This is a tricky one. Peanut butter has a fairly good shelf life (3-6 months according to some of my food storage charts), it's the oil that separates from the nut butter that can quickly go rancid when exposed to oxygen. Refrigeration helps to keep the oil from separating quite so much, but it's actually perfectly safe to store fresh peanut butter at room temperature - especially if you plan on using it quickly. It's the separated oil and oxygen that is the cause of the oils going rancid, and why hydrogenated oils are added to commercial peanut butter - it stays suspended in the nut butter. With a quick search I haven't been able to find any real research on the subject, but that doesn't mean there isn't something out there on the subject. I do home food storage and store peanuts for making fresh peanut butter, and for long-term storage I have cans/bags/jars of commercially made powdered peanut butter (which has much of the oil removed). -Grainlady

This is Marilyn's recipe and it is VERY good! Salted Peanut Bars (The flavor of a Pay Day candy bar.) 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 + 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 egg yolks 3 cups miniature marshmallows 2/3 cup corn syrup 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 (10-oz.) pkg. ReeceÂs peanut butter chips 1 (16-oz.) can salted, dry roasted peanuts Heat oven to 350°. In large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and egg yolks until crumbly. Press firmly in bottom of ungreased 9X13X2-inch baking pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with marshmallows. Return to oven and bake an additional 1 or 2 minutes until marshmallows just begin to puff. Cool while preparing topping. In a large saucepan, combine corn syrup, 1/4 cup butter, vanilla and peanut butter chips. Over low heat melt just until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanuts. Immediately spoon warm topping evenly over marshmallows; dipping your fingers in water to prevent stickiness, spread to cover. Refrigerate until firm; 1 hour and cut into bars dipping the knife into hot water occasionally

I think I'd go for the peanut butter chips, some creamy peanut butter and cream. Heat the cream, pour over the chips and peanut butter to melt and you "should" have something that resembles ganache. I think. This should be interesting, I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes. Annie

Apologies for the delay on following up on this, and thank you to everyone who responded. I have since refilled the hole pictured above, with the differing soils at their original depths. I hesitate to counter some of the points brought up, please realise I only mean to initiate discussion... Regarding the concept that roots only grow in the top 12" of soil, an immediate logical fallacy is apparent - specimens planted at depth below the surface would, by the 12" theory, have significantly smaller root systems than plants grown at the surface. Asparagus are planted at 10" depth - does that mean their roots only penetrate 2" downward? Clarifying to say the first foot of root growth of the plant, regardless of planting depth, contains the largest number of roots, would make more sense. But we also need to address the elephant in the room - root systems aren't only one foot deep. There is significant root mass beyond that depth, albeit in smaller numbers, due to reduced branching in the increasingly compact soil. Asparagus roots typically surpass 10' in depth. Research carried out by an ecologist and a botanist from University of Nebraska backs up these two points, and the resulting book is a very interesting read and available free online here: http://soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137ch6.html Now I don't mean to say that TILLING to that depth is beneficial, detrimental, or of neutral value. This is a topic I hope to explore.