Peanut Butter -- 'Refrigerate After Opening' Optional?

I've never seen a "refrigerate after opening" note on peanut butter, nor have I ever stored peanut butter in the fridge. We buy Jif.

Yep, optional. We have never put peanut butter in the fridge, and never did growing up..to me putting it in the fridge is weird! Who wants to eat cold peanut butter?

I've never in my life put peanut butter in the fridge!!!

Hint: Nuts don't need to be refrigerated. Whole or ground. They CAN be, but don't need to be UNLESS they have additives like dairy in them. :) Nuts and oils are stable at room temp. They just need to be covered.

I wonder why it says that? Is the an "all natural' kind? I just looked at my Skippy jar and it doesn't say WHAT to do with it after opening! I assume...eat it! Lol! That being said, ours is in the cupboard above the toaster, its never in the fridge and we eat it all the time so no worries! (If you want to double check, there may be info on their website.) I'm out of here...weekend is starting...be back on Monday...have a great weekend! =)

Never!!!! I hate hard peanut butter! I have never put in the fridge and don't plan on it :)

Gotta say, we never stick our peanut butter in the fridge, and we are still alive. LOL

I've been keeping PB in the pantry forever, and I've never had any go bad or gotten sick from it- not the typical store brand, not the all-natural stuff, and not the stuff I make myself in the Vitamix.

I just checked the jar in our pantry right now and it specifies "No refrigeration required."

I never store any brand of peanut butter in the fridge and I've never had any that ever went bad.
We (Americans) tend to put lots of things in the fridge that many Europeans don't.

Refrigeration for organic or natural peanut butters is to prevent the oil from going rancid (where they break down, causing them to smell and taste bad) which takes months, usually.
Refrigeration for mayonnaise, milk, meats, and other types of items containing animal products is required to prevent spoilage due to bacterial growth, which can and will cause intestinal illness.
MIL's Jiffy brand (and also Skippy, and Peter Pan) is processed such that will not degrade at room temperature (e.g., oils that will not break down, and probably some preservatives as well) so it does not need to be refrigerated at all. On the other hand, your TJ's natural brand will last longer if it's refrigerated, but won't make you sick if you leave it out, unless you keep it in your cupboard for months on end to the point that it smells and tastes bad. Hope this helps.

There are a lot of "refrigerate after opening" messages on food. Its the lawyer's warning and has nothing to do with reality.

My grandmother had peanut butter as a child. And that was before any home had a refrigeration. The first American patent for peanut butter was 1884, but the Aztec indians ground peanuts into a paste hundreds of years ago. It was adding vegetable oil to the paste that made the peanut butter soft and spreadable.

So don't put the peanut butter in the frig unless you want to. Its not necessary.

BTW all peanut butter used to be the "natural" peanutbutter that you had to stir to mix with the oil. Every jar of peanutbutter had to be stirred when I was a kid.

Good luck to you and yours.

Natural pb that separates goes in the fridge. Jif, Skippy, etc. in the pantry.

I've never seen a jar of Jif that said refrigerate after opening...

I have never heard of peanut butter in the fridge before...

Most PB does NOT need to be refrigerated unless it is organic or otherwise needs special attention. (for like the past 50 years -- ha ha)

Like everyone else, I have NEVER put our PB in the fridge...and I might be kinda mad if someone did...it would be harder to spread! LOL! I guess it's all a preference...but I've never seen a label that said it had to be...maybe only certain brands?? Hmmmm...

I've never kept peanut butter in the fridge after opening, and my mother never did either. So that's been going on almost 40 years and I've eaten a lot of peanut butter in that time span and I've never gotten sick. And neither has my daughter now. We used Jif too - maybe other types are different? But not that I am aware of! I've never known anyone to refrigerate peanut butter after opening.

I too have never seen a "refrigerate after opening" on a peanut butter label either. We just leave it in the cabinet. I do check the expiration date and if it is past I will throw it out. I don’t eat it and neither does my daughter. Just my step daughter when she visits. I have seen items that will say "for best results store in a cool place".

