Mix peanut butter right in the jar with old-fashioned gadget

An inexpensive solution to an old-timey chore.

(Credit: Lehman's)

I always thought it was a good thing to mix up newly purchased natural peanut butter. If you've ever accidentally turned a PB&J into a peanut paste, oil slick, and jam sandwich, you know why. To avoid this horror, usually you stick a butter knife into the jar and stir, stir, stir. Eventually the natural oils and peanut solids mix into the creamy, much loved substance that goes well with anything and everything.

As a bonus for doing all that hard stirring, the knife invariably gets covered in peanut butter. One could wipe it alongside of the jar, saving it for future consumption, but where would be the fun in that? Experts across the country agree that it's much more fun to slather that right away on a piece of toast (or most other things). You did open that jar of peanut butter for a reason, right?

For the less adventuresome among us, there is a clean and tidy solution. Grandpa Witmer's Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Mixer makes nice easy work out the old-timey chore. Simply screw the lid onto any compatible jar. The attached hook slides into the peanut butter, and with a turn of the crank, your peanut butter is mixed.

I have to admit, as much as I like breaking open a fresh jar of peanut butter, I rarely manage to keep it all in the jar. It can be messy, but it's a delicious messy. Whether you use Grandpa's Peanut Butter Mixer or opt to go with the honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned, knife-in-the-jar approach, you'll be set with the best that peanut butter has to offer. And hey, those globs of peanut butter that gets stuck on the hook have to go somewhere, so not only does it mix, it provides endlessly lickable fun.