Stir it up... little darling

Living in New England is different in so many ways from growing up in the south. Even down to the things people eat. I grew up going to discount grocery stores (Piggly Wiggly = awesome) and farmer's markets. Real ones... with farmers there. Not fancy gourmet 'farmer's markets' where all the vegetables are labeled organic etc. But this is what you find in the Northeast, for better or worse... I'm not judging.

But along with this, many people here have 'gone organic' if you will. (Which I would gleefully do if I had space for a garden and could grow all my own fruits and veggies instead of paying $10 for a head of romaine at Whole Foods.. but I digress). One of the foods that gets a little odd when in it's entirely natural form is peanut butter. It's not Jiffy, that's for sure. Still delicious, but all grainy and separated from the oil. Imagine taking a bag of roasted peanuts and running it over with a steam roller... tada! Natural peanut butter! In the jar, this get's a little weird. Oil on top, peanut grit on bottom... no good. It really needs a strong-arm stir before you even attempt to spread.

Luckily, we've got a tool for this!

Natural Peanut Butter Hand Crank Mixer

A few questions about this though...

- Does all natural PB come in a glass jar of the same shape/size? I'm pretty sure you can grind your own some places and put it in plastic tupperware... in which case, none of the many models available here will work... even if they are chrome with liners etc.

- Favorite feature: "A white nitrile gasket made from FDA approved materials is fastened underneath the lid and effectively cleans all peanut butter from the mixing rod upon removal from the jar." Not even sure what many of those words are, but I think it means that PB won't get wasted on the mixer rod. Which I guess would be a worry if I were buying a $10 jar of peanut butter every week for my precious little preservative-free munchkins.

- Other models: one model uses what looks like a cabinet nob. This does NOT seem easier to turn than just using a plain old knife. Blister waiting to happen, for sure. Or splinter... ow.

- I do appreciate the engineering thoroughness provided in all the descriptions, as well as the variety of shapes, sizes and styles. And all this for 10 bucks (with the 'storage bag' which I presume is a large ziplock, but who knows). Not bad. It is a shame that the only people I know who are this crazy about natural PB are or are dating engineers quite capable of slapping this together for $1.25. But I guess it would make a nice gift/conversation piece?