THE NIBBLE Gourmet News & Views
Trends, Products & Items Of Note In The World Of Specialty Foods
Read all of our content on TheNibble.com, the online magazine about specialty food.
Archive for Jam/Peanut Butter
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March 3, 2008 at 8:13 am
· Filed under Contest, Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Jam/Peanut Butter
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 Learn about peanut butter, and maybe you’ll win these chocolate peanut butter chip cookies from Solomon’s Gourmet Cookies. |
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Are you nuts for peanut butter? Or do you simply love chocolate chip cookies? Take the Peanut Butter Trivia Quiz in THE NIBBLE’s Gourmet Giveaway this week, and you may win a prize of two dozen luscious peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from Solomon’s Gourmet Cookies (we reviewed these cookies last year and ate every last crumb—they’re also kosher-certified). Just answer four fun trivia questions about peanut butter—you don’t even have to answer them correctly. Everyone who enters has an equal chance of winning. Take the quiz, from March 3rd through March 9th for the prize, or anytime for fun. You’ll learn great factoids and will be able to impress your friends that you know where it was invented, by whom, and why. |
| Learn more about peanut butter in the Jam, Jelly & Peanut Butter Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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March 1, 2008 at 9:22 am
· Filed under Jam/Peanut Butter, Daily Food Holidays
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| It’s National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day—and starting Monday, our Gourmet Giveaway Trivia Quiz focuses on peanut butter. So, all you lovers, tune back in then and you can win a delicious peanut butter prize. We’re a little constrained here about what we can write about peanut butter, because most of the juicy insights are questions in the trivia quiz. So instead, we’ll talk about flavored peanut butter.There isn’t yet a National Flavored Peanut Butter Day, because all of these “designated holidays” are petitioned by large companies or their public relations firms, and flavored PBs are often made by smaller, artisan companies that don’t have the bandwidth for such initiatives. So, we’ll do a little horn-tooting here for them. |
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Try Onion Parsley Peanut Better on a roast beef or turkey sandwich, instead of mustard or mayo. |
| Our first flavored PB epiphany came when we tasted the Peanut Better peanut butters at the Fancy Food Show in the summer of 2004. Imagine seeing a lineup of jars called Onion Parsley Peanut Butter, Rosemary Garlic Peanut Butter, Thai Ginger & Red Pepper Peanut Butter and Spicy Southwestern Peanut Butter. We could almost imagine the latter two, because we’ve made our share of spicy Szechwan noodle dishes. But Onion Parsley? Rosemary Garlic? After one bite, we were astounded, and Peanut Better quickly became a Top Pick Of The Week. (The company also makes Cinnamon Currant, Deep Chocolate Peanut Praline, Sweet Molasses & Vanilla Cranberry and other sweet and savory flavors. And, the line is organic and kosher.)A short while later, in January 2005, we were at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and discovered P.B. Loco, a company founded by law school graduates in St. Paul, Minnesota. Their Sun-Dried Tomato Peanut Butter knocked our socks off, and two of their numerous sweet PBs—Raspberry White Chocolate and Sumatra Cinnamon & Raisin—remain our all-time favorites (who needs dessert—just dip in a spoon). But back to those exotic savory peanut butters: What do you do with them? They are dynamite on turkey, chicken, ham, roast beef and grilled vegetable sandwiches (pair them with soft cheeses like mozzarella, too). Use them to baste chicken or lamb, mix some into meatloaf, stuffing, bread and muffin batter. Spread them on apples or pears. Make canapés, along with meats, cheeses or vegetables. Dip crudités into them, toss them with steamed vegetables, add them to baked potatoes. Go [pea]nuts! Read more about PB in the Jams, Jellies & Peanut Butters Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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February 14, 2008 at 1:25 pm
· Filed under Jam/Peanut Butter, Recipes, Tip Of The Day, Valentine's Day
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If you don’t have heart-shaped cookie cutters, use stars for your “star” Valentine. |
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Each year, the Peanut Butter & Co. Sandwich Shop in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village helps lovers celebrate Valentine’s Day with a special Sweetheart’s Snack. It includes heart-shaped PB sandwiches, milk, PB cookies, and other goodies. You can create the treat at home with a large heart-shaped cookie cutter, your favorite PB and J, and a mix tape of romantic tunes. (If you don’t have a heart, you can substitute stars or other shapes). Keep your lover guessing: Use a different flavor of peanut butter on each sandwich. If your Valentine prefer savory to sweet, use a garlic or Southwestern PB with turkey or ham, instead. Read our reviews of our favorite peanut butters: plain, crunch and flavored, and our favorite jellies, jams and preserves. |
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February 8, 2008 at 12:15 pm
· Filed under Jam/Peanut Butter, Recipes, Tip Of The Day
