Today I made crêpes for breakfast like I usually do....
And I tried some smooth peanut butter inside one of them. It doesn't taste horrible, but after a bit of eating it, I felt like I was in the 3rd circle of hell.
I asked my mother and my grandma for an opinion, and they too agreed.
The finest crêpe I ever ate was peanut butter, banana, and honey from a street vendor in Baden-Wurttemberg at 2am. There may have been ethanol on board, but I stand by the claim.
I don't know that crepes are the right venue for peanut butter, especially if it's natural peanut butter, which is gritty and not sweet. While it's true that store-bought peanut butter in the US has too much added sugar, that really shouldn't matter. Ground up peanuts are filling, energy-dense and delicious. Why do non-Americans dislike it so much?
As an American, I think that natural peanut butter is delicious in the right context. It goes well on puffed rice cakes, with a little salt if it’s unsalted. It’s good with celery as a snack, and it’s an ingredient in some sauces. It can dry out your mouth, so make sure to drink water too.
The classic American use is peanut butter sandwiches, optionally with jam. IMHO these are pretty mid, but their main advantage is that they’re energy dense and don’t require refrigeration. So they’re good for hiking, at least if you have enough water.
Edited to add: also good in cookies, with chocolate, with bananas, and probably some other things I’m forgetting.
This comment sounds like it was written by a robot that cannot taste peanut butter.
Peanut butter is absolutely amazing. It’s creamy rich flavorful deliciousness. I really don’t know what this robot means by “peanut butter sandwich, optionally with jam”. That’s an insane sentence to read. What Eldrich Horror from beyond put those words together? It’s a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly. It’s jelly, not jam, it’s NOT optional (otherwise it’s not a sandwich is it?! It’s just peanut butter on bread) it’s so common and beloved that it even has a nickname: PB&J
It’s amazing with a banana or many different fruits and pastries and milkshakes and sauces and just with crackers. Sometimes you open a new jar and just eat that first bite with a spoon before anyone else can because everyone knows that first bite tastes the best. Sometimes it’s sugary like Jif which is great and sometimes it’s not sugary like Adams and you have to stir it nuts it’s still great and sometimes the store has a machine that just grinds the nuts and you catch it in a plastic container and that’s great too.
It’s peanuts! Ground up into a paste! AND I LOVE IT!
Are you european? I'm from central Europe and have the same experience. From what I've read, I think (US-) Americans have more sugar in their peanut butter.
It depends what kind of peanut butter. Anything labeled 'natural' should not have any sugar added and should literally just be peanuts and salt. It should have a layer of oil on top that you have to stir in. If the peanut butter is not labeled 'natural' or does not have a layer of oil on top it's pretty much guaranteed to have a lot of sugar added. The kind with sugar is much more common.
Yep, when I compare the nutrition labels for the peanut butter I get from the local grocery store to Jif or Skippy (american brands), it has less fat and sugar per 100g. Dunno where you are, but I think that's probably it!
I love peanut butter, especially the plain 'ol natural stuff, but I'd never put it on crêpes, unless it was peanut butter that had a little bit of sugar in it or something.
Yeah, that sounds like it would be a textural nightmare with how thick and heavy peanut butter is.
It's very rare to eat peanut butter on its own. It's most famous for the way it pairs with other flavors. Peanut butter and jelly (strawberry jam is a classic), peanut butter and honey, peanut butter and chocolate, or if you want something super extreme peanut butter and marshmallow fluff.
I would bet you'd like it more if it hadn't been peanut butter only.
I don't think I'd put peanut butter by itself in a crepe; the reason peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are so popular is that the jelly/jam helps cut the stickiness of the peanut butter.
But then again, I ate sandwiches that only had peanut butter in them for most of elementary school. Wash it down with some milk, and it's filling and tasty.
I'm not American, but I find there is a huge difference in taste between the regular peanut butter and the natural one (the one where the oil separate from the rest)
After trying the natural peanut butter the regular version just taste off, it's like some cardboard feel in the mixer with the peanuts.
Well either that was bad peanut butter, but it's more likely crepes aren't good with peanut butter. The heat of the crepes might turn the peanut butter into oily glue, or in some cases gross clotted gorp. I used to try to put peanut butter on pancakes and it always turned out terrible (and I love peanut butter)
Peanut butter is much better with something that's a contrast like toast, crackers, crunchy veg - or blended into something like cookies, desserts, hot cereal, etc.
If you want the sweeter/candy spread you gotta go with the junk food brands like jif or peter pan. For crepes I'd only use it as glue to stick other things on, like strawberry preserves or some chocolate. Someone had a banana and honey suggestion that sounded good. That said, I cannot justify peanut butter pie. I'm sorry if we're exporting that.
Edit. Fluffernutter! How could I forget fluffernutter. Hey global community, has that broken containment? If you want some true nonredeemable American crack, make a peanut butter and fluff sandwich. If you use the natural pb it might not put you in a diabetic coma.
I'm not American so I grew up hearing about peanut butter from their media. I made up this amazing idea of it, which was completely shattered when I finally tasted it.
It's probably one of those acquired tastes like Australians with Vegemite (which I also tried according to recommendations but I probably just needed to go back in time and be born in Australia).
I still dream of tasting my imaginary peanut butter.
The straightforward natural peanut butters, like Adams, that pretty much only have peanuts in the ingredients list, taste much better than the cheaper ones, for what it's worth. Also unsalted is way better, imo. Some brands add way to much salt and/or sugar and ruin the taste.
The no-stir ones might also taste different - I'm not sure since I've always just avoided those.
But ofc maybe it's just not your thing. Point is that different peanut butters do taste different.
I haven't tried that kind, but maybe you got a bad jar. I absolutely love peanut butter. I usually get Adams no-stir creamy. It amplifies oatmeal, milkshakes etc. I would absolutely put it in a crepe too, with banana and chocolate.
Am American, but live in Germany. I've had this experience with European attempts at peanut butter. I finally figured out what the bitter taste is; it's raw peanuts. Many brands are skipping the important roasting step and I don't know why