Peanut paste is a product of

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...

s used in

sauces In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French word t ...

cookies A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts ...

, crackers (and other

baked goods Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferred ...

breakfast cereal Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in ...

s and

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

. 'Peanut paste' is the main ingredient in some

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers. Peanut butter is consumed in many countri ...

recipes.

Method

Peanut paste is obtained by several methods in which raw peanuts are roasted, blanched, and ground to create the peanut paste.

Distinction from peanut butter

The distinction between peanut paste and

is not always clear cut in ordinary use.

Food labelling in Australia

The term has been used in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia, as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

for peanut butter. This followed pressure from dairy farmers who did not want peanut butter competing with

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

for market share. The product was known in Western Australia and South Australia for many years as peanut paste because, by definition, ''butter'' is a dairy product. The same product was available in other states as peanut butter. Manufacturers complained about having to produce different labels for different states and the Western Australian government changed the rules on the use of the word ''butter'' to allow for one set of labels.

As ingredient of peanut butter

Peanut butter may be made from peanut paste mixed with a

stabilizing agent In industrial chemistry, a stabilizer or stabiliser is a chemical that is used to prevent degradation. File:BigPhosphite31570-04-4.png, Tris(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl)phosphite is a widely used stabilizer in polymers. File:HALSgeneric.png, Partial ...

, a sweetening agent, salt, and optionally, an

emulsifying agent An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although ...

.Izzo, Henry J., and Robert E. Lieberman
"Reduced-fat peanut butter compositions and methods for preparing same."
U.S. Patent 5,240,734, issued August 31, 1993. In such formulas, peanut paste acts as the main ingredient in peanut butter, from 75% to as much as 99% of the recipe. Peanut butter is mainly known for being sold as a spread, and peanut paste is regularly sold to be used as an ingredient in cookies, cakes and a number of other retail food products.Gibb, Gordon

''LawyersandSettlements.com''. January 18, 2009.

References

{{reflist Peanut butter Food paste

Method

Distinction from peanut butter

Food labelling in Australia

As ingredient of peanut butter

See also

References