What is it?
Bonne Maman Peanut Spread (€4.99/325g)
What’s good about it?
Let’s be straight up about this product. It isn’t the artisan, small batch peanut butter produced by the likes of Irish producers Harry’s Nut Butter and Nutshed. This is a new addition to the huge range of jams, conserves, chocolate and caramel spreads made for the French brand Bonne Maman. It has a creamier, slightly more fluid and less claggy consistency than many peanut butters, with a rounded mouthfeel, and is more sweet than savoury on the palate.
What’s in it?
It is free from palm oil, as flagged on the jar, but it has sugar as the second listed ingredient, after roasted peanuts (82 per cent), amounting to 19g of carbohydrate per 100g, of which 14g sugars. There is also cocoa butter, sunflower oil, salt, vanilla extract and emulsifier: sunflower lecithin. In comparison, Nutshed’s original smooth peanut butter, made in Limerick, has only these two ingredients: peanuts (99.7%), Irish sea salt.
How do I it use it?
It is delicious on toast, spreads easily and tastes great. The consistency makes it easy to spoon a dollop into porridge or yoghurt and amalgamate the two. It would be a great product to use in baking, but I would be less likely to use it in savoury dishes such as satay, due to its underlying sweetness.
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Where can I get it?
It is widely available in supermarkets across Ireland.
Anything else?
It comes in smooth and crunchy varieties. The attractive heavy glass jars with their distinctive gingham lids can be rewashed and reused.
Send your Shelf Help product suggestions to marieclaire.digby@irishtimes.com
