Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is a paste made by roasting and grinding shelled peanuts, with salt, sugar and a stabilising fat added in most commercial formulations. It is a suspension rather than a solution: finely milled peanut solids dispersed in the peanut oil released during grinding.
Composition is roughly half fat, a quarter protein and the balance carbohydrate and fibre, which makes it both a flavour ingredient and a substantial source of fat and protein in a formulation. The roasted flavour comes from Maillard reaction between peanut sugars and amino acids, and roast colour is the practical control point, since under-roasting leaves a raw beany note and over-roasting turns the paste bitter and dark.
The behaviour that matters in production is oil separation. Left alone, the liquid oil migrates to the surface and the solids pack down, so stabilised grades carry one to two percent of fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, which crystallises into a fine network that holds the oil in place. Natural grades omit it and separate in the pail. The paste is sold smooth or with peanut pieces, in pails, drums and bulk totes, and is pumpable when warmed to around 40 degrees Celsius. It is low in water activity and shelf stable, with rancidity of the unsaturated oil rather than microbial growth as the limiting factor on shelf life.
We source bulk Peanut Butter from top China manufacturers for our partners, working with several of them. The manufacturers are in Shandong and Henan. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
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- Function
- Bakery ingredient
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Uniform light to medium brown paste, smooth or with nut pieces |
| Odour and taste | Clean roasted peanut, free from rancid, bitter or musty notes |
| Peanut content | 90% min for standardised product |
| Fat | 48.0% to 54.0% |
| Protein | 22.0% min |
| Moisture | 2.0% max |
| Water activity | 0.35 max |
| Particle size | 90% below 30 microns for smooth grade |
| Peroxide value | 2.0 meq/kg max |
| Free fatty acid as oleic | 1.0% max |
| Oil separation after 30 days | None for stabilised grade |
| Total aflatoxin | Meets the limit of the destination market |
| Total plate count | 1000 cfu/g max |
| Yeast and mould | 50 cfu/g max |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The main split is between stabilised and natural. Stabilised peanut butter contains a hydrogenated vegetable oil stabiliser and holds a uniform texture without separation, which is what industrial users need for accurate dosing; natural peanut butter is peanuts and salt only and requires stirring or heated recirculation before use. Texture grades run from smooth through fine and coarse crunchy to chunky with visible nut pieces, and the particle size distribution is specified alongside.
Roast level is specified separately, from light for confectionery fillings where a mild nut flavour is wanted to dark for products that need the roast to carry through a sweet matrix. Further variants include blanched against unblanched paste, the latter darker and stronger because the skins remain, no added sugar and no added salt versions, high oleic peanut butter made from high oleic cultivars for better oxidative stability, and organic grades. Defatted peanut flour and peanut paste without added ingredients are traded alongside as raw materials for further formulation.
Applications
- Biscuit and cookie doughs, contributing fat, protein and roasted flavour
- Confectionery centres and peanut butter cups, blended with sugar and fat to a set filling
- Snack and protein bars, as both binder and flavour base
- Bakery fillings for buns, pastries and steamed breads
- Ice cream ripples and inclusions, formulated to stay soft at freezer temperature
- Satay, dan dan and other savoury sauce bases
- Spreads and table products packed for retail and foodservice
- Cereal and granola cluster binders
- Meal replacement and nutrition products where peanut protein contributes to the protein claim
Brands Using Peanut Butter
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Peanut Butter on the ingredient label.
- JifCreamy Peanut Butter ↗The ingredients statement lists roasted peanuts first, followed by sugar, molasses, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, mono and diglycerides and salt.Label verified 2026-08-31
- Smucker'sNatural Creamy Peanut Butter ↗The ingredients statement reads peanuts, contains 1 percent or less of salt.Label verified 2026-08-31
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Peanut Butter
Top Peanut Butter manufacturers in China.
- Jinan Hualu Food Co., Ltd.3 ingredients in the directory
Nanyang Tongguan Food Co., Ltd.1 ingredient in the directory
Shandong Zhengtai Biotechnology Co., Ltd.1 ingredient in the directory
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States peanut butter has a standard of identity at 21 CFR 164.150, which requires that the peanut ingredient make up at least 90 percent of the product, limits optional seasoning and stabilising ingredients to the remainder, and prohibits artificial flavouring, artificial sweetening, chemical preservatives, added colour and added vitamins. Products outside the standard, for example those with added flavours or reduced fat, are labelled as peanut spread. The Food and Drug Administration applies an action level of 20 parts per billion total aflatoxin to peanuts and peanut products, and manufacturing is subject to preventive controls with a documented aflatoxin and Salmonella control programme.
In the European Union there is no vertical composition standard for peanut butter, so it is sold under general food law with a full ingredient declaration. Maximum levels for aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxins in groundnuts and products derived from them are set in the contaminants regulation, with lower limits for material intended for direct consumption than for material to be sorted or further processed. Peanuts are a declarable allergen in both markets and the labelling and cross-contact controls that follow from that are the dominant compliance concern for any facility handling the paste.
Manufacturing Process
Shelled peanuts are received and cleaned over screens, destoners and magnets, then graded and sorted, with electronic colour sorting used to remove discoloured and mouldy kernels that would carry aflatoxin or off-flavour. The kernels are dry roasted in a batch or continuous hot air roaster, typically at 160 to 180 degrees Celsius, and roast is judged by colour measurement rather than time alone. Roasted nuts are cooled rapidly in a forced air cooler to stop the reaction, then blanched, which loosens and removes the skins, and split so that the germ can be taken out, since it is bitter.
Grinding is done in two stages. A first coarse mill breaks the kernels and releases the oil, then a colloid or refiner mill reduces the particle size to the fine range required for a smooth mouthfeel. Salt, sugar and the hydrogenated stabiliser are metered in during milling, and the hot paste is deaerated under vacuum to remove entrained air that would accelerate oxidation. The paste leaves the mill warm and is cooled rapidly in a scraped surface heat exchanger, which sets the stabiliser as fine crystals rather than coarse ones, then filled and held under controlled temperature for the fat crystal network to develop fully. Chunky grades have roasted nut pieces dosed in after the mill so they stay intact.
