Silly kitchen gadget No. 32

A loyal reader turned me on to one of this week's gadgets, Grandpa Witmer's Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Mixer. You replace your peanut butter jar lid with this thingamabob, which has an arm inside to stir up your natural peanut butter. You then pull up on the handle, which is cleaned by a gasket inside, and remove the lid to scoop out the peanuty paste. Well, OK, that's kind of cool, yes?

It's made by Witmer Products of Orrville, Ohio. Now, as it turns out, Orrville is also the home of Smucker's. And this stirrer is designed to fit all the standard Smucker's jars, as well as other brands such as Laura Scudder and Adams. Those products, too, are owned by Smucker's. Hmmm. You have to wonder what the link is between the Witmers and the Smuckers.

If you look on Amazon, you can find this product being marketed by several different companies, so it's up to you whether you want to pay $9 or $12 for it. If you go to the Witmer website, though, you can be sure to get the right kind for the right jar.

Maybe what you really need is Model 200, or Model 50, instead of the Model 100 shown above.
These knobby-type stirrers work better on the low-fat peanut butters, which tend to be on the stiff side.

Consumer Reports did a comparison of peanut butters (and stirrers). Smucker's Natural and Smucker's Organic came out on top for best taste among creamy peanut butters. Testers liked the stirrers, too, but wouldn't pay $10 for one. Would you?

But wait! There's more! If you decided to buy the stirrer at Amazon, you could also buy the Cuisipro Peanut Butter and Jelly Spreader on the left at $19.98 for both!

Now, who the heck is going to shell out $10 for a color-coded PB&J spreader? Someone with serious OCD, maybe. Therapists could use it as a tool: "Bob, I want you to take this home and use the wrong sides." Aiieeeeee!

In conclusion, the spreader is silly, but I could see getting the Witmer stirrer for someone as a gift, if you knew they were really into natural peanut butter and could be sure of getting them the right size.

If you're not interested in the Witmers' stirrer, you might choose from their eclectic and very brief list of other products: a sand auger for beach umbrellas, a plastic flap for your newspaper box or a retractable clothesline.

I don't eat much peanut butter, but I'm tempted by the clothesline. How about you? Do you like the stirrer, the spreader or one of the other fine Witmer products?