I've never seen a "refrigerate after opening" label on peanut butter! Maybe it's the all-natural TJ's brand. I never put peanut butter in the fridge, and there has never been a problem.

I have never kept peanut butter in the fridge, makes it unspreadable for one. :( What kind of peanut butter are you using anyway, I have never seen refrigerate after opening on mine. I just looked on my Jiff and it specifically says "no refrigeration required".

I also looked on or organic peanut butter, same thing.

So far as what should be refrigerated after opening, common sense. Hershey's syrup does not need to be refrigerated after opening. They put that on the label because apparently a huge bottle lasts longer than a week in other people's homes so for those that keep it for 10 years refrigeration helps it last that long.

I've never put Peanut Butter in the fridge. We use Jif and it actually says: No refrigeration necessary. Same thing with syrup...some people say fridge and others put it in the pantry. Personal choice.

I have always used peter pan or skippy and we never put it in the fridge, when peanut butter is cold it does not spread well and tears the bread. I have never seen refrigerate after opening. J.

I've never, ever put PB in the fridge. I've never even seen it on a jar that it had to be refrigerated unless it was a jar that you had to mix because everything separates. That doesn't happen with Jif and Skippy, and they take pains with their natural line so that they don't separate.

I have an organic vegan natural PB that my two younger girls love that never separates and doesn't say to put in the fridge, so I don't. It never goes bad.

EDIT: For anyone wondering, we get Peanut Butter & Company brand PB. They are fabulous.

Cold peanut butter? That's gotta be hard to spread!

I never put peanut butter in the fridge unless it actually says to. I buy skippy and it doesn't say anything so I leave it in the pantry

Peter Pan here and no fridge no worries. I have made my own at the store and that has to be refridgerated. But it was too much work and too expensive we do not eat too much here so we just stick to the Peter Pan.

I've known people who store it in the fridge cause that's how they like it, but I never have. I've always kept mine on a shelf in the pantry. Never known anyone to get sick from doing either.

I've kept my peanut butter in the cupboard for as long as I can remember. And my mom did too. We're all ok. I think refrigeration must be optional.

The organic pb that we get from costco does say to refrigerate too! So we do, but I hate it because it is (as everyone says) so hard to spread. I find myself not using it very often because its such a pain.

Im glad you asked the question, because of all of these responses, I feel ok storing in the cabinet! I did a little online search of the question tho, and it does say that it will turn rancid and start to smell bad after about 9 months. Im wondering if the natural kind would maybe even turn sooner. So maybe always do a sniff test before using!

We use Teddie's all natural and I never refridgerate as I don't like cold stuff. I do think it says to do it but I don't. We probably go through a jar in less than 2 months so it's never gone bad.

The only time I put the peanut butter in the fridge is when we are battling ants. I hate cold peanut butter. It does not need to go in the fridge. I grew up putting it in the pantry.

I think it stays fresher in the fridge...but I keep mine in there because I also bu Trader Joe's pure peanut butter and it solidifies to a "normal" peanut butter state if you keep it in the fridge. When you leave it out, as you probably know, the oil separates since it truly is just ground up peanuts. There aren't any preservatives in there.

But I grew up eating Jif, and we never kept it in the fridge. I never got sick from it so your MIL isn't crazy.

Spidermonkey - if you buy the pure stuff, it's not hard when you keep it in the fridge.

i have never put it in the fridge. but i know people who do. i also know people who dont put their jelly in the fridge either.

If it's not organic but actual real peanut butter, it should be refridgerated. The other stuff has a ton of preservatives in it and can be stored at room temperature safely.

We keep our organic all natural peanut butter, both creamy and crunchy, and the almond butter and the cashew butter in the fridge. Husband's preference. He says because it doesn't have the preservatives the Jiffy, Peter Pan and Skippy have, mixed with how long it takes us to finish off the jars (each person likes different flavors and textures) and because we have tossed a lot of expensive smelly bags and containers of nuts and nut butters because they smelt a little yuck. It's the way it is here, and I'm okay.

I would add that I have taken to using a Tablespoon to get a hunk out of the jar that was in the fridge, put it on a small bowl and stick it in the microwave for 20 seconds, it takes the chill off and makes it much easier for me to spread.

