New peanut butter offers health benefits, creator says

Published 10:18 pm Thursday, October 19, 2006

MOULTRIE — Tifton businessmen were spreading their love of peanut butter at Sunbelt Expo this week.

Inventor J.C. Bell of Bell Plantation was handing out samples of his powdered peanut butter, PB2. Simply mix the powder with the desired amount of water or any other liquid, including jelly or honey, to reconstitute the powder into the familiar butter form.

Before this nutty venture, Bell and his wife used to designe and manufacture technology for the military. With expert assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the University of Georgia and the University of Auburn, the Bells developed PB2. An 8-ounce jar of PB2 is equivalent in serving sizes to a 20-ounce jar of regular peanut butter, Bell said.

“We went into agriculture, because we come from an agricultural family, and we wanted to figure out how to make farmers more money,” he said. “We have farmers who participate in this, and we’re trying to use up the peanut surplus.”

Essentially the oil is squeezed out of roasted peanuts and what remains is peanut powder. The highly aromatic oil is sold separately.

“The USDA wanted something that schools could serve,” he said.

The interesting side effect to powdering peanut butter is that PB2 has fewer calories, less fat and higher protein and antioxidant content. A two-tablespoon serving of PB2 has only 54 calories compared to 190 in an average peanut butter product. Of those calories in PB2, 25 calories (3 grams) are from fat. In a regular peanut butter, there are 16 grams of fat.

PB2 retains all the vitamins and minerals as regular peanut butter, Bell said. It contains no transfats or cholesterol.

“This right here,” Bell said holding up a sample jar, “by weight is 40 percent protein. You’re getting up to the supplement level.”

Only three weeks on the market and PB2 has been picked up by nearly 250 stores and is getting attention from nutrition directors at school systems, Bell said. The Medicine Man store in Tifton owned by Mark McLean was the first to carry PB2.

“People are very curious,” McLean said. “Anything new, people are curious about.”

Salespeople are “batting a thousand,” Bell said. For school districts, per serving costs would be about 7 cents and for the consumer about 9 cents. Costs per unit are slightly higher than regular peanut butter, but the health benefits are so much better, Bell said.

“It’s about 10 percent more than regular peanut butter, but when you knock off about 75 percent of your fat calories and over half of your regular calories, that’s what people are after,” he said.

Bell Plantation is based in Tifton. PB2 is manufactured in a Fitzgerald plant, which will employ 128 people at full production. Nearly 100 more jobs will be created through American Blanching in Fitzgerald that supplies the plant, Bell said.

Look for PB2 at Harvey’s, the Fresh Market in Tallahassee and Whole Foods Market for starters.



On the Internet: www.bellplantation.com.

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