Cold-pressed peanut oil occupies a specific and historically important position within the Primal Diet. At the time Aajonus was developing and teaching his protocols, it was one of only two vegetable oils he identified as being pressed below 96° Fahrenheit, the other being olive oil. This made it, at least in certain periods of availability, one of a very small class of acceptable pressed oils on the diet. He listed it alongside olive oil as the oils that Spectrum Naturals was, at least during certain production runs, pressing properly below 96°F, and specifically noted that Spectrum pressed it below 92 degrees.

However, Aajonus repeatedly emphasized that cold-pressed peanut oil's availability was not reliable. Producers, including Spectrum, were caught at various times pressing toasted or roasted peanuts rather than raw ones, which rendered the oil useless regardless of the pressing temperature. Additionally, by the time of at least one workshop, he declared flatly that no peanut oil available anywhere was being pressed below even 150 degrees, effectively removing it from the approved list at that moment and directing people to use coconut cream in its place.

Despite this, peanut oil appears throughout his writings and teachings as a legitimate fat for the Nut Formula, as a food preservative, as a skin-applicable fat, and as an ingredient in recipes, provided it met the strict temperature and raw-peanut criteria. Its role in the body, like all pressed oils, was primarily as a solvent and cleanser, approximately 90% solvent-reactive, rather than as a building or lubricating fat.

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Aajonus was unequivocal that pressed oils, including peanut oil, are not primarily building fats, lubricating fats, or stabilizing fats. He stated, repeatedly and across multiple workshops and texts, that pressed oils of all kinds, olive oil, flax oil, peanut oil, coconut oil, are approximately 90% solvent-reactive in the human body. This means the body converts approximately 90% of the fat content of these oils into solvents, which are then used to dissolve degenerative tissue, arterial and lymphatic plaque, scar tissue (including internal adhesions), benign and malignant tumors, dead cells, congestion, and other accumulated waste material.

He stated: "90% olive oil flax oil any of those pressed oils, those are the only two that you can get truly cold pressed. Peanut oil now very high temperatures." And elsewhere: "No matter what the pressed oil is, peanut oil, it all reacts that way." And: "Oils pressed from anything except coconut are mainly utilized for cleansing the body as soaps."

He elaborated that these pressed oils "make good soaps like virus, break things down, dissolve things. They won't stabilize. They won't lubricate you, unless you're Italian or Greek and used to eating that concentrated for a very long time."

He compared their function explicitly to soap: they are solvent, reactive, and cleansing agents. This is why he warned against overconsumption, the more solvent-reactive material you introduce, the more the body is pushed into detoxification, which produces symptoms of illness, fatigue, lethargy, aches, colds, and flus.

Aajonus drew a sharp and specific line at 96°F as the threshold for oil quality. He explained that when fats, including peanut oil, are heated above 96°F during pressing, their molecular structure begins to alter in a way that causes them to harden in the body rather than function as solvents or nutrients. He described this hardening as similar to the effect of vegetable oil crystallizing at human body temperature, causing: arteriosclerosis, cracking, dryness, heart attacks, aneurysms, and other cardiovascular and structural damage.

He stated: "When fat is heated over 96 degrees, that's different with butter and cream and dairy products. But when you're dealing with nut butters and you're making your own nut butters or you're using olive oil or coconut oil, when you get over 96 degrees, that's when you start altering the molecular structure so that it will start hardening in your body similar to a vegetable oil, vegetable fat. You do not want a fat turning crystallized and hardened in your body because that will lead to all kinds of problems. Cracking, dryness, arteriosclerosis, heart attacks, aneurysms, you name it."

This applies equally to peanut oil. Pressing peanut oil at temperatures above 96°F, whether due to machinery friction, speed, or deliberate heat application, produces an oil that behaves in the body like a damaged vegetable fat, contributing to the very arterial and cardiovascular disease Aajonus associated with processed vegetable oils generally.

Aajonus drew an explicit distinction between pressed oils including peanut oil and animal fats such as butter, cream, and meat fat. He stated that animal fats are primarily stabilizing, building, and lubricating. They nourish cells, build tissue, protect the nervous system, keep skin and hair supple, and provide structural support. Pressed oils, including peanut oil, do not perform these functions to any meaningful degree.

He cited a World War I account recorded in a Russian general's log: "As long as my men got dairy, their hair and skin stayed supple and brilliant, resilient. As soon as we had to resort to olive oil and other pressed oils, their skin and hair dried out within three months." He used this account across multiple sources to demonstrate that pressed oils, even cold-pressed ones, cannot replace the nourishing and stabilizing functions of animal fats, and that they are "remedial, they are medicines."

