Meridian Peanut Butter

I have long memories of enjoying peanut butter, right from getting home from school feeling as if I'd not eaten for a week, absolutely starving and making myself a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich. Yes, mayonnaise with peanut butter: more about that later.   In those days it was always Sunpat as there didn't seem to be any choice back in the 1970s.  Having bought a jar on my recent visit to Fairhaven Whole Foods we were keen to try it out alongside the Sunpat we STILL buy.

First impressions

Open the jar and you're greeted by the (natural) oil that has separated out and it doesn't "look" like peanut butter at all.

"Ugh" says Becky as she starts to stir it around with her knife "it's like a mud pie."  Nose turns up

"No Becky, don't worry, that's because there's no E471 Stabilisers in there, just the natural ingredients".  I was gobsmacked at Rachel's support on this.  Sometimes my "eccentric" foods do not always enjoy the support they should here in the Rambling household.

Once the stirring had taken place, the taste testing began.  We all remarked how it tasted of, well, nuts.  Promising start, eh?

Taste testing

Somehow I missed the saltiness of Sunpat but it was good eating a proper peanut butter without additives.  The consistency seemed okay in that it could be spread fairly easily onto bread.  It wasn't too much of a dry taste but quite a earthy, wholesome one.  

I quite liked the texture, which I hadn't anticipated.  Although it is a smooth peanut butter, there are tiny little bits of nut in there.  For people with fragile teeth and who would ordinarily avoid crunchy versions, there's no need to worry.  

I liked it a lot and it made a nice change to the regular Sunpat.

Ingredients

This is simple, it is 100% peanuts.  

Nutrition

Is peanut butter good for you?  Does peanut butter make you fat?  You will not have any problems with the answers to these simple questions, providing you don't have it in excess.  It contains protein and the B vitamin folate which helps with cell health.  Yes, there is quite a lot of fat (oil) in peanut butter naturally.  this is monounsaturated fat and this is good for us, we do need it but in sensible quantities.

Comparing the nutritional values with Sunpat, there are close similarities.  This is unsurprising as even the Sunpat contains 95% peanuts.  The Meridian is slightly better with a higher fibre content, lower calories, less salt and less saturated fat.  To be honest, if you have a teaspoon of peanut butter each day, it's not going to affect you much one way or the other.  

Whereas Meridian is just peanuts, the Sunpat version contains E471 stabilizer, cane sugar, peanut oil and some sea salt.  Not too bad but if you want a reminder of what the E471 is..... mono-and diglycerides of fatty acids (glyceryl monostearate, glyceryl distearate) an emulsifier.  

Mayonnaise?

Yes, try some with your peanuts butter.  It brings some moisture to an otherwise dry sandwich filling.  A little bit like putting pickle on your cheese - it just works.

Linked

Do checkout the Meridian website click here