Being that it is Peanut Butter Lover’s Month, it’s only fitting that the second shipment of peanut butter arrived from the Peanut Butter of the Month Club, the perfect birthday present from my sister. This shipment contained one flavored and one plain peanut butter, but there’s no competition this time around, both are winners in my mind. In addition, I received a third jar of flavored peanut butter as a recent gift. Read on for the delicious details and recipes.
Cream-Nut Natural Peanut Butter (17oz, $6.29)
Cream-Nut brand has been around for over 80 years and still produces only this product. They still use the same vintage machinery which requires more upkeep and higher maintenance but they claim it produces a higher quality peanut butter. And look at that awesome label, it just screams “vintage”. I’ve seen this brand in stores before but didn’t purchase it because of the fairly high price. But now that I’ve tasted it, I can see that this peanut butter is a real treat.
The texture is creamy but contains very small chunks that give it a nice thickness that can only be described as “rich”. The only ingredient besides peanuts is sea salt, which is added in the perfect amount. This peanut butter isn’t for everyday use such as in Fresh Peanut Butter Ice Cream or in my new favorite recipe, Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. It’s better utilized where the flavor and texture can fully come through, such as in Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread. Currently, my favorite way to enjoy this peanut butter is by dipping ultra-thin pretzel sticks in for a late night snack. As a bonus, the oil takes a much longer time to separate than other natural peanut butters, likely due to the thickness of this peanut butter. If you see this brand in the store and happen to have a few extra bucks, be sure to pick up a jar.
P.B. Loco Sun-Ripened Apricot (16oz, $6.95)
I keep hearing about P.B. Loco from fellow bloggers but have never had the opportunity to try it. It’s not in any stores around me and the shipping cost makes it too expensive to purchase online. Lucky me when I pulled a jar of this peanut butter out of the box. Peanut butter and apricots was a flavor combination I had been wanting to try for a while so this was perfect!
This flavor tastes exactly as is it sounds: like peanut butter with apricots. But there’s something more, something hidden in the brown murky depths of this jar, some flavor that I can only describe as a lingering apricot essence. Further inspection of the label reveals an ingredient called “apricot compound” which sounds like a futuristic, genetically-modified nutrition supplement but can be the only explanation for this lingering flavor. The sweetness of apricots comes through clearly in this peanut butter but this “apricot compound” seems to enhance the true flavor of the apricot. Imagine the taste of an apricot without the sweetness, musky and earthy but wholly good, that’s the added flavor.
I’ve been using this peanut butter in various ways but it’s great when paired with a banana such as in the peanut butter and banana wrap above. I also enjoy digging for and eating the apricot chunks with a knife straight from the jar. The pamphlet included with the shipment suggests making peanut butter oatmeal cookies with this flavor, but I suggest using the jar below for that task. But if you’re lucky enough to see this brand on the shelves, be sure to toss this one in your basket.
P.B. Loco CocoBanana (16oz, $6.95)
After a recent trip, my girlfriends parents brought back a present for each of us from New Orleans. I forget what my girlfriend received but it wasn’t as good as this! This P.B. Loco flavor is infused with dark chocolate and bananas, a combination that makes any self-respecting foodie weak in the knees. The flavor doesn’t disappoint and the sweetness is kept at a reasonable level. The mini chocolate chips in my jar melted so instead of chips I have swirls, but no complaints here. The banana flavor comes from a “banana compound” which is starting to seem less like a futuristic food replacement and more like another term for sugar. Nonetheless, there are tiny banana-flavored sugar crystals throughout this peanut butter that remind me of the banana flavored Runts, only less artificial tasting.
Again, this peanut butter isn’t for mixing, it needs to be used where the flavor can shine through. This peanut butter is wonderful on honey graham crackers or rice cakes. According to the salesperson: do not refrigerate. I’m not sure why but I don’t bother refrigerating peanut butter anyway, the oil in my jars never gets a chance to separate. Thanks Marcos & Denise!
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I love the look of cream-nut – do you think they may not have updated the packaging since the company’s inception also? I’m a sucker for retro anyhow – and so few ingredients, it has to be a winner.
As for loco PNB – all those compounds, hmmmm.
x x x
I agree, I love the retro look, and while tasty, those compounds are a little sketchy… ~ Nick
“It’s better utilized where the flavor and texture can fully come through, such as eating it with a spoon right out of the jar…?”
Haha, precisely! ~ Nick
soo exciting to try pb loco! cocobanana?! and yes, they probably are best on a spoon :)
I’m loving cocobanana peanut butter! I’m going to visit the PB loco website. I’ve never heard of them until you mentioned it on here!
Oh wow, that apricot peanut butter looks great! Thanks for the tip and the great review.
+Jessie
a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse
Cocobanana peanut butter sounds so good! Man I want me some peanut butter right now.
