Spread the Love’s All-Natural Nut Butters and Jams Are a Health Guru’s Dream Come True

Looking to go more natural with your next PB&J sandwich? Spread the Love has you covered.

The company makes nut butters and jams using only essential ingredients to keep things totally natural, so when they offered to send me some of their top products to review, I was eager to give them a shot. Here's what I thought of them:

The Products

After making their first batches of artisan peanut butter to hand out as wedding favors, couple Val and Zach Fishbain decided to go big with the idea. That's when they created Spread the Love, a company dedicated to making the freshest and most natural spreads around, focusing on peanut and almond butters, and jams, that are vegan and free of dairy and gluten.

Their Naked Organic Peanut Butter, as well as the chunkier Naked Crunch Organic Peanut Butter, and their Marionberry and Raspberry artisan jams, retail for $9.99 per jar. Their Unsalted Almond Butter and Unsalted Crunch Almond Butter goes for $13.99 per jar. Both the Naked Organic Peanut Butter and Unsalted Almond Butter are also available in single-serve packets, with 10-packs going for $13.50 and $18 respectively.

 

The Experience

Naked Organic Peanut Butter

Before digging into Spread the Love's offerings, I'd never had peanut butter with only a single ingredient—organic peanuts—so I was curious to see how I'd like it. When I opened the jar, I was surprised that it was so smooth. I'm used to thick peanut butters, and this was almost a liquid.

My first taste test was of the peanut butter all on its own. Unlike other peanut butters, it wasn't salty or sweet. It just tasted like pure peanut sauce, but it maintained the same stick-to-the-rough-of-your-mouth texture you'd expect.

Next, I had to try it in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I spread strawberry jam on one slice of bread, and a thin layer of organic peanut butter on the other. Because of the soft texture, I quickly found that a little went a long way. After one bite, I didn't miss the other ingredients at all. With the sweetness of the jam, it was unnecessary for the peanut butter to also be packed with sugar. It's quickly become my go-to. I've found that it maintains its spreadable consistency even after being in the fridge, which is great for those of us who like our PB chilly.

 

Unsalted Almond Butter

I've always had a tough time fully embracing almond butter because I want it to be peanut butter, but healthier. Spread the Love's Unsalted Almond Butter showed me the error of my ways. It's simply made, with its only ingredient being dry-roasted almonds, and had the same wet consistency as the peanut butter.

This time, I wasn't as obsessed with the almond butter on its own, but I did enjoy it a lot more than other almond butters I've had in the past. The texture was still smooth, with the slightest hint of grittiness, and the flavor was nutty with a lightly bitter aftertaste. It's not something I would regularly snack on by itself, but it did taste healthy and refreshing.

In my next almond butter and jelly sandwich, I barely even tasted the difference in replacing peanut butter with almond butter. Sometimes, a little bitter taste would come through, or it felt a little dry, but the taste and texture actually complemented the sandwich well. The next time I added a drizzle of honey on the almond butter side, and it was even better.

 

Marionberry Artisan Jam

I'd never tasted a marionberry before trying Spread the Love's Marionberry Artisan Jam, so I looked forward to giving it a go. The jam's only ingredients are marionberries and sugar, so I trust I was getting the full experience.

The jam itself was nice and chunky, with big pieces of fruit throughout, and the flavor was delicious. While similar to blackberries, it starts off with sweet honey notes before giving way to a citrus and floral aftertaste. In the end, I found that it paired best with the Naked Organic Peanut Butter, with both light tastes balancing each other out. Even though I'm not a big fan of jams packed with seeds, this one won me over.

 

Raspberry Artisan Jam

Raspberry, on the other hand, is a flavor I'm much more familiar with. However, with this jam's only ingredients being raspberries and sugar, I was curious to find out how a pure raspberry jam might differ from what I was used to.

In the end, the differences wound up being quite a lot. This jam was much smoother in texture than the marionberry, and I was surprised by its tart, sharp flavor. It definitely packed a punch, and again made me see past the seeds to really enjoy the way it tasted. I thought this jam paired well with the stronger flavors of the almond butter, with the brightness of the jam working beautifully the stronger nutty flavor.

 

Bottom Line

Not everyone is on the lookout for all-natural products like the ones Spread the Love sells, but if you're looking to ditch added oils, preservatives and flavorings, they're difficult to beat. They taste great, and the company works hard to keep all of that extra junk away from their customers. With prices ranging from $10 to $13 per jar, they won't be in everyone's budget, but if you're willing to spend a little extra for quality, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

Looking for something totally different in your pantry? Click HERE to find out about Nerdy Nuts and their uniquely flavored peanut butters.