You may have realised from my past article that I am a self-professed nut butter nut. With that in mind, I have made it my mission to rank all nut butters I come across – a lifelong task, I hope. I have to start somewhere – so here is taste-test 2 – Epic Spreads.
Epic Spreads hail from the birthplace of peanut butter, the good old USA. It was actually Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (of cereal fame) who first patented a process for creating peanut butter in 1895. However, Kellogg was known for his rather strict and spartan attitude to nutrition (and life in general) and Epic Spreads are the antithesis of all that. The company is based in the golden state of California, and the range consists of such sexy blends as Birthday Cake, Chocolate Fudge, Cinnamon Roll, Cookies and Cream, Mocha, S’mores, Toffee and White Chocolate.
Unfortunately, I haven’t tested the whole range yet, but I want to give you my initial impressions. In the interest of fairness and journalistic integrity, I promise to make my way through the whole range – so stay tuned.
I started with White Chocolate – according to the online reviews this is the most popular. The spread is a gorgeous medley of cashews, peanuts, and coconut with some surprising lumps of white chocolate mixed in. My first impression? Way too sweet. This does not taste like a healthy, natural nut butter. There is a distinct artificial flavour to it, and it is way too sweet for my palette. It’s obvious that Epic contains a lot of the nasties that we fitness professionals try to avoid – including sugar, cocoa butter, cream and palm oil
I don’t want to be a killjoy, there are some positives. The consistency is neither too thick nor too runny. And if you are looking for something to satisfy a sweet tooth, this might be a good option – in moderation. Finally, the peppering of white chocolate chunks throughout makes for a nice and moorish surprise. I doubt that I will order this one again given my predilection for more natural blends. However, I am glad I gave it a go and can add my two pence on it.
The second flavour I tried was Birthday Cake – mainly because I was lured by the pretty pink sprinkles on top of the jar. If I thought White Chocolate was sugary, this takes sweet to new hyperglycemic levels. The synthetic taste is so sickly sweet that it actually made me feel nauseous. I felt as though I was eating a tub of icing sugar. The texture was runny and lacked the smooth, full-bodied consistency that I have come to expect from my nut butters. I can generally inhale a tub of nut butter easily if unsupervised, but after a few spoonfuls of this concoction I had to give up. If you regularly eat icing sugar as a snack, this could be the one for you - otherwise, I don’t recommend it. There are much better, tastier and healthier nut butters out there.
Surprisingly, the macros aren’t half bad given the saccharine taste to them. White Chocolate contains 90 kcals per tablespoon with the following macro breakdown: protein: 3g, carbohydrates: 4g and fats: 7g. Birthday Cake is just slightly more calorific with 95 kcals per tablespoon and the following macros: protein: 3.5, carbohydrates: 5g and fats: 7.5.
As I explained in the beginning of this post, I have only tasted two flavours and will work my way through the rest shortly. However, in my opinion, Epic butters don’t live up to their name. Based on the current sample size, I would give this brand a miss and opt for other more natural and palatable butters in the market.