The next time I am fighting for space in the fridge I will be okay if the nut butters go to the pantry to visit the boxes of cereal.

Anybody have any thoughts on maple syrups, mustards, ketchup, jellies, salad dressings, soy sauce, bbq sauce, vitamins, bread, and pickles? I would love to reclaim space in my refrigerator. It always seems to look full even when we have nothing to eat. I feel another posted question coming on...

I know organic or fresh made needs to be refrigerated I keep our Jiff in the cupboard never had an issue.

I use Skippy Natural, it has no preservatives, I don't refrigerate it, and it jas never gone bad on me.

When we used the processed stuff, we never put it in the fridge either. No we used fresh ground peanuts and that does get refrigerated.

I and pretty much everyone I know, has never put peanut butter in the fridge. The natural stuff that you have to stir usually needs to be refrigerated.

Peanut butters without any additives need to be refrigerated. Most major brands - Jif, Skippy, etc. - don't need refrigerated.

Just out of curiosity - how many people who refrigerate their natural peanut butter refrigerate peanuts if they have them in the house? Why are those different?

I've always assumed that refrigeration is required to keep the oils in peanut butter fresh. They wouldn't go bad right away so I suppose if you ate your peanut butter within a reasonable amount of time it would be okay. It's like milk. The colder you keep it the longer it lasts.

I prefer to have ours in the pantry... so it's not cold. That stuff is already hard enough to spread on bread without messing up the bread. LOL. I honestly didn't know it said refrigerate after opening. Ooops!!!

Peanut Butter without preservatives can go bad. I don't think it would hurt you, the rancid taste is very disgusting though. If you go through it quickly it may not be a concern either way. Worst case scenario is you taste it and immediately know it's rancid. I've never heard anyone getting really sick from it (food poisoning).

We never store in the fridge but we do however only buy the smaller sizes of jars so we as a family of 5 will empty jar within 2 weeks. The only thing you are doing in the fridge is slowing the oxidation of the oil. Kept out of light and used within a reasonable time will protect the integrity of the product. Unless introduced to outside harmful bacterias the on degrade is a less fresher taste at about 1 month out after opening.

have never refrigerated my peanut butter, not even the natural kind.

Our jar of Jif stays in the pantry only .. no fridge when I was a kid either.

I refridgerate my natural peanut butter, especially if you grind the peanuts like you can do at Whole Foods. I've been really sick from peanut butter like that that has been left out. I don't consider Jif to be real peanut butter and it has loads of preservatives and when I was a kid it was always in the pantry. I dont know why you have to refridgerate it but I will always refridgerate the real thing!!!

I know many who don't store it in the fridge. however... I do believe it CAN go bad without one realizing it... bad as in invisible mold. .same goes with tea bags. how do I know this.. because as someone who has had candida albicans , when you have to cut out white flour, sugar and other things that can make the condition worse, another thing they have you cut out are things that can grow mold without one realizing it..... Most people don't get sick from un-refrigerated Peanut Butter, but if you have allergies and or Candida, it IS definitely one of the things that can bring on an attack...

I had no idea you were supposed to refridgerate PB. Really? Huh. Learn something new every day.

We always kept our PB at room temp when I was growing up, and I never saw a "refrigerate after opening" until just the past year or so. I always buy natural peanut butter, and it has always suggested that you refrigerate it to keep the oil from separating, but it has never been put on the label as "mandatory" until recently. It may have been on the label for years and I never noticed it until last year, but I know that labels in years gone by did not have it. Perhaps it's a "CYA" thing the PB companies are doing, or there is some extremely rare thing that may occur in room-temp PB that becomes even more rare or non-existent if refrigerated. I wouldn't worry about it too much, though.

It is perfectly fine to keep the peanut butter in the pantry. I have NEVER EVER kept it in the fridge - you can't spread it if you do. Same goes for almond butter and cashew butter. It does not expire. Should it go rancid (really unlikely and probably after years and years) you can smell rancid fat. I buy the all natural organic fresh ground peanut stuff. Has never gone bad.