PROCESS NO. 1
Put a layer of peanuts about one-half inch deep in a dripping-pan and place on perforated shelf in a moderate oven. Allow them to bake slowly for about one hour. Cook them until they are a light brown or straw color. Shake the pan or stir the peanuts every few minutes. When the kernels begin to crack and pop they brown very quickly and should be watched closely.
A splendid way to cook them is to fill a tight-covered dish about two-thirds full, place in the oven, and shake occasionally. When cooked this way, they are not so liable to burn, and they retain their flavor better. When they have cooked sufficiently, spread out at once. When they have become quite cool, blanch as follows: This can be done by rubbing them in the hands, or what is better, a coarse bag, or take a piece of cloth and fold the ends together, forming a bag. Another good device is a screen made of coarse wire. Rub them until the skins are loose. The chaff can be removed by using a fan or by pouring them from one dish to another where the wind is blowing. Look them over carefully, removing defective nuts and foreign substances.
The next step is to grind them. The most practical family mill we know of for grinding nuts, etc., is the Quaker City Mill (see cut and description of same in this book).
Always grind freshly cooked nuts, as they do not make good butter when left a day or two after being cooked.
PROCESS NO. 2
Thoroughly heat the nuts in an oven, but do not let them brown. Allow them to cool, then blanch as described in process No. 1. Boil them from three to four hours, until they are tender. Drain, spread out on tins, and thoroughly dry them; then grind them through the mill.
PROCESS NO. 3
Heat and blanch the same as for No. 2. Grind them through a meat chopper or the nut butter mill loosely adjusted. Then cook them in a steam cooker about four hours. When tender, drain, spread on tins, and thoroughly dry them. Then run them through the mill tightly adjusted.