How we pick our products
Whether at parties, for lunch, or for snacking at home, peanuts are one of the staples of snacking. Therefore, we’ll be talking about the different types and brands of peanuts on sale and how to get the best ones.
Everyone prefers a different type of peanuts, whether they are Japanese, enchilados, garlic, lime, or natural. There are many benefits of eating peanuts, as they are part of the healthy fats needed by our body.
We’ll start by explaining the basics, such as what exactly peanuts are and what benefits they have. