Zambonie Free Eating ~ A Review of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter

I love peanut butter.  My kids love peanut butter.  My hubby covets peanut butter.  I love creamy peanut butter on toast for breakfast.  We often enjoy sliced granny smith apples dipped in peanut butter for a snack.  Peanut Butter is a staple in The Blonde household.

I'm a mom that looks at labels closely and the word "natural" doesn't fool me, so when I saw the Skippy Natural Peanut Butter on the shelf I instantly rolled my eyes, picked up the tub and turned to look at the ingredients and nutritional info.

I was surprised to see that there were only four ingredients:  roasted peanuts, sugar, palm oil and salt.  Palm oil?  Is that good or bad?  I had no idea but I didn't see the words "partially hydrogenated" on there so I chucked it in the cart anyway.  Definitely worth a try.

(Turns out that palm oil has the same functional properties as hydrogenated oil without all the nasty effects on your health.) 

Can I tell you?  This peanut butter was AWESOME.  Some would claim the sugar disqualifies it as "natural", but I'm not eating peanut butter without sugar and if you can get my kids to eat the nasty bitter stuff you are a magician!  The best part about the Skippy Natural is that because palm oil doesn't separate, you don't have to stir it like all the other natural peanut butters I've ever tried, it is consistently smooth throughout, and no nasty drippy oil spills in the pantry!  

Supposedly if you wanted to be truly "natural" your peanut butter would have one ingredient: peanuts.  Unfortunately, it doesn't taste that great, the texture is often blech, and the mess just makes me grumpy.  

If I'm going to spend the calories eating peanut butter I want it to taste good, and I certainly don't want to have to pull out the grease zambonie every day.  

A 2 tablespoon serving of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter provides 180 calories and 16 grams of fat (which is 25% of the RDA if you are counting), of which 3.5 grams is saturated (again if you are counting, 18% of the RDA). 7 grams of protein, 6 grams of total carbohydrates, 2 grams of which are fiber (8% RDA) and 3 grams of sugar. 

I feel good about eliminating the partially hydrogenated oil from my family's peanut butter.  I feel even better that Skippy Natural Peanut Butter still tastes yummy!

I did try another leading competitor's natural peanut butter and have to say I was quite disappointed.  The taste was not nearly as smooth and sweet, and I also noticed a bit of oil sitting at the top one morning.  Barely noticeable, but definitely there, shocking really!