A perfect, pure: Food panelists pick their favorite natural spreads

Sep 30, 2009 (The Dominion Post - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- SMBL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- With school back in session, it was only natural that our Food Panelists express an interest in making the perfect PB and J. But there are loads of peanut butter and jelly options on grocer's shelves, making it necessary to narrow the tasting pool. The Dominion Post's solution: Do it naturally. As in no unpronounceable ingredients, no faux sweeteners, no hydrogenated oils. A purer PB and J.

Choosing only all-natural offerings yielded eight peanut butters to taste: Private Selection (Kroger) Organic Peanut Butter, Jif Natural, Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter, Kroger Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, Naturally More Peanut Butter, Smart Balance Peanut Butter, Skippy Natural Peanut Butter and Nature's Basket (Giant Eagle) Peanut Butter. In the jelly department, our tasters had three products to try: Polaner All Fruit Strawberry, Kroger Real Fruit Strawberry and Smucker's Real Fruit Strawberry.

In the end, the panelists almost unanimously agreed that Skippy Natural had the best taste of the peanut butters, and would be the most-liked by children (with one dissenting vote for Jif Natural). All picked the Smucker's Real Fruit as the best jelly. Our panelists even went so far as to suggest these two as the perfect pairing for a pure and tasty PB and J.

Skippy Natural

"This was definitely my favorite," Craig Behr said. "It's a good kid peanut butter and it has good texture."

"The texture is good and the flavor is sweet," Diane Tarantini agreed. "It's sticky -- definitely sticks your tongue to the roof of your mouth."

Rosalie Carpenter said she definitely preferred this brand, noting its sweetness, and said she could see children preferring it as well for the same reason.

"This would definitely make a good peanut butter sandwich," Danielle DeVor said.

Private Selection Organic

This selection won votes for its "not too sweet" taste and smooth, creamy texture. The panel also noted its balance of salt and natural, intense peanut flavor.

"I like this a lot," said Tarantini. "It has a very natural peanut butter taste, but it's not sweet enough for me," DeVor said. "A kid would eat this, though. It's shiny and smooth."

Jif Natural

Jif Natural scored a bit lower with the panel, many of whom noted its lack of peanut taste. "There's too much oil in it for me," DeVor said. "It tastes like discount peanut butter. It's smooth, but odd."

Carpenter knocked off points for Jif's lack of saltiness, while Tarantini said kids may like it because it's quite sweet.

Smucker's Natural

Of all the selections, Smucker's Natural was the most separated in the jar, and required heavy stirring to incorporate the oils that had risen to the top of the peanut butter. As a result, the texture was runny, which did not impress the panel.

"A kid would not eat this," DeVor said, noting the runniness of the peanut butter. "It's very sticky and salty, and just odd."

Behr said Smucker's offering tasted strongly of peanut skin, while Carpenter stated simply, "No," upon tasting.

"It's runny and salty and the flavor is not good," Tarantini agreed.

Kroger Natural Creamy

This selection too scored a unanimous thumbs-down.

"It doesn't have much of a taste, and it's too runny," DeVor said. "I can't imagine anyone liking this."

Behr was also harsh in his analysis.

"It's watery, salty and not good," he said. "I wouldn't even cook with this."

"It's very runny, looks oily and doesn't taste very good," Tarantini said. "It's not even very peanutty."

Naturally More

Fortified with wheat germ, this peanut butter boasted a higher fiber and protein content than any of other other offerings. The strong peanut flavor scored some high marks from the panel as a good choice for a cooking peanut butter, not probably not for a kid's sandwich.

"It has kind of a crunchiness to it," DeVor said. "It's very different. It would work well in African cuisine, but a kid may not eat it."

Carpenter agreed, saying she would use it in, say, a peanut sauce, but wouldn't make a sandwich with it.

"It tastes like shelled, salted peanuts," Tarantini pointed out. "It's interesting."

Smart Balance Natural

Smart Balance's offering boasts added Omega-3's. Something the panel said it could taste immediately -- which was not a good thing.

"It has a fishy aftertaste," Behr said, "I bet this has added Omega-3's doesn't it? Anyway, it's disgusting."

On her score sheet, Carpenter wrote, "NO! It's pasty and fishy and has an odd taste."

"It's horrible," agreed DeVor. "It's kind of fishy and not good at all."

"A kid would not eat this," Tarantini said. "It has a funky flavor. It tastes like cod liver oil."

The Omega-3's are added to the peanut butter using a blend of flaxseed and palm oils.

Nature's Basket

An extremely thick peanut butter, Nature's Basket failed to impress with its flavor. In fact, most of the panelists compared it to Crisco.

"It's like peanut-flavored Crisco," Behr said.

"Tastes like Crisco, looks like Play-Doh," Tarantini added. "I taste salt and sugar, but not a ton. The color has a yellow cast. Yuck."

"It's weird," DeVor said. "It's way too thick."

Smucker's Simply Fruit

Smucker's Simply Fruit was the hands-down winner in the jelly department, and the only offering with noticeable chunks of real fruit. "This has the best real strawberry taste," DeVor said. "It's chunky, and has good flavor," Carpenter said. "Great texture, good color and great taste," Behr said. "This is the winner, definitely."

Polaner All Fruit, Strawberry

Polaner's sweetness scored well with the panelists, who said this would be a big selling point with kids. "It's full of sugar," DeVor said. "It's got a good strawberry taste. A kid would eat this." Tarantini pointed to the sample's "melt-in-your-mouth" texture, saying it too would give this selection kid-appeal.

Kroger Real Fruit, Strawberry

The panelists didn't feel this offering had much strawberry taste. "It's not sweet at all, and there's an aftertaste," Behr said. "It doesn't taste like strawberry at all," DeVor said. "I'm not a fan." "Too bland," Tarantini said. "Not enough flavor or color."

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