did you know
why your nut buttr separates — and why that’s the good sign
you crack the lid on a new jar, and there it is: a slick of oil sitting on top like the buttr has already given up on you. it hasn’t. that little pool is the single clearest sign you’re holding the real thing.
we get asked about it more than anything else, so let’s settle it properly — what that oil actually is, why it shows up, and the ten-second move that fixes it for good.
it’s the nut, doing what nuts do
a nut is mostly oil, held inside solid flesh. when we stone-grind it into buttr, that structure breaks down and the oil is set free with nowhere to go but up. give it a few days on a shelf and physics takes over: the light oil rises, the heavier ground nut settles below. that’s separation. it’s gravity working on a jar that contains nothing but nuts and a little salt.
the more a nut butter separates, the less has been done to it. ours is just the nut and maldon salt, stone-ground and left alone — so it behaves exactly like the nut it came from.
what stops separation is usually what you don’t want
walk down any supermarket aisle and most jars sit perfectly smooth, top to bottom, forever. that stillness isn’t magic and it isn’t better nuts. it’s that something has been added to hold the oil in place and keep everything uniform on the shelf. that’s a choice a brand makes for the shelf, not for you.
we make the other choice. buttr separates because there’s nothing in it whose job is to stop it. the oil on top isn’t a flaw in the product — it’s the absence of everything that would have been.
stir it, don’t pour it
here’s the part people get wrong: they tip the oil down the sink. don’t. that oil is flavour, and it’s what keeps the whole jar soft and spreadable. pour it away and the bottom of the jar dries into something you could patch a wall with.
the fix: take a butter knife or a narrow, sturdy spoon — something that reaches the bottom — and work it down the sides, folding the oil back through the paste. keep going until the colour is even and the texture is glossy and uniform. it takes about ten seconds. if you want to make it even easier, store the jar upside down for a day before you open it; the oil migrates the other way and you barely have to stir at all. once it’s mixed the first time, it stays mixed.
frequently asked
is the oil going bad?
no — separated oil is normal and expected in real nut butter. keep the jar somewhere cool, use a clean dry spoon, and it stays good. the fridge will slow separation right down if you prefer, at the cost of a firmer spread straight from cold.
my jar barely separates. is that bad?
not at all — how much a nut butter separates depends on the nut, the grind and the temperature. a little or a lot are both fine. what you’re looking for is that it separates at all, because that’s the honesty of it.
do i need to stir every time?
only the first time, really. after a thorough initial stir the oil stays folded through. give it a quick pass if it’s been sitting a while.
a slick of oil on top isn’t the problem. it’s the receipt. now go put it to work →