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[–] 64 points 6 months ago (12 children)

Non-US peanut butters typically have only one ingredient (peanuts) and therefore you get peanut oil separating out that needs to be stirred in. American peanut butter (at least the 'popular' brands) tend to be so full of preservatives and shit that they hold their state.

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  • [–] 36 points 6 months ago (6 children)

    Here's the full list of ingredients for Jif:

    Made from Roasted Peanuts and Sugar, Contains 2% or Less of: Molasses, Fully Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed and Soybean), Mono and Diglycerides, Salt.

    https://www.foodsco.net/p/jif-creamy-peanut-butter/0005150024191

    It's not just peanuts but it's not really "preservatives and shit" either.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    The vegetable oils are saturated fats, which will mix with the peanut oil, but solidify at room temperature. That and the sugar are doing the leg work on keeping the peanut butter from separating. So yeah, saturated fats and sugar are unhealthy additives specifically for preserving the peanut butter. What exactly is your definition of a preservative?

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago

    Preservative refers to a substance that inhibits spoilage, decay, discoloration or other drops in quality.
    It's one way to increase shelf life.

    A stabilizer isn't a preservative because oil separation doesn't impact quality, shelf life or anything like that.

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  • [–] 11 points 6 months ago

    it's not the preservatives, it's the hydrogenated oils that are added - basically they substitute some of the peanut oil that would separate out for oils that won't separate (and stay hard, like a butter or like margarine)

    even the "healthy" no-stir peanut butters do this

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago (3 children)