To my vague embarrassment, I only really discovered the joys of peanut butter this year.

I make my own peanut butter in two-jar batches with peanuts bought from our zero waste store. Ideally one would buy ready-blanched peanuts but they are usually only available in their shells. I roast them in a hot oven for about 20 minutes until they glisten with their own oil. Overcooking them, within reason, doesn’t detract from the taste but you don’t want to underroast them, because then the oil has difficulty emerging and you’re left with a gritty peanut marzipan at the end of the process. I have done this.

I let them cool completely then give them a good squeeze before removing the skins in the Thermomix. Don;t forget to lout it on reverse or you end up with a gravelly mix of peanut and skin. I then use a colander to separate the skins. I’m always reminded of my mum doing this with a special winnow made of bamboo leaves.

Then the naked, tanned peanuts go into the Thermomix again to be ground up for two or three minutes. I’ll add about 10g of sugar for about 750g of peanuts just to bring out the taste, like adding a teaspoonful of mustard to cheese sauce. Then voilà! Miraculous peanut butter. I find it fascinating how the consistency varies from liquid to almost solid with the freshness of the peanuts.

I make wholemeal bread in the machine adding a variety of seeds and then spread the warmed peanut butter or a slice of toast for a wonderfully sustaining breakfast.

My little joy every couple of days is the crust of a freshly made loaf.