Teddie All Natural Smooth Peanut Butter

Rating: 7/10

• 🥜 Category: Peanut, Smooth, Plain
• Country of origin: USA
• Serving suggestion: Drizzled on top of a sweet dessert (in a situation where you might crunch up some potato chips or add crushed peanuts) or a sweet breakfast

The last of the North American peanut butters in my rotation! Don't cry for me - I should be able to get my grubby little hands on some more soon before I "hit pan" (to borrow a term from the makeup girlies), although I am going through these clownishly large jars at a mildly alarming rate...

Another cute peanut butter mascot! 🧸 Some serious stirring is required whenever I open the jar, even for a natural peanut butter - but once I jump that hurdle I find this to be moreish: I get why it's been around since the (19)20s. Medium roast - I think the level hits just right. A very classic, nostalgic aroma, a bit like that smell of just-toasted bread and butter, that accompany the fresh peanut flavour, but then shifts into a plain flavoured salted potato chip aftertaste. (That bit is reminiscent of the Cream-Nut I reviewed a little while ago.) It's got very thick yet drippy and oily texture, and the slight grittiness is charming.

You know what, I do like this despite its fussiness. It makes me want to get a chocolate/vanilla sundae from the local ice cream shop so I can drizzle this on top, or use this in a PB&J sandwich with the white bread I grew up eating (untoasted and with crust - always with crust). Dear reader, this is a reminder from me to have a silly little snack that makes you happy once in a while, and hug your inner child. 💖✨

Once Again Unsweetened Creamy Peanut Butter

Rating: 4/10

• 🥜 Category: Peanut, Smooth, Plain
• Country of origin: USA
• Serving suggestion: Peanut sauce or salad dressing, think South East Asian (Thai/Indonesian) flavours

Fruity and floral to begin with but has an unpleasant plasticky aftertaste. The texture is fine for a natural peanut butter - very loose and drizzly but requires stirring, yadda yadda yadda. Not awful for an unsalted peanut butter but also not good. I reckon this would be a boring but safe choice if you're into organic products, making peanut sauces, and you are inclined to add heaps of stinky strong ingredients like shrimp paste and tamarind to said peanut sauce.

Trash pandas are my spirit animals - I was once followed by a family of five raccoons on a long walk in Vancouver. I love their resourcefulness and their motivation for food. Unfortunately for this cute mascot, this is not my spirit peanut butter. 🦝

Darryl's Fresh Roasted Peanut Butter

Rating: 8/10

• 🥜 Category: Peanut, Smooth/Crunchy, Plain
• Country of origin: Australia
• Serving suggestion: As a huge dollop in the centre of a bowl of overnight oats with juicy juicy sliced ripe peaches, thick yoghurt and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon

Happy new year (it's still January - better late than never)!!! Since I last wrote I have been busy travelling, working (to afford peanut butter), adding to my peanut butter rotation, and eating through delicious (including some peanut butter-y) holiday treats. Now I have a backlog of tasting notes to sift through, reviews to come, and peanut-related travel photos/notes to share. I hope the short hiatus will have been worth it!

To start off, I have this jar, which I realise I did not photograph when it was shiny and beautiful and new. More proof that I do actually eat my peanut butters??? (Did you need it though???) There's a little associated story - I have a friend (A!!!) who is very judgemental of my Mayver's dark roasted obsession and instead swears by Darryl's. Despite my valiant efforts (ok, medium-willed at best) over a couple of years, I couldn't find it at my local specialty stores, and ordering online seemed unnecessarily annoying. So when one fine summer's day, I spotted a container of this extremely hard-to-source nut butter at the cafe where my friend's birthday was held, I bought it immediately. (And used it as a prop in all event photos I proceeded to be in. What are you meant to do with your hands, anyway?)

It's very yummy - caramelly, chocolatey and sweet, with slightly bitter coffee / dark chocolate notes at the end despite it not being as dark roasted. Salt level is perfect. I've been hooked on summer stone fruit lately and find that a dollop of this salty crunchy peanut product is a lovely complement to, and brings out, the natural sweetness of peaches and Greek yoghurt.

Texture is somehow verging on too dry though, and the peanuts aren't as chunky as in the Pic’s crunchy, but still not the best on toast (the other very important-to-me use case). I'd put it as pretty smack bang even with the regular Mayver's, but, sorry A, my beloved Mayver's dark roasted has not yet been dethroned.