Does anyone know why peanut butter and similar products such as Peanut Butter Cups are so hard to find outside the US (basically Europe, Australia, etc)? I mean, they have peanuts, why don't they make peanut butter?
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Really random answer:
A peanut sat on a railroad track; His heart was all a-flutter. Along came a choo-choo train... *train whistle* Pea-ee-ee-nut Butter!
edited to add a serious answer:
I have no idea, though I'd be curious to see the answer.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
I feel bad for the peanut now.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I think it has something to do with that famous American, George Washington Carver, the peanut pioneer.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Peanut Butter mixed with Nutella is really good.
But you can't find Nutella everywhere in America either.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Peanut Butter mixed with Nutella is really good.
Duh! Tell me something I DON'T know! That's like saying air is really good to breathe.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Yea Nutella is the Peanut Butter of elsewhere, which made me sad when I was in Italy because I hate hazelnut flavored things. Beware, what you think is chocolate may actually be nutella. They even have nutellerias. Crazy stuff.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: I think it has something to do with that famous American, George Washington Carver, the peanut pioneer.
This definitely has the air of sense about it.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
I don't know, either, but I remember that when I lived in Israel, peanut butter was insanely expensive and came in tiny containers. That was a while ago, I admit I didn't check the peanut butter out on my most recent trip there. Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Presumeably, it's more expensive to import the stuff into Europe and the Middle East as opposed to the US where we grow the nuts domestically.
-Trevor
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
They have loads of peanuts though.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Then I don't have a clue.
Just a quirk of cultures, perhaps?
-Trevor
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
mayhaps. that's probably the reason for why it started out that way, if they had hazelnuts growing, but no peanuts.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
I thought you could buy Nutella at Trader Joes?
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
I can find it in the grocery store, I think...
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Apparently Nutella sells more worldwide than all peanut butter. Nutella Info
I think it's time to spead the peanut butter love and eat some.
Posted by Dragon (Member # 3670) on :
mmm I love peanut butter.
quote:Duh! Tell me something I DON'T know! That's like saying air is really good to breathe.
quality. Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Well, seriously, did anyone think that peanut butter would take off and be more popular than chocolate?
I mean, if I had access to Nutella and Peter Pan, I think I'd pick the chocolate, too.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
this thread was actually inspired by the tiny peanut butter cups in my ice cream.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
The answer is simple - the hazlenut is FAR superior to the peanut.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
No! Never! I will not allow the hazelnut to be better than the peanut!
Peanut Love Forever!
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
What do they use for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches if you can't buy peanut butter? Don't tell me the rest of the world has no PBJs! <distraught>
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
The hazelnut is superior to the peanut. That's just a fact. That said, peanut butter is a very, very nice thing. It's one of the few things that make chocolate edible, for instance. (Hazelnuts are another. Sticks of cracker are another.)
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I'm allergic to hazelnuts-- and I hate peanuts.
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
I heard there's a place in town selling fresh roasted hazelnuts... gonna have to go check them out.... Posted by Grisha (Member # 6871) on :
I've heard in some places they use almond butter, which i've never tasted. My yoga teacher was a huge fan of it though. Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: But you can't find Nutella everywhere in America either.
You obviously haven't been looking very hard. I've seen it in just about every grocery store in this area and we're not even all that international in these parts.
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
I live in flippin' Alaska, and I can get Nutella at any grocery store. It's not terribly popular, but it's not hard to get, either.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
I live in Australia and have never had any problems buying peanut butter. Every supermarket stocks it.
Peanut butter cups however - well, Australian tastes just don't like the peanut butter + chocolate combination that Americans do. We have peanut M&Ms but not peanut butter ones. I think we have one chocolate bar with peanut butter in it, and it's not really popular.
I'm sure it's because our palates are more sophisticated. Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
Or, you know, dulled into oblivion from eating all that Vegemite. Posted by Troubadour (Member # 83) on :
Imogen's right - we're really not a nation of sweet-tooths. Peanut Butter itself is easy to come by, but you'll find just as many Aussies putting Vegemite on their toast of a morning.
