Peanut Butter powder

[soilman]

My wife brought home a jar of powdered peanut butter from WalMart the other day. Never saw anything like it before. It is called PB2 with premium chocolate. It comes in a 6.5 oz plastic jar that will make 15 servings of 2 Tbs. Just add water. Tastes pretty good. Bad news is it has 85% less fat calories than traditional peanut butter. Going to take some on my LT thru next week.

[hikerboy57]

maybe you're supposed to add fat instead of water.

[Dogwood]

Yes, but at least it doesn't contain the added in hydrogenated oils(trans fats) that IS NOT in REAL peanut butter that are sometimes included in PB that crank up the cals./oz. ratio. Personally, I mix this powdered PB with a higher cals/oz ingredient to help increase the cals/oz ratio. I'll do this by adding in say powdered coconut milk or larger size dried coconut flakes and throw it over SOBA buckwheat, rice, etc noodles.

[Dogwood]

Yeah, I did what Hikerboy suggested by mixing the powdered PB with a good fat - EVOO. It worked out well as far as taste. Doing it this way and you can really tweak the cals/oz ratio upwards by adding as much EVOO as you like. EVOO is a pure fat at 9 cals per gram or 251 cals per ounce. Don't forget another option is, as I've done occasionally, is repackage REAL PB that does NOT contain Hydrogenated oils, into GOOB squeeze tubes.

[QHShowoman]

I use PB2 in my protein shakes and smoothies ... While fat calories are necessary on the trail, they're def not needed in my off-trail life. :-)

[kayak karl]

try mixing with olive oil. id be curious

[Biggie Master]

try mixing with olive oil. id be curious

i was thinking the same thing, just not sure about the taste... Maybe coconut oil?

[max patch]

If you are going to add oil to it then whats the purpose of getting it in the first place?

When they squeeze out the oil they also squeeze out some of the nutrition as a result. Other than adding the flavor of peanuts to a smoothie without the calories I don't see any reason for this product.

[WingedMonkey]

In 2013 you would be hard pressed to find a name brand peanut butter with enough trans-fat to measure (less than 1/2 gram).

About 80 percent of its fat is the healthful, mono- and polyunsaturated kind.

Even good ole Crisco is trans-fat free now.

[max patch]

In 2013 you would be hard pressed to find a name brand peanut butter with enough trans-fat to measure (less than 1/2 gram).

About 80 percent of its fat is the healthful, mono- and polyunsaturated kind.

.

I listened to a few nutritionists on the radio over the years and they all said that the amount of trans fat in peanut butter is negligible and should not stop anyone from eating peanut butter.

[Dogwood]

Obviously, folks heed different nutritionists advice. Regardless of the amount of hydrogenated oils(trans fats) added to PB(REAL PB DOES NOT contain hydrogenated oils) one can often quite simply elect to buy the same brand PB in a NO TRANS FATS version. Why put even a little bit of bad crap into your system when you have the simple option not to? Just makes sense to this person.

[Odd Man Out]

Yes, but at least it doesn't contain the added in hydrogenated oils(trans fats) that IS NOT in REAL peanut butter that are sometimes included in PB that crank up the cals./oz. ratio. ...

Actually, I think regular PB has fewer cals/oz due to the added sugar. Here is the nutritional data for a PB made from only peanuts. It has 210 cal/32 g

http://www.adamspeanutbutter.com/product

Compare to regular Jif at 190 cal/32 g, made with sugar and "fully hydrogenated vegetable oil".

http://www.jif.com/Products/Details?...&productId=325

In between these two is Natural Jif, which is the same as regular Jif, but uses Palm oil instead of hydrogenated oil. The sugar lowers the cal/g ratio slightly over the all peanut brand.

http://www.jif.com/Products/Details?...&productId=954

As for the trace amount of trans fat, if it lists hydrogenated vegetable oil, it probably has some trans fat, but they can list the amount as zero is it below a certain threshold. If the fat is really FULLY hydrogenated, then there would be zero trans fat. I'm not sure how good they are at fully hydrogenating the vegetable oil. If you want to avoid all hydrogenated fats, these natural options are now readily available.

I too don't see the value of lowering the calorie content of PB by replacing fat with water for the purposes of backpacking.

[Dogwood]

If you are going to add oil to it then whats the purpose of getting it in the first place?

When they squeeze out the oil they also squeeze out some of the nutrition as a result. Other than adding the flavor of peanuts to a smoothie without the calories I don't see any reason for this product.

Because the powdered PB target market does not just include hikers who are ONLY on a high cals/oz quest. Perhaps you missed QHShowoman's post? Again, by adding in copious amounts of a complete fat such as olive or coconut oil you could end up with a PB product that's actually higher in cals/oz than a regular PB that could be tweaked for a specific taste. That's just one possibility. Neither should we forget that this PB2 product is mixed with powdered chocolate which would probably lower the cals/oz ratio based on that alone. I asked myself this same question Max Patch and that's the only thing I can come up with based on just a cals/oz and taste quest. If you factor other things into it the powdered PB would be less in volume than regular creamy PB, pose less of a potential mess, and might work for those who like to prepackage all meals into one dry package ahead of their hikes. Personally, I just usually carry 1.15 0z packets of Organic Justin's PB or Peanut Butter & Co or a PB that has been repackaged into a squeeze tube. These two companies as well as Artisana(makers of high quality Organic nut butters) have other nut butters in small packets too. They are a nice taste diversion from regular PB. And, most are also high in cals/oz. Minimus makes .5 oz squeezable packets of PB too;never tried these though. I've found the Justin's, Peanut Butter & Co., and PB2 in WalMarts at relatively cheap prices too.

[The Cleaner]

Is it on the shelf next to the dehydrated water...

[QHShowoman]

It's a great PB alternative for those of us who like the taste, but not the 200 cals and 19g of fat in a serving of the real thing.

[Dogwood]

Again, I get where you are coming from Odd Man Out but these products(powdered PB) ARE NOT just designed for those on a highest cals/oz quest. Some of this products(powdered PB) target market would be those who specifically want a REAL PB(taste especially) WITH LESS FAT. For example, this product may be used for someone traveling light that wants PB included in a shake or with foods without all the fat. A powdered PB might makes sense in this situation.

If the ingredient list says partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils that is trans fats. A so labeled product contains trans fats.

It's not a hard choice to make. Jif is a perfect example. Jif gives you several options in PB. One is the Natural Creamy PB in small 1.5 oz plastic foil lid cups. Jif also makes other nut butters that might be worth a try for different tastes such as almond, cashew, and hazlenut butters. I've never tried Jif's other nut butters or know what ingredients are in those products though.

[Dogwood]

I would also say if you're going to request your powdered PB products such as PB2 to be high in cals/oz than you should apply that to your other trail foods with equal scrutiny. It seems some aren't familiar with powdered PB such as PB2 therefore they push it away and totally shut the door on powdered PB for trail use. Everything that one isn't familiar with does not mean that we should be afraid of or non accepting of it. Keep you mind open to new solutions and possibilities with powdered PB. This might be a helpful idea to remember in other aspects of life as well.

[daddytwosticks]

Just give me plain old creamy Jif and I'm a happy man. I'll gladly carry the extra weight.

[The Cleaner]

Pardon the thread drift,I found at Wal-Mart a package of cooked ground beef similar in size to the foil tuna packs. Probably too heavy for the ULers though.....

[Malto]

This seems pointless for backpacking. You squeeze out the fat, only to add it back hoping it will taste like PNB? Squeeze out water-good. Squeeze out fat-bad.