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| February 8th is Elvis Presley’s birthday, and Elvis’s favorite snack was a peanut butter and “nanner” sandwich—mashed bananas and PB on white toast, fried in butter. (Perhaps it never occurred to him to throw some chocolate morsels on that as well.) We prefer a slightly more gourmet version: PB Loco’s yummy Peanut Butter with Jungle Banana on toasted brioche or raisin bread. Read our review of PB Loco’s flavored peanut butters, and celebrate Elvis’s birthday by ordering a few jars. If you have like sweet PBs, don’t pass up the White Chocolate Raspberry Peanut Butter or the Sumatra Cinnamon & Raisin Peanut Butter—the best raisin PB we’ve ever had. On the savory side, Sun-Dried Tomato Peanut Butter is an exceptional experience. We use it for everything from canapés and tea sandwiches to regular roast beef, turkey, chicken or ham sandwiches; and on linguine or fettuccine as Sun-Dried Tomato Peanut Butter Sauce. Asian Curry Spice Peanut Butter is serious business. Spread some on a roast beef, chicken or duck sandwich for a Thai turn. Find more of our favorite PBs reviewed in THE NIBBLE online magazine |
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P.B. Loco makes 10 flavors plus the basics (creamy and crunchy). Jungle Banana and CocoBanana will help you make a quick “Elvis Sandwich.” |
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January 25, 2008 at 8:34 pm
· Filed under Jam/Peanut Butter, Daily Food Holidays
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| Peanut butter lovers have a day to celebrate—and to try new and different peanut butters. Take a look at this comparison of the two-dozen-plus different flavors offered by our favorite brands. P.B. Loco’s Sundried Tomato PB is one of our favorite flavors; their Asian Curry makes instant sesame noodles, as well as an exotic PB sandwich. Both of these savory flavors can be enjoyed with roast beef or turkey, instead of mustard or mayo, and with vegetable sandwiches (try avocado). We put them in vegetable sushi, too, instead of wasabi. We eat the Raspberry White Chocolate PB from the jar like candy; the Sumatra Cinnamon and Raisin PB is the best of its breed. All of the savory flavors of Peanut Better demand to be tried. The Onion Parsley and Rosemary Garlic are incredible—you’ll make amazing hors d’oeuvres with them, as well as enjoy them on sandwiches with the aforementioned turkey and beef. The Peanut Better line is certified kosher and organic. Read our full reviews of P.B. Loco and Peanut Better, and bake this banana bread recipe with PB. |
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All PB is not created equal: If you love your peanut butter, try these gourmet brands, and their special flavors. |
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January 24, 2008 at 8:56 pm
· Filed under Jam/Peanut Butter, Daily Food Holidays
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| If you love peanut butter, expand your horizons and try some of the more than two dozen flavored gourmet PBs we’ve had the joy to experience. First, take a look at our article on the different flavors of gourmet peanut butter. Then, Read our individual reviews of P.B. Loco and Peanut Butter (Peanut Better is USDA certified organic and kosher, too). P.B. Loco’s Sun-Dried Tomato PB is one of our favorite flavors, by itself or with turkey, ham, roast beef or cheese. It makes wonderful hors d’oeuvres, too—people can’t believe what they’re eating. Whether you fill celery, fennel, pastry cups or just serve it on crackers with a counterpoint of olive or other vegetable (or even a salty peanut), it’s easy and fascinating. You can do similar things with the Asian Curry PB, but we love to use this flavor to make quick and yummy sesame noodles. On the sweet side of P.B. Loco, the Sumatra Cinnamon and Raisin PB is the best we’ve ever had of the genre, and we can eat the White Raspberry Chocolate from the jar for dessert. If you need a real pick-me-up, try it on a piece of chocolate bar—you’ll forget all about peanut butter cups. Read our full review of P.B. Loco. |
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Even if you think plain peanut butter is delicious as is, try the gourmet flavors. |
| Moving on to Peanut Better, the savory flavors knock our socks off. You might not consider buying Onion Parsley or Rosemary Garlic Peanut Butter—but you’d be missing out on a taste sensation. Enjoy them in the sandwiches and hors d’oeuvres described above, or an any recipe that calls for PB—the dimension that these nut butters add to peanut soup cannot be described! The Thai Ginger And Red Pepper (also great for sesame noodles), Spicy Southwestern and Hickory Smoked PBs also rock the house. The sweet flavors are also delightful, but the savories blow us away. Read our full review of Peanut Better. They’ll make you look at peanut butter not as a bread spread, but as a gourmet cooking ingredient. Happy Peanut Butter Day! |
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December 26, 2007 at 10:10 am
· Filed under Top Pick Of The Week, The Nibble, Condiments, Cheese/Yogurt/Dairy, Snacks, Jam/Peanut Butter, Bread, Crackers, Muffins
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No sandwich will ever taste the same once
you switch to Ojai Cook mayonnaises. |
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Our final Top Pick of the year is actually the Top Picks of 2007, five products we wrote about earlier this year that continue to bring happiness to our table. These are not fancy boxes of chocolate or special foods for entertaining, but everyday foods that have become part of our every day life. One of our goals is to introduce you to foods you might not have discovered on your own. So if you aren’t familiar with these special products, we hope you’ll have the opportunity to try them in the coming months. You can read the Top Pick Of The Week with capsule summaries of each product, or click on the links below to read the full reviews.
