On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:46:47 -0400, Bob Muncie >
wrote:

wrote:
:> On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:58:52 -0400, "h" >
:> wrote:
:>
:> :
:> :"Stepfann King" > wrote in message
:> . 122.115...
:> :> Dan Musicant ) wrote in
:> :> :
:> :>
:> :>> I've made nut butters in the kitchen for many years, usually peanut
:> :>> butter. It's a money saver and you can see with your own eyes exactly
:> :>> what the ingredients are.
:> :>>
:> :>> I roast the nuts in the oven, although I have made raw cashew butter a
:> :>> time or two. My sometime problem is getting a machine that's up to the
:> :>> task. I used to work with a Waring blender, and after burning out a few
:> :>> motors (they were available for user replacement), I bought an Osterizer
:> :>> 10 speed and it lasted for over 20 years on the original motor. It
:> :>> finally burned out about two months ago. This old Osterizer was 125
:> :>> watts only. Besides the glass blender jar I had a $10 plastic accessory
:> :>> that they called a food processor attachment, which I have only used for
:> :>> grinding meat on occasion. It's designed very well and does a very nice
:> :>> job of meat grinding.
:> :>>
:> :>> So, in looking for a replacement for my old Osterizer I figured I'd get
:> :>> another Osterizer, naturally, inasmuch as the old one lasted 20+ years
:> :>> and I still wanted to be able to use the meat-grinding food processor
:> :>> attachment. I did some homework and found that the current Osterizer
:> :>> blenders are rated at much higher power -- from 450 watts up to 600
:> :>> watts or so. About two months ago I picked up a #6694 450 watt 12 speed
:> :>> Osterizer Blender at Walmart for around $25. However, it burned out this
:> :>> morning making a new batch of peanut butter. I suppose I can get a
:> :>> warranty replacement which will work fine for smoothies and such and
:> :>> grinding meat, but evidently I need something more robust for nut
:> :>> butters. I had been eyeing the "Beehive" Osterizer, which I can get for
:> :>> around $55 at Walmart. It's supposed to be 600 watts, supports 2 speeds
:> :>> and a flash button (the food processor attachment requires flash). I
:> :>> thought I'd post first to get people's opinions and experience before
:> :>> shelling out more money, perhaps vainly.
:> :>>
:> :>> Dan
:> :>>
:> :>> Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net
:> :>>
:> :>
:> :That's a ridiculous amount of effort. Why don't you just go to your local
:> :"health food" store and grind your own? My local hippie store has roasted
:> eanuts (peanuts and salt are the only ingredients) for $1.50/pound and a
:> :self-serve grinder. You dump in however much you want and the machine poops
:> :it out into a plastic container (or you can bring your own). You then weigh
:> :it, pay, and leave. No roasting, no mess. You are working WAAAY too hard.
:> :The amount of money you are wasting in time and messy clean-up is seriously
:> :un-frugal.
:>
:> My local best price market (AFAIK) has the same kind of setup but the
:> cost is way more than $1.50/lb. It's more like $2.50. The nuts don't
:> look anywhere near as sound as the ones I buy, either. On top of that, I
:> cull my nuts. I look at them carefully, pull out any impurities, any
:> questionable nuts. You don't get that kind of control with PB in a jar
:> or at a store's grinder, where you get what's in the hopper, period.
:>
:> Dan
:>
:>
:> Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net
:
:I disagree on two aspects.
:
:1) The cost does not justify buying a grinder. If it costs $175 for a
:grinder, how many lbs of PB could you have bought? For me, I'd probably
:have to replace/repair the grinder long before I reached a cost value
:vs. buying the PB commercially (name brand and natural in the jar).

I have no intention of dropping $175 on a machine to make PB. My old $25
Osterizer did the job for 20+ years. I'm probably either going to try to
make due with the warranty replacement for my $25 Osterizer (bought in
May), or keep that as a second and get an Osterizer Beehive for ~$60 and
try to baby that effectively.

:
:2) I disagree with the "You get what's in the hopper" if you grind your
wn in the store's that have the grinders. The ones that I have seen
:have a variety of fresh nuts available, and what goes in the hopper is
:your choice. And since the only thing going into the hopper is nuts,
:what impurities would exist? You might as well have said "I don't eat
ut in restaurants ever, because I can't control the cleanliness of
:levels of impurities introduced to the food I ordered". Does not
:compute. Just like anything else you didn't grow yourself, or raise from
:a baby, you will never be able to control "jack" about impurity levels
:for most of what you consume. I don't even want to consider the number
f bug/worm body parts that exist in any "pure" bulk item you purchase
:for your own consumption/processing (like flour for example). Was it
recessed without the use of pesticides from seed? Was it's genomes
:modified? How about that roast you bought? Was it processed from birth
:without growth hormones, or the grain/grass it consumes completely
:without impurities? Assuming that anything you consume short of having
:raised/grew your own is not realistic.
:
:Regards,
:
:Bob

Maybe I can help make this "compute." My local market that I go to 95%
of the time has a nut grinding machine but I'm stuck with what's in the
hopper (quite unsightly "roasted peanuts"). They don't look nearly as
good as what I buy in bulk elsewhere. What impurities? Well, what I'm
getting in bulk has a few, some questionable looking nuts, discolored,
some evidently diseased, etc., and I find bits and pieces of what I'll
call "foreign matter," not peanuts, which I discard. I am unaware of any
place locally where I can choose the nuts that I put in their grinder.

I do eat out in restaurants, but only a fool would assume that
everything you are served in restaurants includes only what you'd prefer
to put in your own cooking. But that's a different thread, and I'll
leave it at that. Yes, I'm aware that there are food quality issues
galore, again pretty much beyond the scope of this thread.

Dan

Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net