He also addressed the specific concern about peanut toxicity, particularly aflatoxins and mold-related toxins, and stated clearly that this is not a problem with cold-pressed peanut oil because it is not heated. He explained: "The alpha toxin comes from a bacteria. It's a mold. But you don't have that problem until you cook it, and those molds breed on the cooked stuff, and it incites an abstract chemical." Therefore, cold-pressed peanut oil from raw peanuts is not problematic in this regard.

Peanut oil, like olive oil, has preservative properties when used to store meat. Aajonus described this function: bacteria do not grow well in olive oil, and peanut oil behaves similarly. He stated: "Peanut oil was the same way it preserved. I used some in some coconut oil that fermented and decayed a bit, but I was still able to eat it. It was more nourishing than the peanut oil soaked in the olive oil." He described the sensory quality: "If it's peanut oil, meat in peanut oil is absolutely delicious."

He contrasted this with dry meat storage (jerky), noting that jerky without oil would not last long, whereas meat preserved in oil could be stored for very extended periods and consumed in very small quantities, "the Indians used to eat just a little handful a day and drink water, and that's all they would have for a whole day."

In the context of the Nut Formula, peanut oil's solvent properties help neutralize enzyme inhibitors and protein inhibitors present in nuts. Aajonus explained that nuts on their own contain enzyme inhibitors that prevent proper digestion and create insatiable hunger, "you eat a lot of them, you get still hungry and you're more hungry and more hungry and you can't get satisfied." When peanut oil (or other acceptable fats, butter, cream, or coconut cream) is combined with the nut powder along with honey and egg, "the combination of those oils and with the honey will neutralize those enzyme and protein inhibitors."

Aajonus addressed the question of whether 98°F is acceptable for peanut oil pressing and stated explicitly: "98 degrees F. for flax oil is okay, but not for olive, peanut or coconut oils." This means that the tolerance he extended to flax oil at 98°F does not apply to peanut oil. For peanut oil, the threshold is strict, it must be pressed at or below 96°F to be acceptable. He repeated this guidance in two different source documents.

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The single most critical quality indicator Aajonus identified for peanut oil, beyond even pressing temperature, was whether the oil was pressed from raw peanuts or from toasted/roasted peanuts. He stated that Spectrum Naturals, at certain times in their production history, was pressing toasted peanuts and labeling the oil as cold-pressed, which made the entire premise of cold-pressing irrelevant. He told his community: "Who cares about cold pressing, you know, toasted peanuts? BFD." And: "If that peanut oil isn't clear and it's tan or brown, you know that they're pressing toasted, roasted peanuts again and not the raw ones."

Aajonus provided a specific and practical visual test for distinguishing acceptable from unacceptable peanut oil:

• Acceptable (raw peanuts, properly cold-pressed): The oil is very light yellow in color and clear.
• Unacceptable (toasted/roasted peanuts, or improperly pressed): The oil is amber, red, orange, tan, or brown in color.

He stated: "If the peanut oil is very light yellow in color and clear, it's probably the good peanuts. But if it's amber or red or orange, then it's not the right peanuts."

This visual inspection was intended to be done at point of purchase or upon receiving an order, as the color change is a reliable indicator that the source peanuts were heated before pressing.

Aajonus stated multiple times that cold-pressed means pressed below 96°F. He emphasized that the term "cold-pressed" as used by many producers is misleading and that temperatures during processing can reach as high as 250°F depending on machinery speed and friction. He instructed people to contact producers directly and demand written documentation of the highest temperature reached at every stage of processing and bottling.

For peanut oil specifically, Spectrum Naturals was at one point pressing below 92°F, which he described as acceptable. He referenced this in the context of the Nut Formula: "if you're using, you know, the Spectrum Natural peanut oil which is pressed below 92 degrees, use three ounces of that."

Cold-pressed peanut oil should be stored in a specific manner to prevent it from turning bitter and/or flat. Aajonus's protocol:

• Place each bottle inside a brown paper bag
• Press the bag tightly around the bottle
• Secure with a rubber band at the neck
• Store in the darkest, coolest cupboard available

He specified that cold-pressed peanut oil, unlike flax oil, should not be refrigerated. It is better kept non-refrigerated, in a dark bag, in a dark cupboard. This distinguishes it from flax oil (which must be refrigerated due to its extreme vulnerability to oxidation and light) and from olive oil (which also should not be refrigerated). The rationale is that cold and dark together protect these fragile pressed oils from the oxidation, light degradation, and temperature damage that would diminish their properties.

