I haven’t blogged about products in awhile. At first, they were fun to share. Then, I got offers to try free samples of products that I wasn’t really interested in. Ooh, free stuff! Okay, so I really liked some, but overall, it became a chore, and I realized I was making a pretty big mistake by accepting any products that didn’t meet my interests and standards. I turned my focus to other blog topics. But, you know, sometimes, I want to talk about products. And though I still get offers to review products, I’m now extremely selective about what I’ll okay. The new rule – only blog about things that fit my quality standards and style of eating/living, as well as, things I have something to say about.
I was recently out of nut butters and hadn’t had any in the house for awhile, so I purchased this Earth Balance crunchy coconut & peanut spread at the grocery store to try out. I was looking for a new nut butter, and this one first caught my eye because it was on sale. Though it isn’t organic, I remembered seeing this brand at Earthfare, which told me that the brand generally met the pretty high quality standards of a grocery store I trust. I did notice that the bottle at least had a label saying it’s Non-GMO Project verified.
I also checked out the ingredient list, which contains: peanuts, organic extra virgin coconut oil, agave syrup, palm fruit oil, natural flavor, and salt. It’s not as good as made-from-scratch, but it’s not too shabby. I don’t love that there is “natural flavor” in the product, but in my opinion, this is still a much more superior peanut butter to other brands I’ve seen, and it’s better than getting fast food or not eating breakfast at all.
So, how does it taste? Flippin delicious! I knew I’d love this stuff as soon as I cracked open the jar. The texture reminds me of crunchy Barney Butter – smooth, creamy nut butter with crunchy bits of nuts throughout. The flavor – a nice, rich peanut base with the added touch of bright coconut. If you’re a fan of putting peanut butter and coconut oil or pieces of coconut in your oatmeal, etc., you’ll love this.
I revisited my old fave whilst sampling this – power toast! I toasted up some whole grain goodness Great Harvest bread, spread on some of this coconut & peanut spread and added some chia seeds on top.
It’s good to have my go-to 5 minute (I’m running late for work) breakfast of whole grain toast and a tasty nut butter back. Yum!
By the way, I’m looking for more delicious nut butter options. I’m a big fan of Barney Butter and the Justin’s maple syrup is out of this world. Any other ideas?
I’ve never had the Earthbalance flavor of coconut pb, but I had this kind that my aunt and uncle brought me back from Hawaii and it was in all ways wonderful!
I definitely agree with you about how great the Earth Balance coconut peanut butter is! I have it every day at work as either breakfast or a snack, on a whole wheat English Muffin or whole wheat bagel thin. What a like most about it is that a lot goes a long way and it doesn’t give you that typical dry-out-your-mouth, must-have-water feeling that peanut butter sometimes does. I love your idea of adding chia seeds – I will try that!
Besides Barney Butter, my favorites are MaraNatha Sunflower Seed butter and Kevala Cashew Butter!
Barney Butter is so good! Thanks for the other suggestions, Rebecca!
My nut butter consumption has come down a lot, away from peanut butter to organic almond butter.
I typically prefer almost butter to peanut butter. Have you tried the other types of nut butters?
Have you ever seen what’s in some big name-brand commercial PBs? Super scary! Does this one taste like coconut? I’m a fan of coconut oil…but am scared of nut butters with added oils. :O
YES! I’ve seen some scary ingredient lists. This one is definitely coconut-y. You don’t really notice the added oil in texture. It’s just like peanut butter with a delicious coconut aroma. Mmm!