The peanut butter blues

[Buttercup]

Well.

Months ago my husband brought home 10 jars of off-brand peanut butter from an elderly neighor whose wife had recently died. The old gent couldn't possibly polish off all the surplus peanut butter and hence we got 10 jars.

I prefer brand name peanut butter. Not a super-picky eater here, but if it's got that much fat and calories it'd better be Jif, Skippy or -- preferably -- Peter Pan.

After 5 months of consuming the off-brand peanut butter, yesterday I got a jar of Skippy Natural (yay!). And to my (obviously now seriously deadened taste buds) it tastes no better than the off-brand stuff!



Hopefully I'll soon recuperate and Skippy/Jif/Peter Pan will start tasting normal and GOOD again.

I'd like to hear from other pb lovers here. I like it with crisp salty saline crackers and a dab of apricot or seedless blackberry jam. And of course cold milk to wash it down.

[Fazor]

I try to switch up what I bring to work for lunch, but PB&J probably is the most frequent. I'm not picky about my PB though; to me, it's the J that matters.

[Buttercup]

Do you prefer jelly or jam? I prefer jam; it's much more easily spread. And I suppose you've got a favorite flavor.

I just want the quality stuff to taste good again.

[Nick Theodorakis]

Is Skippy Natural your "normal" brand, or do you prefer the "regular" stuff? I'm guessing that Skippy Natural has no added sugar, so it may not taste as sweet to you as regular Slippy (or Jif, Peter Pan, etc.), and perhaps the off brand had no added sugar as well, which is why it tastes the same as Skippy Natural to you.

Nick

[Fazor]

I prefer jam aswell, but my g/f doesn't so we usually not only have to settle for jelly, but the jelly in the squeeze bottles. Oh well; it's like pure sugar so nothing wrong with that.

I go between the traditional grape jelly and strawberry, just to switch things up. Though, with that squeeze stuff, it all really tastes the same anyway.

[Ara Pacis]

In my experience, even a good PB tastes good for the first bite and after that it becomes ho-hum for the rest of the sandwich. It happens with cheese too. Maybe my taste and smell sensations become saturated rather quickly.

But like someone else said, it might just be the unadulterated natural brand just tastes less PB-ish since you've gotten used to the hyper-flavored brands. Added fat, sugar and salt do a lot to enhance flavor.

[Gillianren]

I only eat peanut butter in cookies. I don't like . . . call it preserved fruit spread, which covers all the variations, and I burned out on peanut butter and honey by the time I got through elementary school.

[Ara Pacis]

I only eat peanut butter in cookies. I don't like . . . call it preserved fruit spread, which covers all the variations, and I burned out on peanut butter and honey by the time I got through elementary school.

They are tasty together, nothing like mashed toasted legumes and bee vomit. But what about PB and honey separately or either one on toast with butter (or Brummel & Brown)?

[Swift]

I love peanut butter and jelly. Well, actually, I prefer jam, and apricot most particularly. PB on both slices of bread (so no leaks) and then lots of jam. And yes, a big glass of milk. Much prefer smooth/creamy to chunky PB. Smucker's is very good, and Skippy works for me.

[Buttercup]

Is Skippy Natural your "normal" brand, or do you prefer the "regular" stuff?

Regular. Peter Pan is my fav, but the store didn't have it in stock so I chose SN -- which I have enjoyed in the past.

I'm guessing that Skippy Natural has no added sugar, so it may not taste as sweet to you as regular Slippy (or Jif, Peter Pan, etc.), and perhaps the off brand had no added sugar as well, which is why it tastes the same as Skippy Natural to you.

That didn't occur to me. Now I'm wondering how much sugar the off-brand stuff had by comparison. Yes -- that could explain a lot.

Fazor: the jelly in the squeeze bottles.

I tried that. Squeezing jelly...no thanks. And I prefer jam anyway: With a table knife to dip.

Ara Pacis: They are tasty together, nothing like mashed toasted legumes and bee vomit.

Swift: Much prefer smooth/creamy to chunky PB.

Yes. Chunky is so difficult to spread of course, and sometimes those bits of peanut get jammed between the teeth. Ouch, lol.

[samkent]

It’s not that your taste buds have deadened it’s one of those lessons in life.

Many times the house brand tastes about the same.

This coming from someone who eats 5-6 pb sandwiches a week. It all started from the early days of unfairly heavy child support. I tried the name brand follow by the house brand. In less than a month I had decided that the name brand wasn’t worth twice the price. As to the natural types… I hate stirring the darn stuff at 6:30AM.

[Gillianren]

They are tasty together, nothing like mashed toasted legumes and bee vomit. But what about PB and honey separately or either one on toast with butter (or Brummel & Brown)?

Honey, yes--or on hot, fresh biscuits, yum. But peanut butter? Not really. Not only that, but what's the point to smooth? You don't really get the whole peanut experience, not even the real peanut flavour. Salt and sugar disguise it more in smooth than chunky. Besides, if you use it in cookies, it adds texture and not just flavour.

[pghnative]

Besides, if you use it in cookies, it adds texture and not just flavour.

What substitution ratio do you use? Probably not 1:1, since the texture of the cookie would be different.

