There are many sorts of foodstuff that can be turned into butter. Dairy, obviously, produces a common butter. Apples may be pureed and cooked into a spreadable buttery substance, and cocoa butter is essential to both white chocolate and new-age skin care.
However, the royalty of butters are the nut butters, and the king of nut butters is butter made from peanuts. Almond butter is rich and textured, but not an easily spreadable substance. The same holds true for cashew butter as well as most of the other, lesser nut butters.
It bears mentioning that soybean butter is deliciously creamy through bites one and two, before the sweet, slightly chemical aftertaste begins to overtake the culinary experience.
Peanut butter is as smooth as soy butter, as rich as almond butter, and as crunchy as you want it to be. Although 2 tablespoons of peanut butter equates to more calories than a bowl of oatmeal or a cheese sandwich, the felicity encompassed in those two bites of butter far outweighs any other edible treat.
Potentially the most amazing aspect of peanut butter is its ability to acquiesce to any circumstance. If people got along with one another as well as peanut butter gets along with almost any other food, world peace would be a reality rather than a dream.
Peanut butter goes great with all members of the grain family. Toast and crackers are two obvious examples, and peanut sauce makes it possible to extend the joy of peanut butter to pasta, rice and so on.
Peanut sauce means that vegetables are also privy to this rich nutty butter. In fact, peanut butter doesn’t even need to be sauced up before adorning a vegetable. Raw carrots and celery provide the perfect tool to dip into a jar of this delightful nut butter.
Along with raw veggies, the crisp sweetness of raw fruit demands a topping that is hearty and savory. Peanut butter on apple slices is a meal in itself, and peanut butter and bananas should be sold as a set. In a perfect world, if you go to the produce section to pick up a bunch of bananas, there’s peanut butter strapped to the side of your fruit.
Now, there may be some dissent as to the full extent of peanut butter’s ability to mesh with all fruits. Citrus, for instance, may seem to pose a conundrum to the nut butter-fruit partnership.
However, consider jams such as orange marmalade and lemon preserves. Would these citrus spreads, once atop a piece of bread, not beg the taste buds for but a hint of some nutty companion? Any fruit that can be crushed and spread across toast would undoubtedly find a pleasurable accompaniment in peanut butter.
Peanut butter is appropriate with grains, with vegetables, with fruit. Because peanut sauce is no stranger to meat dishes, it stands to reason that animal products consistently benefit from the addition of peanut butter.
Moving away from the main course, peanut butter finds its familiar home among cookies, candies and cakes. Peanut butter cups are a delicious Frankenstein’s monster amalgamation of nuts and chocolate. A baked good with more than one layer can reach great heights thanks to the adhesive properties of peanut butter, and peanut butter pies and peanut butter sandwich cookies are just two Epicurean goodies based on the uniquely delectable properties of peanut butter.
This nut butter’s propensity for multifarious uses results in its fast and facile dissipation from refrigerators stationed in or around my kitchen. There is rarely a food that can top the nut butter, and peanut butter is bested by none.
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