- Cypress Grove Chevre, a northern California cheese maker, creates a broad variety of creative fresh and aged goat cheeses, including the popular Humboldt Fog.
- Peeled Snacks Fruit & Nut Mixes, of New York City, makes nutritious, grab-and-go fruit and nut mixes in innovative packaging that keeps the fruits moist and the nuts crisp. Better than a candy bar! |
- The Ojai Cook Gourmet Mayonnaises, of California, reinvents mayonnaise into something flavorful, fabulous and worth every calorie. Made in a variety of flavors from lemony to Latin, any recipe that these mayos touch will be vastly improved.
- Pierre Marcolini Confitures (Jam), the only import on the list (from Belgium), are jams unlike any in the marketplace. Using so little sugar that diabetics can enjoy them (20% or less), these velvety, spreadable fruits have the richness of a curd without curd’s calorie- and cholesterol-laden eggs and butter. Truly a jam miracle.
- Starr Ridge Bread Sticks, from Phoenix, are so flavorful that they require no embellishment—although a tapenade or other dip makes a splendid hors d’oeuvre. The five flavors—Asiago Cheese, Olive Oil, Parmesan Cheese With Black Pepper, Roasted Garlic and Seed—can be served at elegant dinners or for casual snacks.All of the Top Picks Of The Week (dating back to 2004) are archived on TheNibble.com. |
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November 5, 2007 at 2:21 am
· Filed under The Nibble, Candy, Jam/Peanut Butter
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A memorable peanut butter cup.
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November is National Peanut Butter Month—our chance to share our favorite PBs with you. First, learn about the origin of peanut butter. It was invented by a doctor and debuted in 1904 as—of all things—a high-protein food substitute for people who could not chew meat. But it didn’t take long for others to discover its charms, and for it to leap into recipes and the peanut butter cup—a relatively recent invention dating to the Roaring ‘20s. Read all about it, and our favorite peanut butter cups from Bacci. Then, check out our two favorite gourmet peanut butters, from Peanut Better and P.B. Loco. Both companies make sweet and savory peanut butters, and as you’ll read in the reviews, certain flavors are not to be missed! Plan ahead: They make great stocking stuffers, too. |
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October 18, 2007 at 11:33 am
· Filed under Gourmet News, Jam/Peanut Butter
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P.B. Loco—one of our favorite peanut butters. |
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National Peanut Butter Month doesn’t begin until November 1st, but our friends at P.B. Loco are offering a free jar of CoCoBanana Peanut Butter (chocolate banana peanut butter—no coconut) when you buy five jars of any flavors. It’s not too hard to buy five jars of their PB: In addition to the CoCoBanana, we go ape for the White Raspberry Chocolate, Sun-Dried Apricot, Sumatra Cinnamon & Raisin and Jungle Banana (without the chocolate). On the savory side, Sun-Dried Tomato is dynamite, and Asian Curry Spice makes instant noodle dishes. All you need to do is go to PBLoco.com and (1) add any five jars of any peanut butter to your shopping cart, then (2) add one jar of CoCoBanana Peanut Butter to your cart, (3) enter coupon code BIGIDEA, click recalculate, and make sure $6.95 is subtracted from your bill. This special offer expires October 25th, so don’t let a nutty good thing pass you by. Read our full review of P.B. Loco Peanut Butter. |
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