Smucker's Natural Creamy Peanut Butter - it Lines the Roof of Your Mouth, Not Your Arteries

Peanut butter is the comfort food nonpareil. Of all the ways to enjoy it, I only know two ways that give me immeasurable satisfaction: spooning mound after mound straight from the jar, or in the classic, never-go-out-of-style PB & J sandwich.

In moderation, peanut butter provides some inherent health benefits, but I still need to be smart about my food choices. Informed by my doctor a few years ago that my LDL cholesterol was too high, I've since tried to modify my eating habits. As a result, there's more fish in my diet, leafy greens provide a nicely ruffled skirt around all my whole wheat sandwiches, flax seeds are sprinkled liberally over practically everything. Steel cut oats have become my friend. I was willing to cut down on red meat and dairy, switch to skim milk, but I couldn't give up peanut butter entirely.

According to the FDA, peanut butter must contain at least 90% peanuts. In addition, however, most brands contain sugar additives, hydrogenated fats, stabilizers and emulsifiers to keep the oil from separating. This is known as Hydrogenation and although it extends peanut butter's shelf life and gives it a creamier consistency, the process also converts the fat contained in the peanut butter into a long train of fatty acids called trans fat - a major contributor to increased levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood.

Smucker's Natural Creamy Peanut Butter is completely unprocessed and boasts none of these additives. The ingredients? Peanuts and salt. Nothing else. If you can get over the appearance of natural peanut butter, you'll enjoy a flavorful, fresh and roasted spread that tastes only of, well, peanuts and salt. From the shelf, it looks like a botched science experiment, a half-inch layer of oil occupying the top portion of the jar. Mixing is the first order of things, usually a careful, vigorous stir for two minutes with a long, dull knife or spoon does the trick. Once the peanut butter is mixed into a creamy uniformity, refrigerate immediately and separation no longer becomes an issue.

Aside from the extra step of mixing, there are a few other differences to note. For one, the consistency is slightly grainier than the emulsified brands, but it's a very minor difference since the peanut butter spreads just as evenly and smoothly. I also noticed a change in texture if you don't give it another quick stir about midway through the jar - the bottom portion tends to become hard and clay-like if you don't do this. Also, while there's NO sacrifice in taste, Smucker's peanut butter does have a slightly different flavor since there are no sugar additives like fructose, sucrose or molasses.

Smucker's makes their natural peanut butter available in Chunky, Creamy, Honey, No Salt (creamy) and Reduced Fat. Personally, I didn't care for the Honey. The sweetness overpowered the robust peanut taste. And once, without first reading the label carefully, I accidentally picked up the The No Salt variety. It's horribly bland and far as I'm concerned, it should only be used to decoupage your kid's next art project. Stay with Chunky, Creamy or Reduced Fat and you're golden.

A 16-ounce jar costs around $2.99, which is just a little more expensive than most other brands out there. I won't argue that you're paying for the added health benefit of natural ingredients because I know a marketing ploy when I see one. This really comes down to individual preference and how much you're willing to pay for it. For a two tablespoon serving, this peanut butter provides 8 grams of protein, 1 gram sugar, 120 mg sodium, 0 trans fat, 2.5 grams saturated fat for a total of 16 grams of fat, plus 210 calories.

When I first made the switch to natural, unprocessed peanut butter I honestly thought I would be sacrificing taste and flavor in the name of better health. Happily, this never had to be the case at all. To be fair, I don't turn my nose at other brands like Peter Pan, Jif or Skippy. They taste just as fine as my Smucker's and to be truthful - if we're splitting hairs here - consumed in moderation, the trans fat content of these brands is pretty negligible. However, for the slightly added health benefit and fresh roasted taste, I prefer Smucker's All Natural Peanut Butter.