Peanut Butter

Photo by Traditional Haitian Cuisine

Prep time: Up to 1.5 hours (If you crack and roast your own peanuts)

*Serving: ¾ Pint

Ingredients:

• Peanuts with shells (1.5 lbs.)
• Salt (1/2 Tsp.)
• Scotch bonnet or Habanero pepper (1/4)
• Sugar (1/2 Tsp.) Optional

Instructions:

• Crack the shells and remove peanuts from shells. Throw all the shells in the trash.
• Heat up a large pan for about 3 minutes on medium heat. Add the peanuts and grill for 20 minutes. Make sure to stir the peanuts in between every 3-4 minutes with a large wooden spoon. When there are five minutes left, stir the peanuts more often so they don’t burn.
• Let the peanuts cool off for at least 15 minutes. The pink skin comes off easier when they’re cool, plus you’ll get burned if they’re hot.
• When the peanuts are cooled off, rub them between your hands to remove the thin pink skin.
• Separate the peeled peanuts from the pink skin. This process is tedious and may take some time. It could take around 40 minutes. In Haiti, a round winnowing basket is used to separate the peanuts from the skin.
• Once all the roasted peanuts are separated, add the peanuts to the food processor with the salt and chopped pepper. For this recipe, only ¼ of a pepper was used but you may use more or less depend on how spicy you want the peanut butter. You may also add some sugar but this is optional. Most people make it without sugar.
• Turn the food processor on. The food processor will start crushing the peanuts. You may notice some of the crushed peanuts will stick to the sides of the food processor. Simply hit the sides of the food processor with the palm of your hands to make them go down.
• After about five minutes, the peanuts will start to look like peanut butter.
• Allow the food processor to run for another 3-5 minutes until the peanut butter is soft and creamy.
• One thing you will notice is there’s no oil on top of this peanut butter.
• The peanut butter may take less time if you use roasted peanuts. However, you may find that the peanuts taste better if you crack and roast them yourself.
• Store in a jar.

*Serve with bread or cassava.