Ok- peanut butter. Hot button topic lately. Many of my daughter's friends have food allergies- so I have to be real careful here. School even has a "nut free" table in the lunchroom- absolutely no nuts allowed in the classroom. This impacts some families greatly- as peanut butter is a staple food for many picky eaters.... My kids- not so much. One hates it, the other could live without it.
Here's the thing- if you do have a child or family member that can't live without peanut butter (yours truly) then you might want to think about your choices a little more deeply and widely. First of all- Skippy is not really a nut butter in my opinion. It is not worth the calories going in. It is almost like a frosting or dessert topping. Give Skippy a pass. I was lucky to grow up with a peanut butter called "Real". This was the brand name. There was also a time in our lives when my Dad made homemade peanut butter. His take was- look, its just peanuts and salt, why can't I whip it up in my food processor. So he did!
The choices are abundunt. You could choose a mainstream, simpler ingredient list brand like Parkers Farm. Our coop makes their own with sea salt. If you don't have allergies to nut butters, you might even consider ones beyond peanut butter. Almond butter is great tasting and actually very good for you. Cashew butter, macadamia butter, hazelnut butter, pecan butter, sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds), etc. Some of these are more expensive- but I find I use less of the nut butter when its not peanut butter. They are very flavorful and pack a bigger punch. Typically, the ingredient list will be, "said nut, and salt" - that is all it needs to be.
Lets look at the ingredient list for Skippy:
Skippy Natural- Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Palm Oil, Salt (the research on palm oil is indecisive- read what the WHO says about Palm Oil)
Skippy- Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Cottonseed, Soybean and Rapeseed) to Prevent Separation, Salt
