Great Value Creamy Peanut Butter
Distributor: Wal-Mart Stores
not manufacture their products, but is just the Wal-Mart name brand that is put on products manufactured specifically for Wal-Mart. After digging through several different websites, I am almost 100% certain that ConAgra manufactures the peanut butter for Wal-Mart's Great Value brand. (Based on the information that I was reading, it may be possible that there is more than one manufacturing company making peanut butter for Wal-Mart, but ConAgra was the only name I felt I could say for sure.) Something of interest to me with foods that I buy are the ingredients. The Great Value Creamy Peanut Butter is made with: dry roasted peanuts, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil (rapeseed, cottonseed, and soybean), salt, and molasses.
Why I Chose This Product: Hmmm. Well, Jason has dubbed me as a "peanut butter snob," and has questioned why I can't just buy the regular, plain, peanut butter at the store. (You can read about my most preferred brand of peanut butter here.) We recently acquired this can of Great Value Creamy Peanut Butter and I asked him to do a side-by-side taste test of my "snobby" peanut butter and this store-brand peanut butter. After his review, I thought I should do a blog post review about this product. Plus, I needed a product to review this week! (I'm open to suggestions for product reviews, by the way.)
Cost: $2.18 for 18 ounces
Use: I use peanut butter as a snack, primarily. Sometimes I just eat it from the jar with a spoon. Other times I spread it on a graham cracker and top it with chocolate chips. (I'm doing that right now!) I also like peanut butter on my apples, and I bake and cook with it, too. On the rare occasion, I'll make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This specific jar though, the Great Value Creamy Peanut Butter, has only been used for baking and cooking, I think.
Conclusion: Jason's side-by-side taste test of Great Value Creamy Peanut Butter and Adam's 100% Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter (I didn't have Adam's creamy on hand) was this: "The Great Value brand has the peanut butter texture that I remember from my youth. But, the Adam's brand tastes like peanuts. The Adam's brand is crunchy though - are you sure this is an accurate comparison?" I then asked him to read the two ingredient labels and see what the difference was. For myself, personally, I just tasted the Great Value peanut butter and the very first thing I thought was, "I taste salt." And then I was trying to figure out what the next flavor was that I tasted, and I think it was oil. I thought maybe the peanut butter was rancid and checked the expiration date which is still 8 months away. Any actual peanut flavor is pretty heavily masked by salt, oil, and sugar. (Which, did you notice that there are two kinds of sweetener used in this peanut butter?) I personally do not care for the taste of this peanut butter, and the texture reminds me of moderately softened butter.
Would I recommend this product to others? No. I really don't think you're getting peanut butter with this product. You're getting ground peanuts with additional ingredients that aren't necessary, in my opinion. And, I don't think it tastes good. Additionally, in using this peanut butter for cooking and baking I have begun to wonder how much it effects the sweetness, and flavor, of the end product. If the recipe takes sugar, and then I use an ingredient that also has sugar, I'm just increasing the overall amount of sugar. And, do we really need more sugar? I usually don't think so. After considering all of that, I would not recommend this product.
Feedback: Does it matter to you what your peanut butter tastes like?
And, is there a product that you are curious about on which I might be able to do a product review? Let me know!
*I, nor A Journey Thru Pictures Blog, was not reimbursed, paid, sponsored, or given free products for doing this review.*
Taking a short break from problem solving problems that will never go away.......I know I have had GV peanut butter and didn't like it because of the taste. To eat I like Crazy Richards Natural PB from Wal-Mart. It doesn't have any salt or sugar added. The other brands of Natural PB taste really salty to me and reg PB gives me really bad heartburn. The kids don't like the CRN PB so are using up the JIF we have on hand. Someday I may try to help them switch but right now it's not worth the battle. Morgan is the only one that likes PB and we go through less than two jars a year unless I use it in something.
ReplyDeleteSometime you could review an InstaPot:) Totally being selfish. I would like some real-life reviews from people I know.
Rachel
I have looked for the Crazy Richards at our Wal-Mart, but they don't carry it. I'll have to check some of the natural food stores next time I go. We must be strange - we go through a lot of peanut butter, but maybe because I eat it for a snack.
DeleteAbout the InstaPot: I actually know nothing about them! I'll have to look it up and see if I can try it out sometime! Thanks for the suggestion!