Well... problem solved.  Make it like grilled cheese!!!  I can't believe I never thought of that!! 

I think I'll try it sandwich style too but I usually eat my PB toast open-faced so I think I will spread the butter, grill that side, add the PB, grill the non-butter side and add the jam at the end.  Do you or others foresee any issues with the way I plan to do it?  Is there a better way?  To be clear, for the open-faced PB&J, I want all three ingredients melty but "separately melty" like it would be if I'd used the toaster, not cooked into each other, if that makes any sense.

I take my PBJ toast very seriously, obviously 

[Sophia]

Yes, with PB and J you don't want melding going on. 

[dawbs]

I made more PB this weekend.

(my 'recipe' if you want to call it that:
dump 1 lb of peanuts in blender [or food processor--I just don't happen to have one of those]. I bought roasted, unsalted,  bulk food market--but you can use the tubs at the grocery store. [Hell, honey-roasted is dingdangity tasty. Just remember to add less salt]. Add some oil--I use olive because it's 'healthy' and handy--about 1 Tbsp. Add some salt to taste--I use about 1 tsp. Add some sugar (or honey or brown sugar or whatever sweetener you may want) to taste--I use about 4 tsp of plain sugar).
Blend to desired crunch-levels. you want it a little thin because it thickens in the fridge.
Put in some sort of airtight container. store in fridge. It'll thicken up overnight. If it gets to thick, you can stir in some oil or set the tub in a container of hot water for a few minutes to make it more spreadable)

It is amazing.  and makes excellent ice cream toppings.  and is a thousand times better than store bought.
(and the above cost me $3

[MacadamiaNut]

mmmmmm... homemade honey-roasted peanut butter sounds YUM!!  I might try it.  Your PB looks great!

[Betelnut]

I made more PB this weekend.

(my 'recipe' if you want to call it that:
dump 1 lb of peanuts in blender [or food processor--I just don't happen to have one of those]. I bought roasted, unsalted,  bulk food market--but you can use the tubs at the grocery store. [Hell, honey-roasted is dingdangity tasty. Just remember to add less salt]. Add some oil--I use olive because it's 'healthy' and handy--about 1 Tbsp. Add some salt to taste--I use about 1 tsp. Add some sugar (or honey or brown sugar or whatever sweetener you may want) to taste--I use about 4 tsp of plain sugar).
Blend to desired crunch-levels. you want it a little thin because it thickens in the fridge.
Put in some sort of airtight container. store in fridge. It'll thicken up overnight. If it gets to thick, you can stir in some oil or set the tub in a container of hot water for a few minutes to make it more spreadable)

It is amazing.  and makes excellent ice cream toppings.  and is a thousand times better than store bought.
(and the above cost me $3

Oh yumm.  That seriously makes me hungry especially for some vanilla ice cream with that topping on it.  With chocolate somethings to boot.  Hmmm, chocolate-covered peanuts.

[EmmaJ.]

I made more PB this weekend.

(my 'recipe' if you want to call it that:
dump 1 lb of peanuts in blender [or food processor--I just don't happen to have one of those]. I bought roasted, unsalted,  bulk food market--but you can use the tubs at the grocery store. [Hell, honey-roasted is dingdangity tasty. Just remember to add less salt]. Add some oil--I use olive because it's 'healthy' and handy--about 1 Tbsp. Add some salt to taste--I use about 1 tsp. Add some sugar (or honey or brown sugar or whatever sweetener you may want) to taste--I use about 4 tsp of plain sugar).
Blend to desired crunch-levels. you want it a little thin because it thickens in the fridge.
Put in some sort of airtight container. store in fridge. It'll thicken up overnight. If it gets to thick, you can stir in some oil or set the tub in a container of hot water for a few minutes to make it more spreadable)

It is amazing.  and makes excellent ice cream toppings.  and is a thousand times better than store bought.
(and the above cost me $3

Let me give you my address and some $$$ for postage....     

[Sophia]

If you like the chocolate/PB combo, you can make a chocolate shake and add PB to it near the end.  I like my shakes thick, so it is a bonus that the PB thickens it up.  If I ask nicely, Braum's (ice cream store/restaurant) will add PB to my Malt. 

[RandomAngel]

I'm in France, and have a steady supply of peanut butter shipped to me by a network of loving relatives. The stuff here is ludicrously expensive, as Carotte noted a couple of pages back, and it's also pretty low-quality. Tons of fillers, unpronounceable ingredients, etc., and I had just gotten into the super-wholesome peanuts-and-salt kind before moving.

Peanuts in general aren't a big deal here, except as pre-dinner snacks. They are sold as a cocktail nibble on their own (in tiny packages--forget the big Planters bottle), and a lot of other foods in the same category come in "peanut" flavor. A weirdly good one is puffed corn sticks (think Cheetos before the cheese) coated in a thin layer of dried peanut butter. But...yeah, those take some getting used to. And you NEVER see peanut flavor mixed with sweet foods of any kind; the French just don't "get" that combo. It's a national tragedy.

I dip squares of chocolate into my imported jars and grumble about everything wrong with an entire country of people who wouldn't bother buying that.

ETA: I forgot to mention that the pricey, not-so-great peanut butter you CAN find here is pretty universally relegated to the "foreign foods" aisle. So imagine the quality/variety of Thai or Brazilian ingredients you could have found in an American supermarket in the 80's--which is about equivalent in terms of how far multicultural cuisine has made it into the mainstream over here--and apply that to peanut butter.

[exitzero]

My boyfriend's Armenia-born Grandmother used to yell at him all the time for eating too much peanut butter. She said it would make him bald.

Guess what? Hardly a hair on his head.

Wish she was still around to say "I told you so!"

[Venus193]

I can't imagine PB&J; this just sounds wrong to me.  However, that doesn't discount a sweet use of PB, as the following recipe will attest (in reply #5):

http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=113.msg14440#msg14440

Except for this I eat PB on Triscuit crackers, usually sprinkled with adobo or Cajun seasoning.

[hobish]

Now I'm craving my all-time favorite sandwich: peanut butter and bacon. Don't knock it till you've tried it!

That is one of my favorites, too. I like to grill the bread in the bacon grease like a grilled cheese. Oh, man. Best sandwich ever.