Peanut butter cups eerrrggghhh.....
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: What do they use for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches if you can't buy peanut butter? Don't tell me the rest of the world has no PBJs! <distraught>
Some of us have old and sophisticated cultures and wouldn't dream of putting jelly on bread. I mean, ick. Incidentally, what's with the horrible sliced bread you Americans eat? Not only does it last as long as cardboard, it tastes the same. Besides, slicing bread is good exercise.
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
quote: I mean, if I had access to Nutella and Peter Pan, I think I'd pick the chocolate, too.
But if you're eating real peanut butter, like Adam's, it's just the thing sometimes.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Even our dinky little neighborhood grocery store has peanut butter. And we can get nutella here, too. And this is outer darkness.
Hey, kq, I'm allergic to hazelnuts, too! Except, I'm actually only allergic to the papery outer layer of them. That makes me stop breathing. But the rest of the nut is fine. Which has me happy, cuz I love my nutella!
Um, Fahim hates peanut butter. I think it's here for the foreigners.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
quote:I mean, if I had access to Nutella and Peter Pan, I think I'd pick the chocolate, too.
Careful, there! Tinkerbelle can get quite jealous.
Not to mention your hubby.
Lost boys indeed!
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
They have a button called "store finder" but it didn't locate my town, even though I can buy it in at least 2 of the 4 grocery stores in town.
Oh, and I have a recipe for Nutella cookies. Yummmmm!
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I like cashew butter. I wish I had some right now. I'd eat it happily with a spoon.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Oo almond butter sounds like it would be good. I wonder if it would taste anything like almond paste, if it's not the same thing.
I don't know what I'd do without PB&J. It saved me when I was in Rome, but not without having to hunt down the PB first.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
hazelnuts are the superior nut to peanuts. Why? Because peanuts *aren't really nuts*. They're legumes. And disqualified. Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
I like butter made from other nuts as well. It's definitely a different taste.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Bah! I shall not discriminate based on nut status.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I once tried some health-food concoction called "No-Nut Butter". It is made from soybeans, for those allergic to nuts. The label rhapsodised about the benefits of soy protein, and told you how many grams of soy protein was in the stuff.
It was foul and inedible. I could dubplicate the taste and texture if I soaked some corrugated cardboard in sour milk, and ran the whole thing together in the blender with some blackboard chalk.
Why don't we have a barfing or a yucky-face graemlin? Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: I'm allergic to hazelnuts-- and I hate peanuts.
So much for us having similar food likes!
I love peanut butter and peanuts. And hazelnuts. And Nutella. And chocolate spread. And peanut butter cups. Especially the tiny ones in ice cream.
Soy nuts (roasted soy beans) are not bad either. But I agree, they make absolutely dreadful "butter." Bleh!
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
quote:I like cashew butter. I wish I had some right now. I'd eat it happily with a spoon.
Hey Syn, if you were at Twin Oaks Community, you'd get to eat cashew butter all the time, since they buy it in bulk from East Wind...
(I've still got 10 lbs. of almond butter and 15 lbs. of cashew butter that I brought with me when I moved from East Wind, mmmm )
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
See, I can't stand roasted soy nuts (or really, anything soy except for soy sauce). The idea of a soy nut butter...oh, ugh. Gross. The stomach curdles.
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
I have heard that it is the texture of peanut butter that many foreigners dislike.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
The peanut butter they have in Italy isn't really peanut butter. Just like the boxed milk bears no relation to real milk.
Sure, KoM-- go on about the superiority of European cultures while swilling irradiated, room temperature, dead milk.
