It’s one thing to give up peanuts, but peanut butter cookies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and Thai peanut sauce? That just seems wrong.
Whether you or someone you love has a peanut allergy, or if your child goes to a school that has banned peanut butter in the cafeteria, you’re looking for a tasty, nutritious substitute.
The good news is that people with peanut allergies can now choose from a number of different peanut butter substitutes. Plus, you can use them in your favorite peanut butter recipes for wonderful tasting cookies, squares, energy bars and sauces.
SoyNut Butter is made from specially roasted soybeans that capitalize on the similarity between peanuts and soybeans for taste and texture.
After the beans are crushed, they are blended with soybean oil and other
ingredients. Soy nut butter has the advantage of soy's complete
protein (like meat) and less fat than other nut and seed butters.
Sunflower Seed Butter
Sunflower seeds are a good source of protein, fiber, vitamin E, zinc and iron. Sunflower oil is high in polyunsaturated fats, so it might spoil more easily than nut butters. Keep it in the fridge to keep it from going rancid.
Almond Butter
Lighter in color than peanut butter, almond butter is also higher in calcium and has a little bit more fiber. This is probably the most widely available peanut butter alternative.
Hemp-seed butter
With 11g of protein per serving, this spread supplies about a third of your child's daily iron requirement, plus omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. But be warned – it’s green.
Alternatives
Other alternatives to peanut butter that are not nut-free include:
- Cashew butter
- Almond butter
- Macadamia butter
- Pecan butter
Online Resources
- SoyNut Butter
- SoyNut Butter Company was founded by three food ingredient entrepreneurs. Unlike many food products which may be susceptible to cross contamination, I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butter does not contain peanuts, tree nuts of any type, sesame, dairy, egg, wheat (gluten), or shellfish.
