Answer: Yes.
For beginners, you might have been confused with the inclusion of the word “butter” in the said food item. However, peanut butter does not contain any dairy products. With peanuts, oil, and salt as their main ingredients, peanut butter is considered a perfect go-to food item for vegan diets.
Now, you may have Skippy as your favorite peanut butter brand, so you want to know if it’s a vegan item. The answer depends on what flavor you are going to eat. Skippy Peanut Butter has flavors that contain honey, an animal product. Aside from this, issues with its sugar and oil contents are being brought up by some vegan folks.
Let’s know more about Skippy Peanut Butter and some other brands with no controversial vegan issues that you can alternatively try!
Table of Contents
Health Benefits of Peanut Butter
Peanut butter, in general, is considered to be a powerhouse when it comes to nutritional content. It is a great source of protein, magnesium, vitamin E, and healthy fats. Recent studies have proven that a small amount of peanut butter can reduce cancer, heart disease, and diabetes risk.
However, you should still moderately consume peanut butter. Approximately the ideal consumption is 2 tablespoons a day as part of your balanced diet. Even though it contains healthy fats, overconsumption can lead to unwanted weight gain and health problems.
Peanut butter can be consumed by spreading it on fresh toast or scooping some out of its can. Just a reminder, consuming more than the prescribed consumption in a day is not advisable. (So, hold yourself a little bit.)
Nutritional Value of Skippy Peanut Butter
The table below presents the nutrition facts of Skippy Peanut Butter per 2 tablespoons of serving:
| Amount per serving | ||
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 190 | |
| Calories from fat | 150 | |
| %DV | ||
| Total Fat | 17g | 26% |
| Saturated Fat | 3.5g | 18% |
| Trans Fat | 0g | |
| Cholesterol | 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 125mg | 5% |
| Total Carbohydrate | 6g | 2% |
| Dietary Fiber | 2g | 8% |
| Sugars | 3g | |
| Protein | 7g | |
| Vitamin A | 0% | |
| Calcium | 0% | |
| Kosher | ||
| Niacin | 20% | |
| Vitamin C | 0% | |
| Iron | 4% | |
| Vitamin E | 10% | |
| Gluten-Free |
Is Skippy Peanut Butter Vegan?
Contrary to classic peanut butter, Skippy contains extra ingredients. Thus, knowing its contents should be a priority to avoid being misled.
In this regard, there are numerous instances where Skippy Peanut Butter can be off-limits to your vegan diet.
These include:
Honey-Flavored Skippy Peanut Butter
Typically, product containers include the honey flavor label in front for easy identification. Skippy has two product variations that include honey. First, the Creamy and Extra Crunchy variation of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter Spread. The second one is the Roasted Honey Nut Skippy Peanut Butter.
Honey is not vegan since it is a bee product, and bees are animals. Vegans have political advocacy against corporations that benefit from animal violence and cruelty. Thus, they will never consume these products. However, there are vegans more about health reasons rather than politics, and eating honey does not concern them at all. So to guide you better, you must first decide what type of vegan diet you will pursue.
Sugar Content
Sugar itself does not contain any animal products. However, there are various controversies regarding how sugar is processed by manufacturers. Bone chars are used as a filtration system to refine sugar to achieve a perfect and pure white color. Despite not showing any sign of bone in the end product, this activity is still condemned by the vegan community.
Does Skippy use animal bones to refine its sugar content? That, we don’t know yet. You can contact the manufacturer and ask them about this matter. However, getting a reply might take a long time. In the meantime, know that being 100% vegan is difficult. Imagine huge companies that have big manufacturing plants and equipment. There is little chance that they have separate tools for making vegan and non-vegan items as it may double up their costs and expenses.
