Damn the Freshman 15

Who doesn't love peanut butter? People with peanut butter allergies, usually, but not many else.

There has always been ferocious debate on the best peanut butter, well beyond the realm of Jif and Skippy. Is the battle of the butter over? Of course not, but Sunland Peanut Butter makes a very good peanut butter that comes in a plethora of crazy and yummy flavors.

Sunland's peanut butter only uses Valencia peanuts. According to the company, Valencia peanuts are higher in antioxidants and naturally sweet.That's also the connection with the name--Valencias grow in sunny New Mexico and Texas.

I had the opportunity to sample four Sunland peanut butters: original, raspberry, caramel, and hickory smoked. Yeah, you read the last one right. Sunland plows right past Peanut Butter &Co's White Chocolate Wonderful and dishes out a whole line of savory and fruity flavors.

Anyhoodle.

Original Creamy
Valencia peanuts are indeed sweeter than many other peanuts. This peanut butter does not taste as deeply roasted as some of the others I have tried, but it has a very distinct sweet, nutty flavor. If you've ever tried Naturally More, it's a bit like a flax-y version of that.For the peeps who are serious about their peanut butter, I would recommend this peanut butter more for fruit than bread, which I find a more deeply roasted peanut butter tastes better on.

Raspberry
This was my least favorite of the flavors. It just tastes kind of weird. Too much like candy, and even less of a roasted base. It's not terrible by any means, but the sweetness is cloying rather than tantalizing, though it does taste much better when put on something with a strong flavor.

Caramel
Wow, talk about volte-face. Caramel and peanut butter sounds like a delicious combination, and Sunland totally pulls it off. If Jif were doing this, chances are the butter would taste like a big wad of over-sweet candy. This peanut butter, however, keeps the peanut butter flavor strong enough that the caramel is a lovely compliment instead of a taste destroyer. And this thing was made for apples! It's easily one of my favorite flavored peanut butters. Screw you, PB&Co Bee's Knees!

Hickory Smoked
Definitely not something you think of when making PB&J. Actually, this is a super tasty, very unique peanut butter. It's not complicated--the taste is just what it says, hickory smoked peanut butter. The hickory gives the butter a slightly bitter note that contrasts deliciously with the peanuts' sweetness. Oh, and think beyond the toast here. I put it on a hamburger. YUM. I am very happy to see someone has the guts to test out the savory qualities of peanut butter. Some of their other savory flavors include Onion Parsley and Thai Ginger and Red Pepper.

Aaand, you can check out one way I used Hickory Smoked PB, AND get a sneak peak of the soon-to-come College Cuisine!

Peanut Butter and meatballs! The PB is mixed with just a bit of BBQ sauce. Yum.

Sunland's peanut butters are what you would expect in a natural peanut butter--no trans fats or any of that nonsense. They use palm oil stabilizers for some of their peanut butters, to prevent having to stir, but a little palm oil never hurt anything. The caramel and raspberry flavors have a bit more sugar than I would like, but it's not too bad (about 8 grams). 

I really like that Sunland goes beyond standard peanut butter and creates some very unique flavors. Even if I wasn't crazy about all of them, there are enough hits (and interesting-sounding flavors) to make up for it. And their original butter ain't too shabby.