Composition of Peanut Butter

o Roasted Peanuts
o Sugar
 Made up of Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen

 The molecular formula for sucrose is C12H22O11

o Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Cottonseed, Soybean, and Rapeseed)
o Salt
 Made up of Sodium and Chlorine
 NaCl

Main Chemicals, Compounds,

Components
o Roasted peanuts
 C57H104O6
 Peanuts are a legume, not a nut. It grows from a plant above
ground and are harvested across the world.
o Sugar - Sucrose
 C12H22O11
 Sucrose is a table sugar that is created in plants such as sugar
cane. It is used in many foods including being a main component
in peanut butter.

Chemistry's Role
o Roasted Peanuts
 Naturally occurring
 It takes 10 days after planting to see a sprout appear above
ground. Yellow flowers on the plants then begin to bloom within
40 days after planting. The flowers then pollinate themselves and
the petals fall off. This then starts the process of the “peanut
ovary.” This ovary creates a vine off of the plant and penetrates
the ground. Peanuts are usually harvested 120-160 days after
being planted.
o Sugar - Sucrose
 Somewhat naturally occurring
  Sucrose is a sugar that is usually an added ingredient to foods.
Although it sometimes occurs naturally in foods, it is also created
in a factory environment. In each situation, different, but similar,
tastes arise.
o Peanut butter is somewhat man-made. Its main ingredient is peanuts, in
which is not man-made and has to be planted in order to create a
peanut. The factory process of peanut butter makes it man-made.

Background Research
o In a serving of 2 TB Skippy Creamy peanut butter:
 Calories - 190
 Calories from fat - 140
 Total fat - 16.0 g - 25%
 Saturated fat - 3.0 g - 15%
 Trans Fat - 0 g
 Cholesterol - 0 mg - 0%
 Sodium - 150 mg - 6%
 Total Carbohydrates - 7.0 g - 2%
 Dietary Fiber - 2.0 g - 8%
 Sugars - 3.0 g
 Protein - 7.0 g - 7%
 Iron - 4%
 Vitamin E - 10%
 Niacin - 20%

o Ingredients of Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter

 Roasted Peanuts
 Sugar
 Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Cottonseed, Soybean, and
Rapeseed)
 Salt
 How is it made?
 Harvested peanuts are taken to buying stations to be determine the
value and quality. They are also weighed and and graded.
 Peanuts are then transferred the shelling plants where peanuts are
sorted by size, shelled and inspected. The peanuts are packed into
boxes, bags, and even railcars and delivered to manufacturers.
  Manufacturers inspect all of the peanuts for quality and then roast them
in large ovens.The peanuts are are cooled rapidly to prevent being
overcooked and the loss of oil.
 In a process called blanching, the outer skin is removed by machines
that rubs the peanuts between rubber belts. The peanuts are cleaned
and sorted one last time.
 Lastly, the peanuts are ground up in two stages. One long grinding
stage would produce way too much heat, damaging the wonderful flavor
of the peanuts. In the first stage, the peanuts are ground alone. In the
second stage, all of the ingredients are added.
 TaDa!!!! You have peanut butter!
 The whipped peanut butter is then sent to packaging departments
where they package and label the peanut butter.

Peanut Butter Stats

 It takes roughly 540 peanuts to make a
12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
 Peanut butter is consumed in about 89
percent of US households.
 The world's largest peanut butter factory
– Jif, in Lexington, Ky. – churns out
250,000 jars of the tasty treat every day.
 The average child will eat 1,500 peanut-
butter-and-jelly sandwiches before he or
she graduates high school.
 Women and children prefer creamy,
while most men opt for chunky,
according to the National Peanut Board.

Peanut Butter Nutrition

Facts
Peanut Butter Calories, Protein and Carbs Listed by Brand

Is peanut butter good for your diet if you're trying to

slim down or improve your health? If you read the
advice of some diet experts or the headlines of some
trendy tabloids, you might believe that peanut butter
has magical powers to whittle your waist and curb
your cravings. But you should balance the benefits of
peanut butter with common sense. If you eat too much
peanut butter, your diet might be in trouble.

Healthy eaters should be aware of the high fat and

calorie content of peanut butter. While this low carb
food is high in protein and provides some fiber, dieters
should be especially careful when they enjoy the
creamy or crunchy treat.
Health Benefits

Some experts say that peanut butter is good for you because clinical studies have shown that
people who eat nuts or peanuts have better heart health. Researchers have found that some
people who consume nuts and peanuts in moderation have a decreased risk of heart disease. But
when you eat peanut butter, you eat more than just peanuts.

Most commercial brands of peanut butter include added sugar and hydrogenated oils. Many
natural and organic varieties may add sweeteners and additional oils to get the creamy texture
that most of us enjoy. So even though you consume heart-healthy peanuts when you eat peanut
butter, it is possible that you’re also adding foods to your diet that aren’t necessarily good for
you.

Peanut Butter and Nut Allergies

If you have certain nut allergies, choosing safe foods can be confusing. For example, if you have
a tree nut allergy can you eat peanut butter? The Peanut Institute explains that peanuts are not
nuts, even though "nut" is part of their name. Peanuts are legumes and they grow underground,
unlike nuts that grow on trees.

People with peanut allergies should avoid peanut butter. But Food Allergy Research and
Education (FARE) also cautions people with nut allergies to avoid peanuts as well "because of
the higher likelihood of cross-contact with tree nuts during manufacturing and processing."

Will Peanut Butter Help Me Lose Weight?