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Aajonus specifically named Spectrum Natural (also referred to as Spectrum Naturals) as the brand that was, during the periods when it was producing correctly, pressing peanut oil from raw peanuts below 96°F, specifically below 92°F. He stated: "Can you recommend a brand for the peanut oil? The Spectrum Natural."

However, he repeatedly warned that this brand was not reliable. He described personally monitoring Spectrum's production and alerting his community when the quality dropped: "It's like Spectrum peanut oil. They were pressing toasted peanuts and putting on theirs, you know, the good oil, the good peanut oil. I had to call everybody, you know, and I had to put on the thing until they produced it another two months ago. Two months ago, they started coming out with the right stuff again."

This illustrates that even the one approved brand required ongoing vigilance. Aajonus cited this as a reason for his newsletter, he used it to communicate urgent updates about producer quality shifts: "you have to keep up with these producers. They're rats."

Aajonus instructed anyone purchasing cold-pressed oils to personally contact producers and distributors to ask specific questions:

1. What is the maximum temperature the oil (or in this case, the peanuts) reaches at every point during processing? 2. What is the maximum temperature during bottling? 3. Can they provide this information in writing?

He noted that many producers label oils as cold-pressed while actually processing at temperatures as high as 250°F due to friction from machinery speed. He emphasized getting written documentation because verbal assurances from producers were frequently unreliable. This practice of demanding certified written temperature documentation was a recurring theme across his sourcing guidance.

By the time of at least one workshop, Aajonus declared that cold-pressed peanut oil was no longer available in any acceptable form: "There's no more peanut oil available that's under even 150 degrees. So not even talk about it. Nothing available. You can use coconut cream would be better. Basically, coconut cream would be the thing that I would use in place of peanut oil. Except for an aphrodisiac, you know. You just have, " The sentence was cut off in the transcript, suggesting there may have been a specific aphrodisiac use for peanut oil that was incompletely documented in this passage.

In another workshop passage he confirmed: "As of this publication, only olive and flax oils are pressed below 96°F (36°C) and have not been solvent extracted." This appeared to have been the state of affairs at the time of his book publication, with peanut oil being at least sometimes available at other periods.

He also referenced the past availability of peanut oil: "Cold-pressed peanut oil, if we can ever get it again, is better nonrefrigerated." The phrase "if we can ever get it again" confirms that at the time of writing, cold-pressed peanut oil meeting his criteria was not available and its return was uncertain.

When peanut oil was not available in acceptable form, Aajonus directed people to:

1. Coconut cream, he explicitly named this as the primary substitute: "You can use coconut cream would be better. Basically, coconut cream would be the thing that I would use in place of peanut oil." 2. In the Nut Formula context, he listed acceptable fats in order of preference: "Raw cream second. Peanut oil third." And elsewhere: "one of the fats, coconut cream, peanut oil, regular cream, butter."

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Aajonus consistently taught that pressed oils, including peanut oil, should not be consumed alone or in large quantities without the accompaniment of animal fats (butter, cream, raw milk, meat fat). The reasoning was biochemical and practical:

Pressed oils, being 90% solvent-reactive, cause the body to dissolve and release stored toxins, degenerate tissue, scar tissue, plaques, and other accumulated debris. This is the intended therapeutic function. However, when these materials are dissolved and released into the bloodstream or lymphatic system, they must be bound by something in order to be safely transported out of the body. Animal fats, primarily butter and raw cream, provide this binding function.

He stated: "Always eat butter and or cream with it. So if you're having olive oil with your meat, you have some honey and some cream and butter with it, or mix it into a sauce. Cream and butter with the olive oil. That is the best way to do it with the least symptoms. Mix them all together. What it does is the cream and the fats will help bind with those poisons that the pressed oils have dissolved and released and set free. If you don't have those other fats to bind with those poisons, guess what? A lot of it will be re, " [implying reabsorbed].

He was also specific about olive oil and citrus: "Eating citrus fruit or tomato with or immediately after olive oil helps digest olive oil." While this specific pairing was stated for olive oil, peanut oil's similar solvent-reactive properties imply a comparable dynamic.

In the Nut Formula, peanut oil was used as one of the fat components to be blended with nut powder, honey, and egg. He specified the quantity: "use three ounces" of Spectrum Natural peanut oil pressed below 92 degrees. This was one of four acceptable fat options, the others being raw cream (up to four ounces), coconut cream, or butter (up to eight tablespoons). The fat is not optional in the Nut Formula, its presence is what neutralizes the enzyme inhibitors and protein inhibitors in the nuts.