Oil Content
There are two concerns regarding Skippy’s oil contents. First, health concerns. Skippy Peanut Butter contains what we call hydrogenated vegetable oils. That catch is that this oil adds the least healthy fat— Trans fat. What it does is that it raises the amount of your “bad cholesterol” and lowers your “good cholesterol.” Trans fat is considered worse than saturated fat. It can lead to fatal heart diseases and death.
Second, ethical concerns. Skippy uses palm oil as a texture enhancer for the product. There are issues about how palm oil harvesting is unsustainable and threatens animal habitats and safety.
How Is Skippy Related to Hormel Foods?
Hormel Foods is widely known for animal cruelty and violence. Sad to say, Hormel is the owner of the Skippy brand. This may also add to why you would boycott the peanut butter brand. However, boycotting a brand with established connections would be a very difficult thing to do. It is much better if you would raise all your concerns by messaging them than by a silent boycott of their products.
While it is understandable for vegans to boycott the brand, it is still a personal choice. Just remember that we tend to knowingly and unknowingly participate in some animal cruelty practices, such as accidentally stepping on a bug. At the end of the day, it is how you can deliver a positive impact to the community. Remember, choosing to be a vegan is already a huge impact!
Can Skippy Make You Gain Weight?
One thing that might worry you about consuming peanut butter is if it can make you gain weight. Excessive weight gain can lead to serious medical conditions, so it’s important to discuss this now.
Skippy Peanut Butter will only make you gain weight if you overeat. After all, it is a high-fat and high-calorie product. So, to avoid gaining weight, ensure you incorporate the product into your well-balanced diet, and you will only consume 2 tablespoons a day at most. It’s all about maintaining your serving size and balancing your calorie intake!
Which Skippy Products Are Vegan?
To help you choose the next time you go to the supermarket, here is a chart of all skippy products which are vegan and not:
| Vegan | Not Vegan |
|---|---|
| Skippy Single | Skippy Roasted Nut Creamy (includes honey) |
| Skippy Creamy | Skippy Natural Honey (includes honey) |
| Skippy Super Chunk | Skippy Natural Honey Super Chunk (includes honey) |
| Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy | Skippy Double Peanut Butter PB Bites (includes milk products) |
| Skippy Reduced Fat Super Chunk | Skippy Pretzel Bites (includes milk products) |
| Skippy Natural Singles | Skippy Granola PB Bites (includes honey and milk products) |
| Skippy Natural Creamy | Skippy Graham Crackers PB Bites (includes honey and milk products) |
| Skippy Natural Super Chunk | |
| Skippy Natural Creamy ⅓ Less Sodium and Sugar |
Can I Make My Own Peanut Butter at Home?
The above discussions might have made you worried. So your next question might be, can I just make my own peanut butter?
Of course! Making your own peanut butter is generally easy. Just prepare some peanuts, a pinch of salt, and a food blender or processor. This way, you can ensure that your peanut butter is 100% vegan. Moreover, you can add a few drops of natural oils you have that you want to put in. You can also try putting maple syrup which is a certified vegan item. Adding these will make your peanut butter creamier and thicker in consistency. Lastly, you can modify your peanuts to cashew, hazelnuts, or macadamia. Just remember to check whether these are 100% vegan processed.
It Is Safe to Say That Skippy Peanut Butter Is Vegan
Generally, Skippy Peanut Butter is vegan-friendly. However, you should be careful in selecting variations because some contain honey and milk products. There are also issues regarding using bone chars to refine its sugar contents. Moreover, health and ethical reasons concerning the brand’s oil contents are brought up.
Skippy Peanut Butter is a good protein, vitamin E, and healthy fats source. It can also help lessen the risk of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. The prescribed consumption is 2 tablespoons only a day. Going above this can make you gain weight over time and may lead to medical conditions because of its trans fat contents.
Choosing whether you will consume the brand concerning its sugar and oil content issues is personal. You can either set a percentage of your vegan diet, allowing these confusing and hard-to-verify issues or go 100% vegan. Just remember that choosing to be vegan is already a huge impact on the community you are in.
