21 totally unexpected uses for peanut butter

Peanut butter is great on toast, either alone or with jam, but that’s about the extent of it’s usefulness, right?

Not so, according to a cooking website called sousvidetools.com, that suggests 21 unexpected uses for the popular spread, some of which sound more likely to be successful than others.

Here are a few of the more surprising tips:

• Fry peanut butter to rid your kitchen of lingering cooking smells
• Peanut butter is far better than cheese as a mouse-trap bait 
• Rub scratches on your leather sofa or shoes with peanut butter to restore the shine (this is also recommended for repairing scratches on wooden furniture but make sure you use smooth, not crunchy!)
• Birds love a pinecone smothered in peanut butter then rolled in bird seed and hung in the garden
• Smooth peanut butter is a handy replacement if you run out of shaving cream
• Put a dollop of peanut butter in the bottom of a cone before adding ice cream – it stops it melting through the bottom

And a fun fact we found while researching this story – ever wondered why some Aussies say peanut paste instead of peanut butter?

Wikipedia says peanut paste was used as a synonym for peanut butter in rural Queensland for many years, due to pressure from dairy farmers who feared it make hit butter’s share of the spread market. The same occurred in Western and South Australia because the state governments defined butter as a dairy product.

In fact, Wikipedia says, peanut paste – created from roasting, blanching and grinding peanuts – is the main ingredient of peanut butter, which also contains sweeteners, salt and other ingredients.

How do you like to eat peanut butter? Can you see yourself using any of these tips?