Jif Pumpkin Pie Spiced Whipped Peanut Butter - Target: Marlton, NJ

Jif Pumpkin Pie Spiced Whipped Peanut Butter - Target: Marlton, NJ

This was one of those seasonal products that no one really asked for, it just came into existence, and food bloggers like me decided to give it a try because, well, it's a pumpkin spiced peanut butter! It's new, and different, and people like me wonder, why would you want to combine these two flavors? Will it actually taste any good? I don't know about the rest of you, but I wasn't exactly thrilled to see this product, and I thought about skipping it entirely, but (like most seasonal products) it went on sale, and I couldn't resist.

The packaging for this product is a oblong plastic tub, which is an awkward shape, but the shallow container and large lid allow you to easily reach all of the peanut butter inside. That means there's no awkward angles or messiness to get that very last spoonful of peanut butter. Other than it's functionality, the packaging looks festive and appealing. Similar to the snowflakes on the Apple Pie "Juice Drink" I just reviewed, this label has scattered leaves, (which remind me of one of the default brushes in Photoshop) and warm Fall-ish colors. I wouldn't say this container was especially beautiful, but I think Jif's designers did a great job with what they were given. It's seasonal, festive, and it has all the necessary information.

Once opened, the peanut butter has an odd, almost plastic-y texture on it's surface, I guess it's from the whipping process?And there are little deflated peaks from being extruded and pumped into the tub. Visually, it's not that impressive, and it smells like peanut butter mixed up with a few teaspoons of pre-made pumpkin pie spice. The scent isn't all that appealing, and to be completely honest, I am not looking forward to eating it.

I took a spoonful and put it into my mouth. Initially, all I could taste was peanut butter, but once I started moving it around in my mouth (which is so weird to type and say, but you don't really "chew" peanut butter), I could taste the spices a bit more. The spice blend is a lot weaker than the overall peanut butter flavoring, and it's much more fall-like than pumpkin-y, and about mid-swallow I thought, hey, that wasn't so bad, and then the after taste set in. The aftertaste to me was dangerously close to a cinnamon candle, and it was really unappealing.

Do any of you remember the Apple Cinnamon Jif peanut butter products that were released in the early 2000s? I used to eat those with apple slices all the time, they were so good! I had secretly hoped that this would be a similar product, and that I could try and eat it with some fruit, but it's no where near as delicious as the apple cinnamon variety I remember.

This, this just wasn't a good idea. It doesn't taste all that great, and I don't really know what you would eat this with. The photo shows this stuff spread onto some kind of snicker doodle cookie, but that seems a little much. I thought maybe I'd pair this with banana, but I think it'd be a waste of a good banana. This isn't completely awful, and right now I've been using it in my dog's toys and he seems to enjoy it, but it's such an odd flavor combination that I just don't know what to do with it. Any ideas?

Either way, even if you see this on clearance, don't be a sucker like me and buy it. I kinda regret doing so, and now I have 15oz of this product and no idea what to do with it.

On a Pumpkin Scale of 1-5 (5 being the most pumpkin-y) I’d give this a .5. There's a slight spiciness, but it get candle-y really fast, and it just does NOT pair well with peanut butter. I think this product is a real flop, and I wouldn't recommend buying it, even if it goes on sale for super cheap.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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