Review: Sunland peanut butter

You may remember that in early April, I took a road trip to Chicago, stopping in Iowa City on the way. There, at a Bruegger’s Bagels, I found, tried, and loved a new-to-me brand of peanut butter—Sunland. I bought the Dark Chocolate variety, and it was pretty much heavenly.



I emailed Sunland to let them know I liked their product, and Brittany in customer service wrote me back offering to send me three jars of my choice from their catalog to sample! I settled on Organic Thai Ginger and Red Pepper, Organic Spicy Southwestern, and Natural Caramel.



Though I definitely plan to cook and bake with each, I wanted to try each one on its own first. Since I have a bajillion packages of Corn Thins (ganked from the finish line party of the Hospital Hill half-marathon I ran the weekend before last), I decided to use those as the vehicle for my PB-tasting.

First up was the Organic Thai Ginger and Red Pepper, the flavor that Brittany at Sunland recommended in particular. I’m not generally a big fan of ginger, and was worried it would be overwhelming, but was happy to find it wasn’t at all. The aroma of Thai spices wafts straight out of the jar, and the peanut butter, though thin in texture, is packed with flavor, plus a nice hint of heat. I can tell this will be great on sesame noodles or tofu satay.



Second, I tried the Organic Spicy Southwestern. Whispers of cumin and ground chili permeate this peanut butter, which is also thin, but features giant chewy chunks of peanuts. The lime flavor is front-and-center here, and though it’s different than I expected, this one excites me—I can envision making a killer mole sauce with it.



I saved the sweet for last, of course, and I was not let down by the Natural Caramel. It’s much thicker than the other two, and really appears identical to any other creamy PB. When I first took a bite, all I tasted was the peanut butter—thick, smooth, and full-bodied. As it started to melt away on my tongue, though, the caramel notes came forward and took over, cutting the richness of the PB and treating me to a dulce-de-leche-esque aftertaste. So good! I’ve since eaten this on honey-wheat bagel and on a banana, and it’s downright magical.



So which was my favorite? Honestly, I’d have to say the Caramel. Though I usually consider myself more of a salt person than a sweet tooth, I guess I like my peanut butter on the sugary side. I’ll probably finish my jar of Caramel with a spoon, but I’m definitely stoked to try cooking with the Thai and Southwestern flavors. I really recommend everyone out there check out Sunland’s online store for some cool and interesting PB flavors (their peanut butter diet is also a neat idea). Thank you again, Sunland, for your generosity!



Sadly, I don't have a giveaway to accompany this review. But stay tuned for one of those soon! In the meantime, check out Amanda's soy candle giveaway (update: Jessie is giving away a candle too!) and Fit and Forty Something's Larabar giveaway.