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Not worth it
This is a cheaply made unit that takes far too long to do it's intended job. I managed to get two of the small output bins of peanut butter out of it after about 30 minutes, and it tasted quite good, using cheap dry roasted peanuts from a jar. But keeping the peanuts actually engaged in the grinder without jamming up is a chore.
The next batch I tried a few days later, I used canned peanuts cooked in oil. The machine wouldn't grind them hardly at all, and started smoking. I gave up and tossed it in the trash. I am going to try the food processor for making peanut butter next. Should have done that first, but I thought this machine would be easier. Live and learn.
[Tuesday, November 18, 2008]
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The Good, The Bad, and The Typical
I am a big fan of nostalgia electric products because of their retro and usually unusual design. I own many of the different models. I have to honestly say that many of the machines look really atrractive, but do not live up to what they claim. There are exceptions, but this peanut butter machine is not one of them. I was really excited when I saw that they had released this item, because I always buy natural (peanuts only) peanut butter and thought that it would be cool and maybe cheaper to make my own at home. First of all, the machine looks really cool, although it is smaller than I expected. But there are many problems. The booklet says that if the nuts you want to use are too big for the machine, you need to crush them first. I used regualer sized peanuts, and they were too big. This caused the machine to have to be physically held on the counter. When we crushed the peanuts, the peanut butter did come out slowly and in chunks (not like in the pictures). We used the smoothiest setting and the peanut butter was still chunky, it was kind of like small ground pieces of peanuts, although the peanut butter was warm. The most annoying part of the entire ordeal was trying to clean the machine. There are small areas in the machine that have to be cleaned out, but there is no convenient way to do so. Water will not flow through these areas and also the machine is somewhat hard to dry afterward, with small crevices. Another complaint I have is that the gear you manually turn to keep the peanuts flowing is made of plastic and does not seem that sturdy. All in all, we are going to keep the machine, because it does make an interesting countertop piece, and I will probably try it again when I have alot of time, but is not something that you can use and suddenly get great peanut butter.
Also, do not be fooled by these prices on amazon. When I first purchased it here it was $40. Now it is marked up to $60. It is questionable whether it is worth the investment at $40, but do some looking around if you do want to purchase it. I have seen it at other online stores for $40. Finally, good luck to those of you that want this. I hope that it works better for you than it did for me. Disappointing.
[Thursday, November 06, 2008]
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