Oh, boy. I would love to try that Creamy Peanut butter. I love your blog, and highly respect a fellow-PB lover like myself!! Is this stuff sold at Whole Foods?
I really recommend the Cream-Nut and it’s always nice to find another PB-addict! I’m not sure, but I think there’s a distributor listing on their website. Good luck on the hunt! ~ Nick
Hi Nick!
Love all of them but the last one reminds me the typical dulce de leche + banana here.. I change it for this scrumptious loco peanut butter + banana ;-)
Dulce de leche + banana sounds wonderful! The PB Loco brand is pretty good too though. ~ Nick
NIIIIICE pb varieties!!
I’m in love with all of these! I just found out my natural food store is finally carrying PB Loco. Yay! I don’t know which flavor to try first!? I guess I can’t go wrong no matter what.
Lucky you! I want to try the other ones, although I hear the cookie dough one isn’t as good as expected. ~ Nick
i’ve been seeing those flavored pbs everywhere – and have been wondering about them. should have known you’d review them! yum! and yummmmmm. banana and pb = perfect!!
Speaking of flavored peanut butters, does anyone remember … I think it was called Yoogle or something like that? It was back in the 70s. They had chocolate, and cinnamon, and other flavors. I’m not hallucinating, am I?
I’m a child of the 80s, so I can’t say that I remember that, but I’d love to go back in time and try it. Let me know if you figure that out. ~ Nick
Hey Nick, strange that I have been missing out on all your posts.. and I was thinking I added your blog in my list to follow… weird. Let me add you again.
Ahh, I think I was being followed by you with the Blogger tool, but I switched from Blogger to Wordpress and got my own hosting too, so everything got all jumbled. Glad to see you back! ~ Nick
I LOVE peanut butter and it doesn’t even matter what type! I have just the recipe to submit. I’ll post it and link back here.
Haha, couldn’t agree more, any flavor is good in my book. Can’t wait to see the recipe! ~ Nick
First, I love the site.
I love peanut butter. I love bananas. I did not care for the Cocobanana peanut butter. It was OK.
In honor of this glorious month, here’s a video to check out:
http://food-rants.com/2008/11/peanut-butter-jelly-time/
Glad you enjoy the site, and I agree with you to some extent. Peanut butter: awesome. Bananas: awesome. Cocobanana is good, but not as good as a banana slathered with peanut butter on each bite. But the point is that this is close enough when a fresh banana isn’t available. Haha and yes, I’ve seen that video…way too many times. ~ Nick
I just posted a peanut butter recipe on my blog and I’m glad to have stumbled over your peanut lover’s event.I’ll submit my recipe soon.You have a very thoughtful loving sister ,delicious PB varieties.Appreciate your efforts to raise money for hungry.
Excellent, glad you found me! Can’t wait for the recipe roundup! ~ Nick
wohoho…favorite peanut butter recipe eh? gosh…probably PB & nutella on a slice of untoasted bread…but lemme work on something better hehe
I eagerly await your entry! ~ Nick
thanks so much for your comments on my last post – i appreciate it and think you have quite the point… and obviously, my nick agrees ;) peanut butter and logic. you might just be his super hero.
I was close with the “Yoogle”. It was Koogle and I’m happy I wasn’t hallucinating:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koogle
Not too shabby, but since that was before my time it seems unfair I never got to try it. Was it good? ~ Nick
I think we bought the cinnamon one and I’m not sure if I liked “built in sweetness” in my peanut butter. Apparently the rest of the world thought so too, as it didn’t last very long.
Wow, dark chocolate PB? And apricots? I’ve never heard of that brand, but man I’ve got to have it!! Maybe I can convince the local gourmet market to start selling it!
I’ll have to get moving on some peanut butter recipes this month!
dark chocolate / banana peanut butter sounds amazing. you’re a lucky peanut butter boy!
also, I’ve added a link to your peanut butter month recipe project on my latest post. my contribution to spreading (ha, pun!) the peanut butter love.
Thanks, I can’t wait for all the new peanut butter recipes! ~ Nick
Geez, what’ll they come up with next? I love nutella…because obviously you can’t go wrong with adding chocolate to nuts…but I’ve never heard flavouring peanut butter like this! What a concept!apricots? banana? I’ve never seen anything like this in Vancouver!
I know, it’s getting a bit out of hand. At some point people just need to get creative with regular peanut butter and come up with their own concoctions, or perhaps even create a site devoted to doing just that =) ~ Nick
Hi, I just submitted my recipe…I hope you got it.
Thanks :)
Heyy you should try dipping dried apricots into your favorite peanut butter!! :D I’m loving all these reviews! I was actually wondering about 365 Peanut Butter (I also read about it on a review on AOL).. I think I’m gonna go with that one. Take care!