The economic recession of recent years has resulted in the unfortunate demise of far too many local restaurants. Four years after the hard days of 2008, it’s still not uncommon to see another local institution close business, far too in debt to carry on. Yet even in these times, it’s nice to hear about someone who made the better of things and saw success. Such is the story of Pacific Beach Peanut Butter, founded by a college graduate who couldn’t find a job, it’s now found its way from sunny San Diego to right here in Ohio.
Pacific Beach sells homemade flavored peanut butters. With a homemade paste based on Valencia peanuts, these delicious peanut butters are great; the nuts are finely chopped so they’re creamy but still have a little crunch to them. The peanut butter is soft, it spreads easily and it isn’t too thick.
There are several different flavors, a very strong set of chocolate varieties, there’s a regular chocolate, a dark chocolate and a white chocolate as well as a chocolate raspberry, but chocolate peanut butter-like spreads aren’t new to our palettes anymore. It’s the other flavors that are better, I think.
There’s a butterscotch peanut butter and a toffee peanut butter and a caramel variety too; they’re made with very subtle flavors. You’d think anything flavored like that would be sickeningly sweet like some kind of candy spread, but the peanut butters are good in their aftertaste. Very subtle. The best flavor I like is Cinnamon. It’s got a very strong cinnamon flavor, and it goes well on just about anything. Combined with that texture and the crunch of the peanuts, it’s all just so good.
Flavors to try: The cinnamon peanut butter is my favorite. Though butterscotch is good, too.
Another Food Critic 