By Jeanni Ritchie
Seven jars. One table. A whole lot of opinions.
Our family “Peanut Butter Showdown” brought together seven brands — Crazy Richard’s 100% Peanuts, Jif Creamy, Jif Natural, Skippy Creamy, Peter Pan Honey Roasted Creamy, Great Value Creamy, and Justin’s Classic Peanut Butter — for a blind taste test to celebrate National Peanut Butter Lovers Month.
Each unlabeled jar sat with a mini glass Mason jar in front of it. Every participant voted by dropping a red poker chip into the vessel beside their favorite spread.
The rules were simple: taste each peanut butter on your chosen base — a cracker, spoon, apple slice, or piece of chocolate — but use the same method for all seven so the results stayed valid.
And the winner? Jif Creamy Peanut Butter.
No shock there — it’s the brand that altered my entire motherhood. The slogan Choosy moms choose Jif — first heard before I even started kindergarten — worked its subliminal magic on me by the time I had my first child. No matter how lean the grocery budget, that line whispered in my ear in Albertsons’ Aisle 7, convincing me that good mothers only bought Jif.
Coming in just one point behind was my personal favorite: Peter Pan Honey Roasted Creamy. I’ve always loved my savory blended with a touch of sweet — a preference shared by nearly half the tasters at our table.
Of course, no contest is complete without a few fun categories:
Nutty as Can Be: Jif Creamy
Most Likely to Stick to the Roof of Your Mouth: Great Value Creamy
Sweetest Spread: Peter Pan Honey Roasted Creamy
Most Unique Flavor (Tie): Justin’s Classic and Crazy Richard’s 100% Peanuts
The organic varieties were appreciated for their health-conscious ingredients, if not for their flavor.
I also ran a side poll: creamy vs. chunky (or crunchy, depending on your generation). The vote was an exact tie, although my dad tried to tip the scales by “accidentally” sliding a few extra poker chips toward his favorite — the chunky one. Typical Dad — if you ever find yourself across from him in a poker game, keep your eyes open!
Naturally, we couldn’t stop at plain peanut butter. We rounded things out with peanut-butter cookies topped with Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s Fast Breaks, peanut-butter pumpkins, and a batch of banana “ice cream” courtesy of Mary’s new fruit-freezing gadget. It turns straight fruit into sorbet — and when you swirl in peanut butter with frozen bananas, it’s heavenly.
By the time the evening was over, we were all singing along with Chuck Berry: I like peanut butter, creamy peanut butter, chunky peanut butter too…
