I always make my own peanut butter.  It’s fast and easy, and I can control the ingredients.  In honor of National Peanut Month (#NationalPeanutMonth), here’s how to make your own peanut butter.

1.  Start with about one pound of peanuts of your choice, raw, roasted and salted, honey roasted, or whatever sounds good to you!

Currently, my favorite peanuts for peanut butter are honey roasted peanuts.

2.  Place the peanuts in a food processor and add salt and honey to taste.  Because I used honey roasted peanuts, I didn’t add any additional salt or honey this time. If you use another type of peanut, you may want to add one to two teaspoons of honey.  I rarely add additional salt, but others may want to add up to a teaspoon of salt based upon their taste buds. Unlike some recipes that add oil, I never do.

If you can put peanuts in a food processor, you can make your own peanut butter!

3.  Turn on the food processor.  First, they will be finely chopped, then they will form into a massive ball of peanut goo, then the big ball of goo will burst apart and become peanut butter.  This process takes a few minutes.  When the peanuts reach the butter state, open up the food processor, scrape down the sides, and blend the peanuts for just a few seconds more.

Note:  If you like chunky peanut butter, stop your food processor in the finely chopped state and remove about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of peanuts. Continue with the steps above, and then stir in the reserved peanuts by hand once you’ve converted the rest of the peanuts into peanut butter.

One of my favorite ways to eat peanut butter: spread on organic apple slices.

4.  Store the peanut butter in an air tight container in the refrigerator.  I keep mine in a mason jar.  It should keep for several months, but we always eat ours faster than that!

Cooking with peanut butter.  From soup to dessert, here are a few recipes that use peanut butter as an ingredient.

• 15 Ways with Peanut Butter by Cooking Light.  Healthy options like Indonesian Vegetable Salad with Peanut Dressing and Lettuce Wraps with Hoisin-Peanut Sauce.
• 10 Easy Peanut Butter Recipes.  Includes Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce and Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Peanut Stew.
• 17 Recipes Using Peanut Butter.  Try Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Pancakes or Grilled PB & J