Santa Cruz Organics started back in the early 1970s when founder and nature lover John Battendieri began revitalizing orchards in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He started with natural organic apple juice in 1972 and today Santa Cruz Organics offers over 50 organic food products including organic fruit juices, organic fruit spreads, organic lemonades, and organic peanut butter.
The Santa Cruz Organic Peanut Butter is what I am most interested in trying because it comes in two roasts – light and dark roast (just like coffee!). It still comes in crunchy or creamy and non-stir varieties but who knew there were different roasts for peanuts! I really love peanut butter and really love peanuts (is this most vegans?!), so I went all in with the Crunchy Dark Roasted Peanut Butter for this review. If you’re passionate about peanut butter too, check out the dark and light variations on Amazon or just keep reading to see how this one faired. 😉
Taste Experience
Before I dive deep into this Santa Cruz Organic Crunchy Dark Roasted Peanut Butter, I want to warn my peanut butter lovers out there that the Santa Cruz No Stir Variations have organic palm oil but do not have sweeteners added like a lot of other No Stir brands! Yayyy!
Ok, so with only two ingredients (organic dark roasted peanuts and salt), I’m expecting peanut butter on peanut butter. ….and let’s just say Santa Cruz did not disappoint. This is not your average peanut butter. This is the peanut butter for the adults, for the serious ones about deep and dreamy peanut butter. It’s thick and slightly grainy but also very velvety with a smooth melt-in-your-mouth quality (which is the best when pairing peanut butter with a piece of vegan dark chocolate!). The dark roast is complex but so straightforwardly simple. It’s this paradox of “Ooo that’s heavy and rich” and then it’s “ooo but so unassuming and light.” I had no idea dark roast was a thing, but I am all in. The warm nutty smell delivers on taste too. I find the peanut butter to be a bit “mouth drying” after a bite and I’m not sure if it’s the salt or the dark roast, but that’s what makes this especially delish paired with an apple or a sweet, juicy treat. That’s not to say it’s not great in your standard PB &J, because it totally is. In fact, I dare say that the vegan and non-GMO Santa Cruz Organic Crunchy Dark Roasted Peanut Butter elevates your PB & J game. If you are still eating the same JIF you ate as a child, elevate your peanut butter game today with Santa Cruz Organics.
Nutrition
With only two ingredients this vegan and non-GMO peanut butter is a real show stopper when it comes to comparing it with other commercial peanut butters. Two tablespoons of Santa Cruz Organic Crunchy Dark Roasted Peanut Butter contains 190 calories with 16 grams of total fat. Peanuts are a great source of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats that help support heart health, boost brain function, and possibly prevent type 2 diabetes. Each plant-based serving has five grams of polyunsaturated fat and nine grams of monounsaturated fat to help meet essential fatty acid needs.
It tastes saltier than some variations but that’s not what the nutrition label shows. There are only 50mg of sodium per two tablespoon serving of Santa Cruz Organic Crunchy Dark Roasted Peanut Butter. Honestly, this is very low even compared to other natural, organic, and plant-based peanut butters and to give you an idea, JIF crunchy has 150mg of sodium in the same two tablespoon serving. This makes Santa Cruz Organic Crunchy Dark Roast a great option for many people, including those monitoring their sodium intake.
Peanuts are a legume (kind of like a bean) and have some but minimal amounts of carbohydrates. Santa Cruz Organic Dark Roasted Crunchy Peanut Butter has only five grams of total carbohydrates with three grams of fiber and no added sugars. This helps stabilize blood sugar level and support a healthy diet. This would be a great peanut butter option for anyone, vegan or omnivore, wanting to add a healthy source of fats, plant-based protein and fiber into his or her day. Peanut butter can add quite the nutrition punch with a dollop on oatmeal at breakfast, a dip with apples as a snack, and a peanut Thai sauce for dinner. There are lots of ways to incorporate peanut butter and with high-quality peanuts in Santa Cruz Organic Crunchy Dark Roasted Peanut Butter, you’ll want to be noshing on it regularly!
The Non-Vegan Review
Veggie people of the interwebs, this is my new favorite peanut butter. Teddie peanut butter used to be my all time favorite (see review HERE), but there is now a new king, Santa Cruz dark roast. Until my cucumber bopping wife introduced me to Santa Cruz, I had no idea there was even such a thing as light or dark roasted peanut butter. But, when you think about the roasting process, and how there are clear differences in dark and light roast coffee, it makes total sense that there should also be different roasting levels for peanut butter. And let me tell you, Santa Cruz dark roast peanut butter is like the espresso of peanut butters – strong, full, dark roast flavor in every bite. The flavor is really just amazeballs. You also can’t beat that it’s organic and the only ingredient are roasted peanuts. If you’re a peanut butter connoisseur, you must try this Santa Cruz Dark Roast. Best place to get it? You guessed it, that huge river in the Brazilian rain forest – Amazon! Just click here.
Parting Thoughts
If you are living that peanut butter life where you love the convenience and taste of a plant-based protein like peanut butter but you don’t understand why manufacturers add sugar, oil, and other “stuff” to their spreads, I am 110% with you! That’s why I love Santa Cruz Organic Crunchy Dark Roasted Peanut Butter. It’s insanely simple with only organic roasted peanuts and salt but tastes so divine and sophisticated the dark roast. The best way I can explain it is when you go from Folgers coffee (that’s like JIF in peanut butter world) to a coffee house special blend (that’s Santa Cruz Organic Crunchy Dark Roasted Peanut Butter). If you’re ready to elevate your peanut butter (and you know you are), Santa Cruz is your jam!
Where are the peanuts grown? Is it in the United States?