[MAPNUT]

I don't understand how anybody can eat brand-name peanut butters with added hydrogenated oil and sugars. I only eat natural brands - any brand, it doesn't matter, they're all just squished peanuts and salt.

I have a recollection of bulk-purchase PB that was served in my elementary school cafeteria (this would be around 1960) and I seem to remember it was pretty good. I ate a lot of it; I wonder if it was hydrogenated? I guess I'll never know, unless my arteries inform me that it was, maybe 10 years from now.

[Gillianren]

What substitution ratio do you use? Probably not 1:1, since the texture of the cookie would be different.

Chunky? I never have creamy peanut butter in the house.

[megrfl]

I didn't know that peanut butter has sugar added. I just checked my jar of Jif and sugar is the second ingredient. :surprised

PB&J sandwiches are a favorite of mine, but I usually don't think to make one unless someone else is having one, usually after I've had/made something else.

IIRC, in the movie Wolf, Jack Nicholson's chararcter says that PB&J is mother's milk to him. It's probably true for a lot of people.

[ToSeek]

My peanut butter has to be Jif, and it has to be creamy.

If I were facing execution and got to request my final meal, it wouldn't be steak, it would be peanut butter crackers (that I put together myself) followed by fig newtons, all washed down by milk.

[TheOncomingStorm]

My favourite thing with peanut butter was peanut butter and green grape jelly. The jelly was made out of grapes grown in our front yard and made by my mother one year.

[Buttercup]

ToSeek:

If I were facing execution and got to request my final meal, it wouldn't be steak, it would be peanut butter crackers (that I put together myself) followed by fig newtons, all washed down by milk.

What a combo!

I love those cheddar crackers with peanut butter filling you can get from a vending machine (or sold in semi-bulk in boxes at the grocery store). I like those with an ice cold soda. That's been a favorite snack since childhood.

[Gillianren]

Okay, that's the other way I eat peanut butter.

[Ronald Brak]

Take your cheap peanut sauce, add grated ginger, honey, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic and water. Heat it up and pour over raw or steamed vegetables. Eat. Wait for nanobots to be invented that unclog arteries.

[pghnative]

Chunky?

Exactly --- unless I misinterpreted, you were saying above that you like to make peanut butter cookies with chunky style PB.

Do you take a standard PB cookie recipe and simply add the same amount of chunky? (e.g. 1 cup chunky substituted for 1 cup smooth PB). Or do you add a little more? if so, how much? (I've got lots of recipes with creamy, never seen one with chunky --- I'm assuming you need more than 1:1 substitution to make it work best, and would like to try it myself-.

[Gillianren]

I just do a straight 1:1. I've never had any problem with it. I'm sure the texture's different, but I suspect not by all that much, given how small the actual volume of chunks of peanut is.

[tashirosgt]

I like the name brand peanut butters like Jiff and Peter Pan. I once tried a small brand variety, Mother So-and-so's, that came in a small Mason jar. It was oily and terrible.

Another thing I tried was putting shelled peanuts in a coffee mill to see if it would grind them up into an interesting powder. If you do this, you will discover how Mother So-and-so makes her disgusting peanut butter.

[Nick Theodorakis]

Another thing I tried was putting shelled peanuts in a coffee mill to see if it would grind them up into an interesting powder. If you do this, you will discover how Mother So-and-so makes her disgusting peanut butter.

That's how all peanut butter is made, or at least starts off. In addition to that, sugar might be added, or other oils or emulsifiers to keep the peanut oil from separating.

Nick

[mugaliens]

I'd like to hear from other pb lovers here. I like it with crisp salty saline crackers and a dab of apricot or seedless blackberry jam. And of course cold milk to wash it down.

Your story of woes has me laughing my head off, Buttercup! Not at you. It's just the way you tell it - funny!

A lot of the "off-brand" brands are actually the main brands in disguise. Remove the label and walla! Instant discount brand peanut butter.

And they still turn a profit on it.

[mike alexander]

Doesn't anyone have peanut butter with sliced bananas?

[jokergirl]

Tasty, especially rolled up in a tortilla.

I love peanut butter. It's "exotic food" here. But it's so tasty! I like mine unsweetened, and crunchy if I can get it (but I rarely can). And I use it for lots of stuff - on toast with gooseberry marmelade is good, but so is satay sauce, and my special pad thai sauce (adding a bit to the flavour of the ground peanuts).

[Buttercup]

Mugaliens:Your story of woes has me laughing my head off, Buttercup! Not at you. It's just the way you tell it - funny!

A lot of the "off-brand" brands are actually the main brands in disguise. Remove the label and walla! Instant discount brand peanut butter.

And they still turn a profit on it.

But that last jar of the surplus pb given to us? It tasted like creamy cardboard. I wasted no time throwing it away, lol.

Mike Alexander:Doesn't anyone have peanut butter with sliced bananas?

Yep. A dab'll do ya (each bite).

jokergirl:I love peanut butter. It's "exotic food" here. But it's so tasty!

A friend from Australia teases me a lot about peanut butter.

[darkhunter]

Creamy peanut butter, spread on thick on both slices, huge gob of grape jelly in the middle. If done correctly, the peanut butter seals the jelly in so it doesn't squish out the other end of the sandwitch...