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Aajonus included peanut oil among the acceptable topical oils for skin care, specifically citing it by name alongside coconut oil as especially suitable for feeding and protecting the skin. He stated: "Applying a cold-pressed-below-96° Fahrenheit oil, especially coconut and peanut oils, or raw unsalted butter mixed with a drop of unheated honey or raw royal jelly feeds and protects the skin without smothering and poisoning it. After fifteen minutes, wipe any excess. It is healthier for the skin to be allowed to breathe every few days without oils, even if oils are cold-pressed."

This indicates that while topical peanut oil (cold-pressed) is acceptable and beneficial, it should not be applied continuously without breaks, and any excess should be wiped off after 15 minutes.

He also stated his fundamental rule for skin applications: "If I can't eat it, I don't put it on my skin." Peanut oil that qualifies for internal consumption (cold-pressed below 96°F from raw peanuts) therefore also qualifies for topical use.

In the context of general moisturizing formulas, Aajonus discussed the lubrication formula and the importance of letting all ingredients reach room temperature before blending. While the specific moisturizing lubrication formula transcripts primarily reference coconut cream and butter, the principles applied, including the instruction to "leave all the ingredients out the night before, let it become room temperature", would apply to any cold-pressed oil used in such formulas, including peanut oil when available.

Aajonus distinguished cold-pressed peanut oil (and coconut oil) from commercial processed skin oils, soaps, and lotions. He stated that all commercial skin oils are made with processed oils, "natural" or not, that "smother and make skin toxic as well as lubricate it." Cold-pressed peanut oil below 96°F does not smother the skin in this way when applied thinly and wiped off after 15 minutes.

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Aajonus was explicit: the body can handle approximately one tablespoon of pressed oil per day. He stated this as a firm limit: "The body can only handle a tablespoon a day of those pressed oils." This limit applies to all pressed oils collectively, if four tablespoons of olive oil are consumed in a sauce, no additional pressed oil (including peanut oil) should be consumed for four days.

He provided a specific calculation for how long it takes the body to process pressed oils: "It's going to take you four days to get that out of the system, to utilize it, to make it into solvents, to clean the body, and to process it." This was given in the context of four tablespoons of olive oil, establishing a ratio of roughly one tablespoon per day for clearance.

He described what happens when pressed oils are consumed in excessive amounts: "You wonder why you might get tired or lethargic and you're eating a half a cup of olive oil every day." Symptoms of overconsumption include: fatigue, lethargy, more frequent colds and flus, more aches and pains, and intensified detoxification symptoms.

He also warned that consuming pressed oils without the buffer of animal fats (butter, cream) causes the toxins that the oils dissolve to be re-released and potentially reabsorbed rather than properly expelled. This creates a cycle of toxin circulation without effective elimination.

For topical applications of cold-pressed peanut oil (or any cold-pressed oil): apply as needed for moisturizing, leave on for up to 15 minutes, wipe off excess. Allow the skin to breathe every few days without oil application, "it is healthier for the skin to be allowed to breathe every few days without oils, even if oils are cold-pressed."

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The most prominent culinary use of peanut oil was in the Nut Formula preparation, described above in the therapeutic protocols section. Aajonus described this as "candy" and ate it as a pudding treat. The formula: half a cup of nuts (pine nuts, walnuts, pecans), blended into powder, with peanut oil or butter and egg, a tablespoon or two of honey, and sometimes a teaspoon of raw carob powder, blended together. He stated: "I'll add peanut oil or butter and egg. I'll definitely put an egg in but if I have butter, I'll use butter first. Raw cream second. Peanut oil third. And I'll add a tablespoon or two of honey and sometimes a teaspoon of carob powder, raw carob powder, and blend that together and have myself a little pudding treat."

Aajonus described a meat preservation technique using peanut oil: - Slice the meat - Begin with a small amount of oil in the storage container (half a cup) - Stuff the meat slices in, compressing them - Allow the oil to rise on the sides as the meat is added - Pour more oil as needed until it covers the top of the meat - Seal the top with beeswax

He specifically noted that bacteria do not grow well in peanut oil (similar to olive oil), which allows the meat to be preserved for extended periods. He described eating peanut oil-preserved meat as "absolutely delicious", "if it's peanut oil, meat in peanut oil is absolutely delicious." This was described in the context of long-term food storage, including preparations he had made for Y2K, during which he stored approximately 30 pounds of deer meat using olive oil in this manner.

