For first time food entrepreneurs, here is an easy and innovative way to jump start your business. Why not try a homemade peanut butter honey dip to go with any choice of snacks or fruits to cater to people of all ages with a sweet tooth?

To start off, a great peanut butter is a must. Of course, there are a lot of great ones out there, but nothing beats homemade peanut butter from fresh, clean and all natural ingredients.

The starting capital is only (Php) 1,000 for making this healthy, homey peanut butter. The ingredients are as follows:

1. 10 kilos of shelled peanuts (makes about 30-32 medium-sized peanut butter jars)
2. 1 cup butter or margarine
3. ½-1L. vegetable oil
4. 3-4 kg. brown sugar
5. Iodized salt to taste

Below are the utensils/equipments needed:

1. Measuring cups and spoons – not necessarily needed, but for starters we recommend you use these
2. Weighing scale – needed to make sure each jar has the same weight
3. Pan
4. Ladle
5. Basin or Tray
6. Strainer
7. Grinder – If you don’t have one, there are grinders in local markets. About (Php) 15.00 per kilo of peanuts to be ground.
8. Peanut butter jars

John Philip “JP” Bacuñata 27, a freelancer in Makati City, shares the secrets of making a homey peanut butter, which can make any peanut butter lover go crazy.

He said that the 30-32 bottles of medium-sized peanut butter jars are sold out in a week or less. “People who buy peanut butter from me said that a jar doesn’t usually last a day, because they eat it alone as snacks.”

They started making peanut butter about a year ago with his associates Ms. Nelia Delmo and Mr. Santi Cozo. The orders came in bulk. For a starting capital of (Php) 1,000, they sold the peanut butter jars for (Php) 100 each and profited about (Php) 2000.

We learn the basics of a good homemade peanut butter spread (or dip) through JP. The secret, he says, is that it should not swim in oil. Thankfully, he reveals how:

1. Search for native and newly harvest peanuts in the market. Native and newly harvest peanuts are juicy and pale in color. Avoid buying the stocked peanuts that are dark in color, which yield to more oil.
2. Remove spoiled peanuts, sprouts, stems, weeds, or leaves from the heap of raw peanuts to be roasted.
3. Prepare materials for cooking.
4. Pour in a small amount of oil in a hot pan (about 3-5 cups); slowly throw in a relative amount of raw peanuts. Do not put the remaining vegetable oil yet.
5. Add the remaining peanuts by batch, alternating it with just enough oil to not let the peanuts stick in the pan.
6. Constantly stir the peanuts to make sure that all are equally cooked. Do this for about 40 minutes or until the nuts are crunchy and pale yellow in color.
7. Once desired taste and look is achieved, take if off from the stove to cool.
8. To remove excess oil, use a clean, dry strainer.
9. While the peanuts are still hot, put in the whole butter or margarine and mix it thoroughly in a clean basin or on a tray.
10. Once the buttered peanuts are cool, mix in the sugar with iodized salt in it.
11. Grind the peanuts.
12. Carefully transfer the peanut butter to each jar.

You may also want to pack it in small cups for a dip to go with slices or balls of melons, peaches, bananas, apples, or grapes. For the best peanut butter dip, add some milk, honey, apple juice, cinnamon, and mix until well-blended.

Once you have learned the art of creating a good homemade peanut butter, experiment! Try also dipping, pretzels, churros, graham crackers, etc.; the sky’s the limit.

Homemade peanut butter is also a sure way to avoid peanut butters contaminated with salmonella. But above all the careful steps we take in making or buying our peanut butter, Mr. JP gives us this sweet piece of advice, “Pray…whatever kind of food you eat, the best thing that you do first is pray, as what Bro. Eli Soriano preaches.” Words by A. Gonzales