They have Nutella at just about every supermarket I've ever been in, by the way. What they DON'T carry is a really good brand of olive oil.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Room temperature? Who on Earth drinks room-temperature milk? Not me, for sure.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
The peanut butter I had in Italy was pretty darn close. I also found some Skippy, which I'm pretty sure was peanut butter. Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I'm a fan of "boxed milk" (irradiated milk). For one thing, you can keep it longer than half an hour, and for another thing, it has a fun aftertaste, kind of like cheerios.
quote:I'm sure it's because our palates are more sophisticated.
From Imogen's stories in the recipe threads, I'm quite ready to acede to this.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
They eat peanut butter in Zimbabwe...on rice. I'm all about spreading the peanut butter-love, but I think that's a little icky.
I gave a PBJ to a little boy in Germany and he didn't LIKE it! I don't know what they teach these foreign kids...
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Cashews grow in Sri Lanka, and you can easily find them anywhere. Here, besides being roasted and devilled (your typical nut snack, familiar to North Americans), they're also curried. And eaten with rice and other curries. Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Quid, I've heard that outside of the cashew nut is a cashew fruit. Is it true? What is the fruit like? Can you buy it at stores, or do you need to have your own cashew tree to get it?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
The cashew fruit is not only poisonous, but toxic by contact. Cashews have to be harvested wearing gloves.
Oops. No, that's apparently not quite true. Apparently the "cashew apple" is edible, but the cashew's hull is the toxic part.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
quote:Originally posted by Annie:
quote:I'm sure it's because our palates are more sophisticated.
From Imogen's stories in the recipe threads, I'm quite ready to acede to this.
I *was* kidding. DOn't forget, we are the land of the chiko roll (and if you have never had one of these, pray you never will).
Incidentally I made your pot sticker dumplings a while back - they were good. Yum. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Tante - I've heard also that it's toxic, but that's about all I know.
What I do know is that here, in certain sections of the various highways, there will be clusters of shops. One cluster will sell wickerware - supposed to be the best wickerware in the country. Another cluster will sell pineapples - hundreds and thousands of pineapples. Another cluster will sell King coconut. Yet another will sell lacquerware, and so on and so forth.
One cluster of shops will sell nothing but cashews (cadjus) during the season. I've been told that beautiful young girls in brightly coloured saris will hold out bags of cadjus to tempt passing motorists. (When we drove by, it wasn't season.)
Outside of Kandy, there's a line of shops that sell Sri Lankan treats - muscat and kiri dodol and other things I don't know the names for.
And isn't this really a lot more info than you asked for? Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
First the Brie/Camembert kerfuffle, now this, Rivka? Your google-fu is slipping, it's time for an up-and-comer to snag the pebble from your hand. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Morbo: First the Brie/Camembert kerfuffle, now this, Rivka? Your Google-fu is slipping, it's time for an up-and-comer to snag the pebble from your hand.
One: I wasn't wrong about Brie/Camembert -- Choobak simply misunderstood my post. (As quid already explained.) My apology was for humorous effect. Two: I should have googled cashew fruit before I posted, and not after. I was relying on my memory of an article I read a year or two ago. Clearly I should not do that. Three: Kayla, and possibly quid, can out-Google me any day. And I'm ok with that. Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Four: Nobody likes a response in list format
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Let's have a google-thon competition! Hmmm... but what are the rules?
May the best 'racker (or 'rackette) win!
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
That sounds like fun! I'm in. Shall we say keyboards at dawn? My server will contact your server.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Hmm...We could have judges who have extensive knowledge of a particular subject area, and have each judge pose a question with a relatively obscure (but findable) answer, and then have them score the contestants' answers for quality and speed.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Maybe next weekend? We need a ref, and rules, and contestants.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Morbo: Four: Nobody likes a response in list format
Who
used
list
format?
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Hey, I did my part by suggesting a format. Y'all have fun, now! Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
1: 2: 3: ...that's a list format.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Moving on... I just started a new googlethon thread. Hop in if you dare. Try to think of trivia or questions that might be tough to google.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
quote:Kayla, and possibly quid, can out-Google me any day. And I'm ok with that.
rivka, that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said about me. Thanks!
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