...are non-US peanut butters less viscous?

I don't get it.

Non-US peanut butters typically have only one ingredient (peanuts) and therefore you get peanut oil separating out that needs to be stirred in. American peanut butter (at least the 'popular' brands) tend to be so full of preservatives and shit that they hold their state.

https://www.gamintraveler.com/2026/03/01/why-you-cant-really-find-american-peanut-butter-in-spain-and-most-of-europe/

The problem is that much of what Spain sells as peanut butter is built around the European expectation:

• simpler ingredients

• fewer sweeteners

• “natural” separation accepted as normal

The EU keeps strict maximum levels for contaminants in foods, including aflatoxins. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 sets tight contaminant limits, and the EU’s own 2023 summary notes that maximum levels are set at strict levels considered reasonably achievable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aflatoxin

Aflatoxins are various poisonous carcinogens and mutagens that are produced by certain molds, especially Aspergillus species such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus.

Many US peanut butter manufacturers add emulsifiers and other chemicals into their peanut butter so that it remains homogenous.

The realization is that the person would be eating those emulsifiers, and some people have claimed that they have negative health consequences, which is probable, although I don't know if they do or not.

That's why just buying peanuts and a food processor is the way to go and just make the amount of peanut butter you need when you need it.

which is probable

Why would this be probable? Evidence?

Emulsifiers gonna emulsify 🚬

Many things are probable.

I chose that word because it is possible that there could be health issues caused by the emulsifiers in american peanut butters, but also I don't know if it is.

Probable is an apt word when something isn't necessarily impossible.

You will also note that I didn't use the word likely, because I can't say whether it is likely or not.

"Plausible" is what you wanted. "Probable" means "likely".

chemicals r scarry

edcation is laking

I meant it in the secondary definition of the term, which is "establishing a probability".

Plausible is also a good word for it, but probable is still apt

How to inhale peanut butter to undo ~10yrs of smoking?

This is the first time I've heard that definition. It seems like a niche definition that can easily result in misunderstandings

Here's the full list of ingredients for Jif:

Made from Roasted Peanuts and Sugar, Contains 2% or Less of: Molasses, Fully Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed and Soybean), Mono and Diglycerides, Salt.

https://www.foodsco.net/p/jif-creamy-peanut-butter/0005150024191

It's not just peanuts but it's not really "preservatives and shit" either.

Incorrect, hydrogenated is a synthesis artificial process that chemically alters them and turns them into dryer texture but it's less healthy and more artificial. I avoid it.

No salt? XD

That's a bubbler leaking hydrogen while submerged in the oil, and it's mostly a fancy word for margarine.

You aren't establishing a probability.

Or, by saying "probably" you are establishing a probability of > 0.5.... with absolutely no proof.

Why do you call it "natural" separation lol

I was curious.

Apologies if you're actually quitting. My jocularity is quite weird.

You can get some brands which have a pinch of salt added, but in my experience, most brands don't...

Of the pure pbs, I've found several. I think Richards and Kroger do.

it's not the preservatives, it's the hydrogenated oils that are added - basically they substitute some of the peanut oil that would separate out for oils that won't separate (and stay hard, like a butter or like margarine)

even the "healthy" no-stir peanut butters do this

lots of US peanut butters are "no-stir" by substituting some of the oil with basically a margarine-like fat (solid, hydrogenated oils replace some of the peanut oil so that the oil never separates and needs to be stirred in again)

If you use normal peanut butter, here are some tips I've found:

• turn the peanut butter jar upside down so the lid is at the bottom where the solid peanut butter collects, and the oil collects at the "top" (which is now the bottom of the jar). This means when you open the jar and stir it, the oil is already at the bottom and you don't have hard peanut butter stuck at the bottom that you can't ever get incorporated
• once you have opened a new jar and stirred it thoroughly, store the peanut butter in the fridge to make the peanut oil become more solid and doesn't separate as quickly, and in my experience this prevents having to stir it again for the rest of the life of the jar

But I also just eat the no-stir hydrogenated peanut butter now because it's extremely cheap and I'm unemployed.

This made me kinda queasy looking at it lmao.

I actually quit everything last year. I still get some cravings every now and then, but throw that onto the pile of consequences from my youth. Not the worst withdrawals I've experienced, but definitely was the hardest to fully quit.

Not sojalecithin?

When I left the US this was a BIG surprise for me

This is true, was educated, am lake

Emulsifiers? Our Peanut Butter is also too sweet.

There is definitely salt in my aldi peanut butter, and a lot of sugar, I can tell just by taste without checking the label.

Peanut butter is mostly just hydrogenated oils, but emulsifiers in things like Ice Cream are horrible for you, added to prevent separation of ingredients. Some destroy the blood brain barrier, damage gut flora health, and a bunch of other bad stuff.

Fancy stores you can buy peanuts and run them through the machine that turns them into peanut butter.

That's the saddest part. It's cheaper to eat the manufactured factory food that they bugger around with than it is to eat healthy. What a cliff capitalism has led us to.

Or just mix the peanut butter up really well when you first open it before putting it in the fridge. Warm peanut butter mixes really easily, while cold peanut butter takes a long time to separate again.

Gravity is a natural process. The oil is less dense.

Citation needed. Most of the emulsifiers in ice cream are simply different sticky carbohydrates. Usually beans.

Studies show that there might be an impact that contributes to risk factors leading to an increased risk of certain metabolic disorders. This means that we need more study, not that there's anything that warrants changes in behavior or saying anything definitive.

And why ""

I feel a lot of the big mass brand peanut butter is too sweet a lot of the less mainstream and even cheaper “off brand” peanut butter is less sweet at times. Unfortunately, do like my sweeter brands

forever greatful the co-op by me has a fresh peanut butter machine, its only $2.99 a pound which isnt bad. At best the store brand US style PB is $2.50 a pound. Worth the 50cents imo, and It's even a bit cheaper I save 10% by bringing my own jar!

They stole the oil?

The vegetable oils are saturated fats, which will mix with the peanut oil, but solidify at room temperature. That and the sugar are doing the leg work on keeping the peanut butter from separating. So yeah, saturated fats and sugar are unhealthy additives specifically for preserving the peanut butter. What exactly is your definition of a preservative?

Preservative refers to a substance that inhibits spoilage, decay, discoloration or other drops in quality.
It's one way to increase shelf life.

A stabilizer isn't a preservative because oil separation doesn't impact quality, shelf life or anything like that.

I have envy.

Article in the guardian, and elsewhere a couple years ago. It's not a secret, the problems with some of these emulsifiers. In fact it's common knowledge to those of us whose heads are not inside the asses of billionaires which may not include you admittedly. No offense.

Local grocery store has a machine where you can grind peanuts into fresh peanut butter on demand for about 10 cents more per ounce than the mass market stuff, and it's amazing.

It's not "American brand" peanut butter. It's just bad peanut butter.

I buy an American-made peanut butter that I have to stir.

Triple Flavor
Breath

WTF?

Peanuts already have saturated fat, the vegetable oils are better on that than the peanuts.

An article in the guardian is not a resoundingly strong source, particularly given how news sources like to report health topics.

If you look at any of the reviewed research by academics, it's pretty clear it's something they want to look at more, but it's hardly a definitive "horrible for you" or destroying the blood brain barrier.
In one study they only let mice drink emulsified water, and then gave them a food substance they were allergic to. This resulted in an increase in diarrhea.

If you're going to cite the guardian and "common knowledge" as your source, you might hold off on the "head in ass" accusations.