How do they reduce fat in things like peanut butter?

Question

Is there a low fat peanut? Is there a fat removal machine that I need to step into somewhere?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Good god, so much disinformation here. I used to work for the company that made Skippy peanut butter. In the US, peanut butter has a standard of identity that says that peanut butter has to have at least 90% peanuts, can have sugar and/or honey, salt, and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil for stability (prevents oil separation).

Reduced fat has only 60% peanuts, so the natural fat in the other 30% of peanuts is gone from the product. It is replaced by a lot of stuff that makes texture and flavor palatable (arguably). Overall, the fat is reduced. The fat in the peanut is the same, just fewer peanuts in the jar.