The host likes the bad-for-you kind of peanut butter with hydrogenated oil in it that clogs your arteries. His favorites were Skippy and Jif, the most corporate/fake peanut butter on the market. He criticized natural peanut butter for being too oily even though it tastes way better and is more healthy. I was so aggravated by his incompetence that I turned it off and refused to watch the rest of the episode.
shareNatural peanut butter tastes horrible.
shareKimball likes the commercial peanut butter better for one simple reason: It IS better. ;-) "Natural grind" or ground or whatever it's called is vile, and doesn't taste a) yummy; or b) even close to what we're used to; and in fact (imo) some things truly benefit from having things added to them to improve them. Peanut butter tops the list.
shareI think I love you! I have yet to find a natural peanut butter that appeals to me. I know that the natural stuff has a lot of health benefits. I also know it tastes like health food and destroys a fail proof peanut butter cookie recipe. The show is about what tastes good.
shareesp. the nuts!
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I had the same reaction! Natural PB is WAY better than regular PB, which I happen to call "peanut butter Crisco". I have no problem with the host preferring regular PB, but why not compare just regular PBs, and do a separate comparison of natural PBs (and by natural, I mean the kind with the oil on the top, not some of these new-fangled naturals that aren't really natural). I also get that maybe the regular PB is better for baking, but for eating, hands-down my preference is natural. And many others prefer eating natural too.
A Fact Of Life...
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Take a handful of peanuts, plop in mouth and chew and keep chewing.
Presto. Peanut butter.
I have this conversation with my niece all the time. I do all the cooking at home and it's a real passion of mine. She also does all her own cooking, so we're constantly sharing notes/tips/recipes. We both love "good" food.
The thing is, my definition of "good" is related to how it tastes; she values the health aspect more. In other words, I'm a follower of the mantra "flavor first" in my cooking, where she'll sacrifice some flavor/texture/whatever if it improves the healthiness of a dish. I absolutely will not.
I think that's what may have happened with the PB. For a lot of people, natural peanut butter tastes different from what they grew up with; the standard is the commercially-produced stuff, so any taste test is going to grade based on that standard, most likely.
Personally, I prefer the taste of natural peanut butter, and the stirring doesn't bother me because that's the taste I want. If you told me, though, that natural peanut butter was 10 times less healthy than its commercial counterpart, I'd still eat the natural, that's what I like. My wife, OTOH, likes it ok, but not well enough to be bothered with all the stirring and the fact that natural peanut butter is looser/thinner, so she sticks with regular Skippy, like what she grew up with.
I think with all these kinds of tastes tests, the healthiness of a product is either low on the things to be considered or not considered at all. I think that most begin and end with taste/texture/mouthfeel/performance. Obviously, if a chef or a show has healthy eating at its core, then that wouldn't apply, but I think most follow the "flavor first" rule.
Great insight. I think you may be onto something. I made peanut dipping sauce with natural peanut butter a couple weeks ago and it was better than the versions I'd previously done with commercial stuff. But this follows the flavor first method you mentioned.
shareAt the risk of winning the Captain Obvious Award, it really is a matter of personal taste. I can remember my friends all ate Peter Pan Peanut Butter and I couldn't stand it - it had way too much salt in it. I kind of thought that it was really a jar full of salt with some peanuts put in as camouflage. The only thing worse than that is mixing peanut butter with chocolate - who in his right mind thought of that?? Absolutely disgusting. I tried a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup when I was a kid and after one bite I threw it away. It's been 45 years since I went near one (I make a wide swath around it in the candy aisle) and I'm looking forward to my 50 year pin.
But my original reason for writing was to encourage people to try the powdered peanut butter. It used to be only something the health food companies sold but I've noticed recently that it's now being sold by everybody - even Jif. It's big advantage is that almost all of the oil has been removed from it and you lose none of the flavor. You simply mix the powder with water and you get peanut butter.
One caveat: If you follow the directions (normally 2:1 water to peanut butter), the result can be just a tad thinner than what you normally get from a jar of "real" peanut butter. (Don't worry, there's no loss in taste). DO NOT add more peanut butter powder to make it thicker! I tried doing that and as a result the mixture formed a knot (or so it felt) in my stomach, which took a while to slowly digest. Just get used to the thinner texture, you'll still have great taste, and a LOT less oil and calories. I don't know this from experience, but I assume It isn't very good for baking.
What are you waiting for? Go buy some!
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