A Nutty Comparison

A Nutty Comparison
By Becky Billingsley

So I went a little nuts with “healthy” peanut butters. It started when I saw one called Better’n Peanut Butter. The nutrition facts were so amazing I grabbed it to check out for you.

Then I saw one called Naturally More, and the label says it is “What Peanut Butter Should Be.”

“We’ll see about that,” I thought, and it joined the first jar in my buggy (that’s what we call shopping carts in South Carolina – buggies).

Things snowballed from there. How could I tell you about the first two without also giving you the scoop on the new Smart Balance Natural Peanut Butter; I.M. Healthy Original Creamy SoyNut Butter; and Smucker’s Reduced Fat Natural Style Creamy Peanut Butter?

I’ll keep this short and to-the-point for you. They’re listed below in the order I liked them, starting with the best.

Smucker’s Reduced Fat Natural Style Creamy Peanut Butter

Price: $2.99 (but I got it on sale for $2.50) for a 16-ounce (454g) jar with 13 2-tablespoon (35g) servings Nutrition: 200 calories, 12g fat (2 saturated), zero cholesterol, 120mg sodium, 12g carbohydrate (2 fiber, 2 sugars) and 9g protein. Ingredients: Peanuts, maltodextrin (replaces fat), fat reduced ground peanuts, salt. Taste: This tastes fine; I couldn’t tell it was reduced fat. It’s one of those peanut butters where the oil separates out and is in a layer on the top of the jar. But it wasn’t hard to stir it up and mix the oil back in with the butter.

Smart Balance Omega Natural Creamy Peanut Butter

Price: $3.09 for a 16-ounce (454g) jar with 14 2-tablespoon (32g) servings Nutrition: 200 calories, 17g fat (3 saturated, 2 polyunsaturated, 12 monounsaturated), zero cholesterol, 110mg sodium, 6g carbohydrate (2 fiber, 1 sugar) and 7g protein. You also get 1 gram of Omega-3. Ingredients: Peanuts, natural oil blend (flaxseed and palm fruit oils), salt, molasses. Taste: It smells richly like peanut butter and has a nice creamy texture. The flavor is just a bit overly salty.

Naturally More

Price: $3.39 for a 16-ounce (453g) jar with 13 2-tablespoon (35g) servings. Nutrition: 169 calories, 11g fat (2 saturated, 4.1 Omega 3, 1.2 Omega 6), zero cholesterol, 130mg sodium, 8g carbohydrate (4 fiber, 2 sugars) and 10g protein. Ingredients: Roasted peanuts, wheat germ, flax seed, cane sugar, egg whites, honey, flaxseed oil. Taste: This has a lot of oil floating on the top, and it’s a pain in the rear to stir up. The solid part is extremely thick, so I had to get out a sturdy spoon and spent a couple of minutes straining to blend it. After all that, and making a mess when some of the oil slopped out on the counter, I tasted it. It’s actually pretty good. In fact, it’s the best-tasting peanut butter of this group. But I hate how hard it is to stir up.

I.M. Healthy Original Creamy SoyNut Butter

Price: $4.99 for a 15-ounce (425g) jar with 13 2-tablespoon (32g) servings Nutrition: 170 calories, 11g fat (1.5 saturated), zero cholesterol, 140mg sodium, 10g carbohydrate (3 fiber, 3 sugars) and 7g protein. Ingredients: Roasted soybeans (non-GMO), naturally pressed soy bean oil, maltodextrin (from corn), soy protein isolate, granulated can juice, mono and diglycerides (derived from vegetable oil), salt. Taste: It doesn’t taste like peanut butter of course; it tastes like soy nuts. I happen to like the taste of soy nuts, but if you’re expecting it to taste like peanut butter you might want to choose another product. The texture is like that of any “regular” creamy peanut butter.

Better’n Peanut Butter

Price: $6.79 for a 16-ounce (454g) jar with 14 2-tablespoon (32g) servings. Nutrition: 100 calories, 2.5g fat (1 polyunsaturated, 1 monounsaturated), zero cholesterol, 190mg sodium, 13g carbohydrate (zero fiber, 2 sugars) and 4g protein. Ingredients: Peanuts (as defatted peanut flour and natural peanut butter), tapioca syrup, pure water, dehydrated cane juice, rice syrup, vegetable glycerin, soy flour, salt, tapioca starch, natural flavors, paprika and annatto, calcium carbonate, lecithin, vitamins E & C. Taste: It doesn’t smell like anything; there’s no aroma at all. The texture is gelatinous. It does taste slightly like peanuts, but it’s way too sweet. Also, you have to refrigerate it after opening. And did you see the price?! It’s more than twice as much as some of the others! It’s definitely not anything I’d ever want to buy again; we won’t even finish the jar we already have. Almost seven bucks wasted!

Becky Billingsley writes healthy grocery product reviews as Mrs. Good Food at http://www.badfoodgoodfood.com

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