For Best Results, Flip Your Peanut Butter Upside Down

Peanut butter is the unsung hero of kitchen cabinets around the world. It doesn't ask for much, yet it provides us with sustenance, protein, and creamy goodness. Humankind has found a way to repay this beloved legume—by discovering that the best way to store peanut butter is upside down in the jar. In the words of Missy Elliott, put that jar down, flip it, and reverse it. At least that's what I think the words are to "Work It." Regardless, this small lifehack makes a huge difference when it comes the way you store peanut butter in the fridge.

The logic behind the missive to store peanut butter upside down is simple: Doing so allows you to keep the oils in peanut butter from separating when you go to make a PB&J. Normally, natural peanut butter separates inside the jar because it lacks the preservatives and additives that keeps regular peanut butter together. So if you want to keep things pure and natural (and hey, who doesn't?), you're gonna have to get a little creative. That, or you're going to need some strong stirring muscles (which, I mean, you might also want to have just in case).

Now, this peanut butter hack isn't perfect—it still takes a little bit of stirring to get the emulsion just right, but it beats the pants off of dealing with oily peanut butter from an under-stirred jar. And if you're anything like me, I can never quite get the oil to reach the bottom of the jar despite tons of stirring and swearing. But most of the oil in the peanut butter jar will try to float to the bottom (or should we say top?), meaning that you'll have an easier time getting the right mix of nutty goodness and oil. Best of all this will help prevent the last bits of peanut butter in the jar from getting caked on, dry, crumbly, and hard to spread. And considering that natural peanut butter can be a bit pricey, you'll be happy that you get the most out of each purchase.

But then again, it looks like Skippy might be getting in on the ground floor of the movement by printing at least one label upside-down. Looks like Big Butter is onto us.