Editable Grout

My daughter recently started getting peanut butter for snacks because she needed more protein and I heard it was something fun for kids to "dip".

Well, my daughter taught me a couple of lessons about peanut butter.

1. Peanut butter, being smearable and approximately the same color as cosmetic foundation, is really hard to see and clean off after "dipping" exercises.
2. You will REALLY know if your kid doesn't tolerate peanut butter by the near explosive, diarrhetic back-firings after eating said smearable treat.

Thank you, daughter.

I've got several friends who can't eat peanuts, so I know about the other nut butters and, having tried Sunbutter before (Absolutely DISGUSTING), I thought we should try some almond butter.

So...a trip to the local grocery store...

...who just finished removing the organic section of their store, opting for an "integrated" inventory.  (in other words, they mixed all the organic stuff in with the other food, so it's harder to find)  When I went to the peanut butter aisle, I did find the one jar of Sunbutter (ironically surrounded on all sides by peanut butter brands), but not almond butter.

So... a trip to the co-op...

(if you don't have co-ops where you live, it's like a Whole Foods, but smaller and with "membership" options...so it's basically more expensive and claims to be completely local and organic)

The co-op did have some almond butter.  Four kinds, as a matter of fact. Since I was going through all the effort of getting something healthy and organic for my kid, I decided to get the jar without salt, sugar, palm oil, or other "additives".

Here's the brand we bought:  Once Again.
It claims to be "creamy".

Uhm, if your definition of "creamy" means that there aren't any whole or partial nuts, then, yes, it's "creamy".  My daughter, however, indicated with several gags that she didn't agree with this claim.  When I tried it, I would have to classify it as edible grout.  It's about as viscous as grout, and has about that same sandpaper texture.

Fun, huh?

So, as requested by our daughter, we searched for another brand.

Costco sells Maranatha brand almond butter.

It is also just almonds.  It is also about 1/3 of the price of Once Again.  It's much less gritty, but still has that definable texture.  (I would compare it to difference between porcelain grit and all purpose tile grit).  Our daughter finds it...acceptable, but still wanted something smoother.

So, we search again.

I found Barney Butter on Amazon.

While I was completely freaked out by the fact that it's manufactured in Fresno, CA, I was impressed by it's appearance and texture- it is COMPLETELY smooth.  You'd never know the difference between creamy peanut butter and the Barney Butter.  However, it also has palm oil, and, sadly, hardly any flavor.  The price is about the same as Once Again,which is pretty expensive for a jar of nut butter....

And then there's the fulfillment issues with Amazon, where they can't deliver any groceries without having them damaged in some way.  (If you don't believe me, read the reviews yourself.)

Anyway, after trying three different brands, I think we might try cashew butter or something else.  Perhaps it will be closure to peanut butter because the nuts are about the same firmness and fattiness.  We'll keep you posted.