How To Use Your Stove To Help Loosen Up Dry Nut Butter From A Glass Jar

Nut butters, homemade or store-bought, are the creamy and crunchy ingredients your morning toast screams for and your favorite salad dressing wouldn't be the same without. However, because these spreads are comprised of nuts and water blended into a paste-like texture, it should come as no surprise that they tend to become dry and easily get stuck to the jar. You may think that all hope is lost and want to toss it, but don't. You can heat your glass jar on the stovetop to help loosen up that stubborn nut butter.

Simply add a little water — no more than a teaspoon — to your jar of dried-up nut butter, place in a pot of water, and warm until its consistency is loose enough for you to easily spread. This doesn't take long, so don't walk away and leave your jar heat on the stove. If you do, your nut butter might burn and your efforts will be for nothing.  

Keeping your stove temperature low should help alleviate the possibility of your spread burning, but being vigilant isn't the only precaution you need to exercise when heating a glass jar of nut butter. You also want to heat your water and glass jar slowly to help ensure your jar doesn't crack. And be sure to lose the metal lid. You don't want to steam your nut butter and create a moisture-rich environment that thins it too much. Also, metal lids conduct heat.

While you do not want your nut butter to melt and become syrup-like, you do want it to straddle the line between being a solid and a liquid. Stirring your spread as it heats is a good way to monitor its consistency. When it reaches the point that you are happy with, turn off the heat and remove the glass jar from the pot of water. Don't forget to use your pot holders here or you could burn your hands. Remember, glass may not look hot but it can retain heat and cause a nasty burn.