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By MARY THERESE BIEBEL marytb@leader.net
Wednesday, March 19, 2003     Page: 1D

Mississippi can keep its mud.
   
That was the one unanimous opinion in a Times Leader taste test that last
week pitted the European hazelnut/chocolate spread Nutella against an
“American-style” rival called Mississippi Mud as well as some old-fashioned
peanut butters and newfangled candy-flavored spreads.
    As for Nutella?
   
“We love it,” taste tester Mike Rostock of Pittston said.
   
PB Max’s Snickers Caramel Spread?
   
“It’s better than the Milky Way – that’s too sweet,” Jeannine Luby of
Scranton said.
   
Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter?
   
“You definitely need milk with that,” Rob Kozlowski of Nanticoke said.
Noticing that his buddy, Rostock, seemed to be struggling with his mouth stuck
shut, Kozlowski added, “I’ll talk for him.”
   
Rostock, Luby and Kozlowski were among eight taste testers – all employees
of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania – who agreed to give their candid
opinions on ways to dress up a bagel, pretzel or slice of bread. What better
time to commission their services than during a period in which at least one
new spread seems to appear in the supermarket peanut-butter aisle almost
weekly?
   
First came Nutella, a blend of hazelnuts, cocoa, sugar and skim milk
popular as an after-school snack in Italy and France, and as a breakfast treat
in Germany.
   
Pietro Ferrero crafted the mix during the 1940s as a way to stretch
chocolate, which was in short supply. By 1949, Italian children were taking
pieces of bread to the corner market for a “smearing.”
   
Today the Ferrero company points out that “50 hazelnuts and 1 and cups of
skim milk” go into every 13-ounce container. But is that healthful-sounding
claim enough to make peanut-butter-loving Americans switch their allegiance?
   
“You can taste the calcium,” Kozlowski said with a laugh.
   
“Mmm. It’s rich,” Luby said.
   
Rostock declared that he loved Nutella. Diane Jones of Mountain Top decided
she didn’t like it enough to buy a whole jar. “I’d get sick of it,” she
concluded. And Carol Forbes of Dallas said it’s a good snack but not the kind
of spread you’d give your child on a lunch sandwich because “it reminds me of
candy.”
   
Speaking of candy, the next offering was designed to resemble a Milky Way
bar.
   
“It looks like ice cream. It looks like fudge,” tasters remarked as a
reporter spread the brown and white striped confection on crackers.
   
After they dug in, Kozlowski pronounced it “a decent snack” but several
others found it too sweet.
   
Next came Mississippi Mud, touted as “American-style” though it’s
imported from Germany. At room temperature, the product was separating and
required a bit of stirring to make it spreadable.
   
“Just seeing the work you have to go through is a turnoff,” Kozlowski
said.
   
“It’s not dunkable,” Alice Russo Mano of Dallas said as she nibbled a
cracker.
   
“Too messy,” Forbes pronounced.
   
“It has a blah taste,” Luby added.
   
To see how traditional peanut butter stacked up against the more exotic
alternatives, the tasters next tried Skippy’s creamy variety.
   
“Ah, it’s a good chaser,” Kozlowski said.
   
“Like meeting an old friend,” Rostock added.
   
“This is the first (sample) I ate in its entirety,” Russo Mano said.
   
Switching gears to Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter, half the tasters said
it was a novelty to see peanut butter that had to be stirred. Free of
hydrogenated oils and sugar, the brand boasts that its only ingredients are
peanuts and salt.
   
“I’ve tried other peanut butters without sugar. This tastes better,” Luby
said, surmising that the salt gave it a needed punch.
   
“This is very good. I might buy it,” Russo Mano said.
   
“I like it better than Skippy,” Toni Barto of Scranton offered.
   
It’s like eating a handful of peanuts,” said Linda Tirpak of Shavertown,
explaining to her co-workers that the absence of added hydrogenated oils made
natural peanut butter a more healthful choice.
   
Jones remained unimpressed. “It’s too thick,” she said, indicating that
Skippy’s creamy peanut butter and Peter Pan’s Honey-Roasted were more to her
liking.
   
When PB Max’s Snickers-flavored spread made the rounds, the testers
compared it favorably to the Milky Way they’d tried earlier.
   
“It has nuts in it. It’s much better,” Tirpak said as the rest of the
group chimed in with comments about Milky Way being “too sweet” and the
Snickers variety having “a nicer consistency.”
   
As the test concluded, the label-readers among the tasters saw most of the
spreads were comparable in terms of calories (usually 170 to 200 for a
two-tablespoon serving). Protein was highest in the peanut butters, with about
7 grams per serving, but they also contained more fat than the chocolate
spreads which, in turn, were higher in sugar.
   
Encouraged by the test coordinator to share the remnants, several tasters
expressed interest in the Nutella and the three peanut butters. One happily
took the Snickers spread, and another nonchalantly picked up the Milky Way jar
on his way out.
   
Finally, only the Mississippi Mud remained – alone, unwanted and destined
for the newsroom snack shelf.
   
THE COST
   
Retail prices for our selection of spreads, in jars averaging 10 to 18
ounces, hover in the $2 to $3 range at Wegmans.
   
Skippy creamy peanut butter: $2.19
   
Peter Pan Honey Roasted peanut butter: $1.99
   
Nutella: $3.19
   
Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter: $2.29
   
Milky Way chocolate spread: $3.59
   
Snickers caramel spread: $3.59
   
Mississippi Mud: $2.99