Groundnuts are mostly grown in western Kenya and are taken through various processes from harvesting to achieve creamy or crunchy texture.
Value addition to groundnuts is done simply by making peanut butter that is used to make spread. Understanding seasons is important since groundnuts are seasonal. Groundnuts usually start to mature between 130-150 days depending if it‘s a runner or a bunch. Runners are popular for their long branches with nuts running along them whereas a bunch has its nuts in the tiny little bunches.
Improving groundnuts
First stage of value addition is sieving and roasting of nuts which is done through a process called dry roasting batch method. This method involves nuts being roasted in a revolving oven heated up to 426.6°C. The peanuts are heated up to 100°C for 40- 60 minutes to ensure uniform roasting.
After roasting, nuts are cooled down to room temperature of about 25°C after which they can peeled or roasted the way they are.
Grinding peanuts
Peanut are ground into a smooth consistent paste after being shelled. The machine is fed in small batches which is time consuming especially when preparing large batches of peanut butter.
Finally, after grinding is done peanut butter is left to cool for 36 hours before packaging into clean jars whereas in large industries peanut butter is pumped into a heat exchanger for cooling then packaging is done.
