Review : Better ‘n Peanut Butter

Well, I finally got to try a product that is a lower calorie and fat version of peanut butter that I thought I would be able to satisfy my occasional cravings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with, without all that fat and calorie content. I love having the occasional pb&j for breakfast, or slathering some creamy (crunchy is good too) peanut butter on my hot, toasty bread or an english muffin in the morning.

But what kept me away from doing that all the time was the ridiculous amount of calories in peanut butter. For a measly 2 tablespoons (which isn’t much, I use a lot more than that in my pb&j sandwiches), it’s about 200 calories. That means that you are already adding 200 calories to your sandwich, just with the peanut butter, that doesn’t even include the bread of the jelly, even though I do like to use reduced sugar jelly or Polyner just fruit spread, which is calorie and sugar spare.

I just tried my brand new jar of Better ‘n Peanut Butter. It’s a spread that is supposed to taste pretty close to the real thing. It still uses real peanuts, but it looks like a large part of the calorie savings is that it’s low in oil, instead using peanut flour. The consistency is different form “real” creamy peanut butter, in that is is much more liquidy, not as thick as real peanut butter is.

My husband thought it had a little taste of soy to it, but I told him it’s not a soy based product, it’s probably just the peanut flour he was tasting. The taste is good, I want to say a little more like chocolate or something, and a bit salty and sweet, which is how I like my peanut butter, so that was ok with me.

I would say the biggest difference between this and real peanut butter is that the real just seems to have more substance to it, more thickness, and that is something that was missing. Although, what I liked is that when I put it on my hot, toasty english muffin (whole wheat of course), it immediately melted into the nooks and crannies well. And I really couldn’t tell much of a difference from real peanut butter when it was hot and melty with jelly on it.

It’s a great peanut butter alternative if you’re worried about calories. It clocks in at just 100 calories for 2 tablespoons. That’s almost half of real peanut butter! I would just say it’s not the type of thing you can eat out of the jar and get that same satisfaction as you do with the real thing, you have to eat it with something for it to be a good substitute.