Eating foods that are high in fat and calories is usually not a smart weight loss option. So is
eating peanut butter really bad for your diet? If calories were the only issue, then the answer
would be yes. But satiety is important too. Satiety is fancy word for the feeling of fullness and
satisfaction we get after eating food. If we feel satiated, we are less likely to overeat. And most
of us like the satiety that peanut butter provides.

But research into the benefits of satiety from peanut butter isn’t conclusive. Some studies
suggest that eating peanut butter improves satiety and helps eaters curb cravings in the hours
after eating. But many of the studies are limited in scope and don’t always include people who
are trying to lose weight.

If you like to add peanut butter to your smoothies or if you like to cook with peanut butter,
consider using a peanut butter protein powder. Brands like PBFit make both regular and
chocolate-flavored peanut butter powders that can be blended into drinks or baked into muffins,
cookies, or pancakes. You can even mix the powder with water to make a lower calorie, lower
fat spread. A two-tablespoon serving of PBFit provides 50 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, 4 grams of
carbohydrate, and 6 grams of protein.

The Bottom Line: Is Peanut Butter Good for You?

If eating a small amount of peanut butter helps you to feel full, curb cravings and eat less
throughout the day, then eat it! The protein in peanut butter will help you maintain muscle as
well. But if you are struggling to slim down and peanut butter is on your daily menu, then you
may want to dump it and choose other sources of lean protein.

Remember, if you want to lose weight, negative energy balance matters most in the end. There
are no magical superfoods that can help you slim down without making adjustments to your
calorie intake and your caloric expenditure. Peanut butter is no exception. If you like nuts, and
you want to reap their heart-healthy benefits, eat a single serving of almonds. The calorie count
is slightly lower and won’t consume added trans fat or sugar.

FUN FACTS
Check out these "spread-worthy" peanut butter
facts!
PB: HOW IT’S MADE
 Follow the PB making process from planting to
harvesting to production!

1 // Peanuts are planted after the last frost in April, when soil temperatures warm up. The
shelled peanut – or kernel – also is a seed. The kernels are planted two inches deep, and
about one to two inches apart.
2 // The plant sprouts in about 10 days. Flowers form about 40 days after planting and
pollinate themselves. The petals fall off when the peanut ovary forms and penetrates the
soil.
3 // Peanuts are harvested 120-160 days after planting, usually in September and October.
The soil can’t be too wet or too dry or the peanuts will stick in the ground.

4 // Farmers use machinery to loosen the plant and cut it free from the root. The plant is
lifted off the ground and shaken to remove soil. The plant sits in the sun for two to three
days to dry. After drying, machinery picks the peanuts off the vine.
5 // Harvested peanuts are taken to buying stations where they are weighed, graded and
inspected to determine quality and value.
6 // After the buying station, peanuts travel to shelling plants. Here, farm materials, such as
sticks and rocks, are removed, and the peanuts are sorted by size. They are shelled and
inspected to eliminate immature kernels. The sheller packs the peanuts into bags or rail
cars for delivery to manufacturers.

7 // Peanut butter manufacturers inspect the peanuts and roast them in special ovens. After
roasting, the peanuts are cooled rapidly to halt the cooking process, retain an even color
and prevent the loss of oil.
8 // From there, the peanuts are blanched, removing their skin. The kernels are split, the
hearts are removed and the peanuts are cleaned and sorted a final time.
9 // Finally, the peanuts are ground twice, as one long grinding would produce too much
heat, damaging the flavor. First, the peanuts are ground alone, then with ingredients like
salt, sweetener and stabilizer (to keep the oil from separating).
Chemical compound
A chemical compound is a chemical substance consisting of two or
more different chemically bonded chemical elements, with a fixed ratio
determining the composition.
The ratio of each element is usually expressed by chemical formula.
For example, water (H2O) is a compound consisting of two hydrogen atoms bonded to an
oxygen atom.
The atoms within a compound can be held together by a variety of interactions, ranging
from covalent bonds to electrostatic forces in ionic bonds.
A continuum of bond polarities exist between the purely covalent bond (as in H2) and ionic
bonds.
For example H2O is held together by polar covalent bonds.
Sodium chloride is an example of an ionic compound.

The Chemistry of Peanut Butter

As a sister post of the week to this article and this post we are now going to discuss the chemistry and what makes up peanut
butter.

Peanut butter is made of roasted peanuts which are legumes that enhance the quality of the soil by converting molecular
nitrogen (N2), into ammonia (NH3) a form of nitrogen usable by plants too make amino acids. Nitrogen is number 7 on the
periodic table and the two means that there are 2 nitrogen atoms in that form of nitrogen. The ammonia is a compound of 1
nitrogen and 3 hydrogen. Roasted Peanuts’ chemical formula is C57H104O6 this shows that there are 57 Carbon atoms, 104
hydrogen atoms, and 6 oxygen atoms.

The other main ingredient of peanut butter is sugar, or more specifically sucrose. This is the table sugar we use everyday from
sugar cane therefore it is not lactose, or fructose, but specifically sucrose. Sucrose’s chemical formula is C12H22O11. This means
sucrose contains 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, and 11 oxygen atoms.

The other ingredients include vegetable oils and Sodium Chlorine (NaCl) which is also known as common table salt.

That got a bit repetitive, but moving on!

The importance of chemistry in these ingredients is that all these elements make up these ingredients. They each have a chemical
formula attributed that altogether make peanut butter. And this mixture apparently may have the potential to cure Alzheimer,
which would be a huge leap in medical discovery.