Aajonus included a recipe that uses raw peanuts themselves (not peanut oil per se) in combination with other Primal Diet ingredients:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Substitute: - 1 cup unsalted raw butter - ½ cup raw peanuts or other soft nut (blend alone until nuts become flour) - 4 tablespoons unheated honey - 1 whole raw egg - 2 heaping tablespoons raw carob powder

Butter should be at room temperature (soft). Blend all ingredients together until dark and rich-looking. This mixture may be refrigerated or eaten soft.

Aajonus included stone-pressed olive oil in multiple sauce recipes (Spicy African Paste, Hollandaise Meat Sauce, Nut and Spice Sauce, etc.). While these specific recipes do not name peanut oil, Aajonus's discussion of peanut oil in sauce contexts indicates it could function similarly as a sauce component. He cautioned that when using olive oil or any pressed oil in a sauce, typically up to four tablespoons, that amount of pressed oil accounts for the entire daily (or multi-day) allowance.

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Aajonus discussed raw peanuts themselves as a component of the Nut Formula (listed alongside pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds). He noted: "It's okay to use peanuts. It's not quite as, it doesn't work quite as well." And in the context of availability, he referenced "soft nuts" as the preferred type for nut formulas, and noted peanuts as a passable but suboptimal choice.

He also referenced peanut oil's connection to peanuts' inherent chemical profile, specifically the concern about aflatoxins and alpha toxins from mold, and made clear that this concern only arises when peanuts or their oil are heated. Cold-pressed peanut oil from raw peanuts does not carry this risk because the problematic compounds are formed through heat-mediated microbial or chemical processes: "It's not a problem because it's not heated. The alpha toxin comes from a bacteria. It's a mold. But you don't have that problem until you cook it, and those molds breed on the cooked stuff, and it incites an abstract chemical."

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The most detailed documented case of peanut oil misrepresentation in Aajonus's sources involves Spectrum Naturals. He described catching Spectrum pressing toasted peanuts and labeling the resulting oil as cold-pressed peanut oil, presenting it as if it were equivalent to oil pressed from raw peanuts. He stated:

"It's like Spectrum peanut oil. They were pressing toasted peanuts and putting on theirs, you know, the good oil, the good peanut oil. I had to call everybody, you know, and I had to put on the thing until they produced it another two months ago. Two months ago, they started coming out with the right stuff again. And if that peanut oil isn't clear and it's tan or brown, you know that they're pressing toasted, roasted peanuts again and not the raw ones. Who cares about cold pressing, you know, toasted peanuts? BFD."

This account reveals several layers of the producer-accountability problem Aajonus consistently identified: 1. Producers change their practices without informing consumers 2. Labeling does not reflect actual processing 3. Visual cues (color of the oil) are the consumer's primary line of defense 4. Ongoing personal investigation by Aajonus, phone calls, newsletter alerts, was required to maintain the integrity of the supply chain

He used his newsletter specifically to communicate these producer-quality alerts, which he described as essential for his community: "you have to keep up with these producers. They're rats." He was paying out of pocket for the newsletter when subscription revenue fell short, because the information was that critical.

Aajonus situated peanut oil within a broader pattern of deception in the pressed oil industry. He wrote: "Many producers and distributors label their oils cold-pressed but temperatures will be as high as 250° Fahrenheit depending on the speed and friction produced by the machinery." He described how the term "cold-pressed" is essentially unregulated and meaningless without independent verification of the actual temperatures at every stage of processing, pressing, and bottling.

He provided this investigative protocol: "Write or call the producers or distributors of cold-pressed oils. Discover the maximum temperature each oil reaches all times during processing and bottling." And in the context of wheat germ oil (to illustrate the same principle): "When you call them, ask them to give you a written letter describing the process, the temperatures, highest and lowest, to which the wheat germ comes in contact."

He connected the peanut oil fraud to the broader industrial food context: "To use truly natural cold-pressed oils would reduce profits to minimal." The economics of food production create structural incentives to heat oils faster, use higher-friction machinery, and process toasted or roasted nuts (which may have longer shelf life or lower raw-material costs) rather than maintaining the strict low-temperature, raw-source standards required for therapeutic-quality cold-pressed oil.

Aajonus's final documented position on peanut oil availability was: "There's no more peanut oil available that's under even 150 degrees. So not even talk about it. Nothing available." And: "Cold-pressed peanut oil, if we can ever get it again, is better nonrefrigerated." The phrase "if we can ever get it again", combined with the workshop statement that nothing was available below 150°F, paints the picture of a food that was once genuinely valuable in his protocol but had been effectively removed from the food supply by industrial compromise, with coconut cream designated as the primary replacement.

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