A majority of our peanut supply comes from Georgia and Alabama, with other smaller amounts coming from Virginia, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas. A quality control that peanut manufacturers look at is the amount of Alfatoxin in a peanut crop. Aflatoxin is a byproduct of mold that decreases the quality of a peanut crop. A peanut manufacturer has to spend money separating this byproduct from their peanut product to a specified parts per billion (depending on what their buyer is asking for).
It looks like both Kroger and Aldi, among a few others might not be as strongly affected because they have their own manufactures…some of which already have certain prices locked in. Thankfully, once the prices started increasing, farmers started planting more peanuts…which will hopefully even out the prices within the next year! Oh, supply and demand. Got to love it!
If you stock up on peanut butter now, there is no need to refrigerate your product. Many large brands like Kroger and JIF use a process called a nitrogen flush that decreases oxidation of the peanut butter. This oxidation, producing peroxide, is what makes peanut butter stale. If you do open a jar that seems stale, just scrape off the top 1/4” or so and the rest of the product should be good! Worse comes to worst, make some cookies or candy out of your peanut butter!
Happy Stocking! I’m clearing shelf space now!
Fun fact: Did you know that leftover peanut product goes to make animal food?!
Thanks, Tim, for the info – Tim is a peanut expert from Southern Indiana having worked as a peanut manufacturer for many years. He took time to speak to me yesterday about this issue. We appreciate the heads up!
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