23 July 2011

Macro Organic Smooth Peanut Butter vs Dick Smith's Smooth Peanut Butter (23 July 2011)



Smoothing out the facts

I love peanut butter on toast, especially with a nice fruit jam or honey so spotting a jar of Macro Organic Smooth Peanut Butter in Woolworths seemed like a good idea to try. Made with 100% Organic Roasted Peanuts with no added ingredients like sugar, salt and oil gets a tick. Also being Australian Certified Organic gets a tick. But I wonder why it then also have less than 0.1 g of trans fat in it — isn't trans fat supposed to be bad for you? Also on closer inspection it actually says it's made in Australia from 'imported' ingredients. I've obviously had the misnomer that if a product is labelled 'Australian Certified Organic' then it was made with Australian organic produce but that doesn't seem to be the case. The certification label merely identifies that it complies with the global standards of being organic.

The taste was OK but left a bit of a dry taste on my palate the same way tahini does for me. If kept in the fridge as suggested the consistency becomes less runny. There's noticeable little bits of peanut throughout so it's not as smoothly refined as the Dick Smith's Smooth Peanut Butter which has been one of my preferred favourite peanut butters to date. Dick Smith's peanut butter had a more roasty peanut taste to my liking and looked less oily on appearance even though it only has 88% peanuts and the rest is made up of vegetable oils, sugar and salt. It's made from Australian grown, Australian made, Australian owned and Australian products which gets a tick. But sadly it doesn't get the organic tick of approval. I wonder if they'd consider making an organic version of their product but perhaps Australian grown organic peanuts don't exist in Australia?

Does anyone know of an Australian-made and owned 100% Organic Peanut Butter that tastes good?

Macro Organic Smooth Peanut Butter
Nutrition Information

Australian Certified Organic

Appearance

On toast

Dick Smith's Smooth Peanut Butter
Packaging

Nutritional Information

Made in Australia

Appearance


A spoon sample of roasty peanut butter

11 comments:

thesuzchef said...

I love peanut butter - have it almost every day on toast with honey. My pick so far is also the Dick Smith brand!

Shawn said...

We're hooked on the Macro Organic stuff :-)

HannahMarshall said...

We've bought a couple jars of Pic's Really Good Peanut Butter. It sounded interesting because it said all it's made out of is peanuts and salt. I personally love the texture of it, it's kind of rustic, although you have to mix it around a lot, otherwise half of the jar will be really oily and the other half will be too dry!
My sister found it in Gallery on Booth in Annandale.

Wendy said...

The Macro Peanut Butter is wonderful, and most importantly, it does not have sugar! How to use: You want to first stir through the oil well and then refrigerate the peanut butter so it does not go rancid and so it has a firmer consistency. This is because without preservatives, sugars and heaps of salt, it will not keep well on a warm shelf as well, altough in my houseold, the boys will devour an entire jar in one week! Macro Smooth is a wonderful product and I highly recommend it to any and everyone!

Simon Leong said...

hi thesuzechef, glad you enjoy the Dick Smith brand too

hi shawn, glad it's a winner in your household

hi jinxtar, thanks for the recommendations. i'll have to look out for it to try.

hi A Californian in Oz, thanks for the tips of storage. very helpful :-)

muser said...

Hi Simon, I tried the Macro peanut butter this morning and found it to be really sweet. So sweet that I'm a little sceptical about the 100% peanuts on the ingredients panel ;D! I found this: Pressed Purity Smooth Peanut Butter (100% Kingaroy Grown Peanuts) at the www.onlyoz.com.au site. 'Kingaroy grown, natural peanut butter. No added salt, sugar or emulsifier. Pure and natural. 100% Australian peanut butter.' Doesn't say anything about being organic tho.

Simon Leong said...

hi muser, thanks for the link for the peanut butter. i noticed they also sell Dick Smiths one which is my favourite at the moment.

Anonymous said...

Foodconnect in Brisbane have a product called Green Acre’s peanut butter. Hven't tried it but it comes from Austrlia's only organic peanut farm!! Available also from http://www.kombuwholefoods.com.au/acatalog/spreads_jams.html
Happy Eating....best always by the spoonful!!

Simon Leong said...

hi Anonymous, thanks for the find. you may have found Australia's only organic grown peanut butter? i wonder how it tastes?

Nick Sheridan said...

Hi Simon, My name is Nick Sheridan and I make 100% organic peanut butter using the nuts from Australia's only certified organic peanut farm. We only use those peanuts and a pinch of salt - no sugar or palm oil or weird numbers. The salt is from NEw Zealand as I was unable to find a certified organic salt from Aus, but I am always on the lookout!

My brand is called The Nutty Monkey Company and we only sell in farmers markets and a few select retailers around Melbourne at the moment, but are looking to expand this year - perhaps even as far as Sydney!

If you would like to taste some of my peanut butter please send your address to nick@thenuttymonkeycompany.com and I will be happy to send you some.

Cheers,

Nick

Simon Leong said...

hi nick, thanks for the offer. i'll have to do a taste test around the office i think :-)

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