My first visit to this site, so hello to those that are regular readers of this site. I use a Ball Blue Book published around `72, at least it is copyrighted in `72, and it is the 29th edition for what that is worth. I got it from the local Ace Hardware store, likely around `76 or so, if memory serves me correctly. In that book on page 37 they list peanut butter, a recipe to make your own, and instructions for canning it. I will now hopefully type legibly what they have written here.
Peanut Butter
4 quarts skinned, shelled, roasted Virginia peanuts
2 quarts skinned, shelled, roasted Spanish peanuts
2 tablespoons salt
Grind nuts in a food chopper or blender, add salt and regrind until smooth and creamy. Pack into hot Ball jars, leaving 1-inch head space. Adjust caps. Process half-pints and pints 1 hour at 190*F in a hot water bath,. Yield: about six pints
Note: If shelled, salted nuts are used, do not add salt.
Ok so there you have it from my old Ball BLue Book from the early 1970s. I hope this helps someone to know you can in fact can your own peanuts, should your crop produce well and you want to make your own peanut butter at home. I actually came to this site to see if anyone had attempted to can this using the two types of nuts listed here. Spanish peanuts and Virginia peanuts. We only have Virginia peanuts ourselves, and they make good peanut butter for us. My wife loves it because we don't add any sugar, while most commercially available peanut butter has added sugar and who knows what else.
Jeff
PS. The older canning guides have information for canning many things they have removed from the newer versions, not sure what reason they use to justify this but, it is the way it is. One can likely get older Ball Blue Books from used bookstores or maybe even Ebay. Look at one some time and see what your parents and grandparents were canning and how they did it.
Q
