Let sit out for a bit and use a table knife to stir with...

Gadget! Note! They come in different lid sizes. Get the correct size.

Here is a link that might be useful: PB Stirrer

Denise!! Perfect. Just ordered one. Never thought to search for a specific gadget.

Learned about it here. :)

I use the Peanut Butter Stirrer too, but I'm an unrepentant gadget queen ;-) I have them in two sizes to fit different size jars. I often make my own nut butters and the Peanut Butter Stirrer is wonderful tool. -Grainlady

I'm not a gadget queen, so I just make Elery do it. (grin)

My favorite, locally made Cream Nut peanut butter, definitely gets hard upon refrigeration. I always need Elery to stir it, so if he gets arthritis in his shoulders or something, I'll remember there's a gadget!

Annie

I've found that after the first stir upon opening a new jar, if you store it UPSIDE down, it won't separate, AND you don't have to refrigerate it. I've been doing this for several years now after learning this (I like Smuckers Natural).

Don't nuke it! My aunt used to do that too... just for a few seconds, she said... but the last time she tried it the jar exploded. She said it made a horrible mess.

I learned that it's crucial to stir it well before it's ever refrigerated. To re-stir it after removing from the fridge I use a butter knife.

Thick oil based food should not be microwaved. Oil can get very hot, much hotter than water boiling point. It can melt plastic or crack glass.

There are mixed review with that stirring gadget. In case it does not do what you need it to do, all you have to do is to sit the jar in very warm water for a while.

It takes no effort to stir hot peanut butter.

dcarch

Like Tracey, I store mine upside down, but I still refrigerate it. The only nut butter (if that's what it is) that I stock is tahini, and it is terrible about separating. I store it upside down before I open it the first time and then stir it with

I agree with dcarch that the best way to warm the jar is to put it in hot water for a while. I did buy some almond butter at TJ's recently, but I haven't opened it yet. I also like cashew butter, but it is fairly expensive, which is why I guess I do not buy it.

BTW, your question is perfectly suitable for this forum!

Lars

I've been using natural nut butters since the 1970s, never had one bit go bad. Not once. I store it upside down on the cabinet shelf before and after opening. After the initial stirring, it keeps for many weeks in the cabinet without separating. Maybe months, but we eat it too fast!

20 or 30 years ago my brother worked briefly in a processing plant. They take the peanut mash, remove the oils, then, to the natural butters, they add the oil back onto the mash, on top of the mash, never mixed
back in with the mash. That is why the oil is on top. It is a marketing gimmick to show us we are getting "the real, pure thing."

My husband always would pour the oil off, what about that? It tasted fine but now I stir it in, I just use a long spoon. I wondered though, why not just pour it off?

Isn't it too dry and thick to spread if you don't mix it in? I like my pb creamy, so I mix it in.

I make my own peanut butter in the bulk section of Whole Foods. They have this little machine and you put the peanuts in the hopper, flip a switch, and out comes the best peanut butter in the world - honey nut PB. YUMMM. It has never separated and we store it in the fridge and eat it with a spoon.

I keep the extra jars of natural peanut butter in my pantry turned upside down. Then when it's time to break open a new jar, I turn it right side up for a few hours. I usually stir it with the long end of a sturdy wooden spoon, but I like Lars' idea of using a knife honing steel. I'm going to have to give that a try.

To me, the most important thing is to make sure to bring up the harder & drier gobs from the bottom and incorporate them well into the rest of the peanut butter. Otherwise you run into those dry gobs later when you try to spread the stuff. I usually start slowly, poking the spoon end down to the bottom of the jar and moving it slightly to the center to let the oil can go down. Then I repeat that action until I've gone completely around the bottom of the jar. Eventually I get to the point where I start bringing up the bottom stuff and incorporating it with the rest of the peanut butter. The oil is what makes the peanut butter soft and spreadable. Without it, the peanut butter is more like peanut clay.

It takes a while, but the results are worth it. The natural peanut butter gets as creamy as it's going to get and is perfectly blended. I store it in the fridge, and it stays blended until we finish the jar. I only buy 1 lb. jars, though. I tried doing it with the larger jars, and it was more difficult.

I much prefer the taste and texture of natural peanut butter. The super creamy stuff like Jif or Skippy taste strange to me, and I don't like their texture either. I feel like I'm eating sweetened, peanut-flavored shortening.