Nutter Butter, Muddy Buddies, Reese’s, and Tag Along Girl Scout Cookies… what do all these foods have in common? That’s right, peanut butter, the nutty spread that never gets old.
Growing up, peanut butter was always an essential in my diet. As a baby, my mother introduced peanut butter to me early on. However, I can trace back my first real memory of when I began to eat peanut butter to preschool, when my mom would pack me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When I soon went though the faze of not liking jelly, the sandwich switched to peanut butter, fluff, and nutella. Then, a decade later, came the peanut butter and banana sandwich. In all three cases, I never gave up on peanut butter. Although my preferences to which type of peanut butter I eat have evolved, my love for the food remains unconditional.
In an attempt to find out what peanut butter we like best, our team at Spoon IU decided to test out seven different peanut butter varieties. The peanut butters we chose to taste were picked out by varying prices, ingredients, nutritional value, and flavorings. However, to actually rank the peanut butters, we used these three different factors across each: taste, consistency, and nutrition.
The seven peanut butters we tasted in order are as follows: Simple Truth Organic Creamy Peanut Butter, Earth Balance Creamy Natural Peanut Butter, Justin’s Classic Peanut Butter, Justin’s Honey Peanut Butter, Wild Friends Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter, Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, and Jif Whipped Creamy Peanut Butter.
1. Earth Balance Creamy Natural Peanut Butter
Earth Balance was our favorite peanut butter out of the seven we tried. The consistency of the peanut butter was creamy and smooth, and had a nice peanut flavor that was not too overpowering. In terms of its nutritional value, Earth Balance was one of the Peanut Butter’s we tested on the healthier side. It’s ingredients are comprised of peanuts and flax seed, with a natural sweetener of agave syrup. The other three ingredients included added oils and salt.
2. Simple Truth Organic Creamy Peanut Butter
Simple Truth's creamy peanut butter came in a close second place to Earth Balance's. Although we found that the peanut flavor was the strongest and the ingredients were the cleanest comparing it with all the others, we felt that it was a little too salty for our liking. Besides that, the consistency was about the same as the consistency of Earth Balance. Just peanuts and salt, there is no mistaking Simple Truth Organic Creamy Peanut Butter as peanut butter.
3. Wild Friends Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter
The name describes it pretty well, Wild Friends is for sure wild and friendly, meaning it has the most unique taste in a yummy way. Chocolate coconut flavored, this peanut butter had the least amount of peanut butter flavor. However, we couldn’t help but rank it third because of the great taste. The taste was not the only unique aspect of Wild Friends; the consistency was also different from the rest of the peanut butters we tried. This consistency was drippy and thin, rather than creamy and thick. We decided that this peanut butter would be best used for a drizzle on top of any dessert or a smoothie bowl. It also took a little bit a mixing before we could try it because of the oil separation.
4. Jif Whipped Creamy Peanut Butter
Another unique consistency came when trying Jif's whipped peanut butter. Fluffy like a cloud, Jif Whipped Creamy Peanut Butter felt less like eating peanut butter and more like whipped cream, (hence the whipped name). We loved that this peanut butter did not stick to the roof of our mouths at all, and that one serving size also contains 25% less calories and fat than its regular peanut butter due to the nature of the consistency. However, what we did not like about this peanut butter was the ingredient list. This was the least healthy of all the peanut butter’s we tried, and with many additives, there was less of a peanut flavor than we tasted in the more natural peanut butters.
5. Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter
Skippy’s peanut butter taste can be closely compared with Jif's whipped peanut butter in taste; meaning, it also had a more muted peanut flavor. What we liked about Skippy was the nostalgia factor we felt eating it. The familiar thick and creamy texture, the indentation of the spoon in peanut butter in the jar, the remaining peanut butter stuck on the roof of our mouths, it made us smile.
6 & 7. Justin’s Honey Peanut Butter & Justin’s Classic Peanut Butter
We tried two different Justin’s flavors during our taste test, honey and original. Both flavors we mutually agreed to be our least favorites of the seven tested. While the honey peanut butter had an interesting flavor, none of us tasted peanuts. The honey flavor, however, did come through, so if honey is your thing, this might be the flavor for you. Once we tasted the honey, we hoped the regular flavor might have more of a peanut taste as the classic flavor; it did not. We didn’t get a peanut taste come through, or much other flavor, finding it to be pretty bland. Additionally, not marketed as either a crunchy or creamy peanut butter, the consistency was a bit gritty. There were no chunks of peanuts, but it also wasn't smooth.
Final Results
Overall, our peanut butter tasting hour was a success. Each peanut butter was unique in its own form, and was enjoyed in some way.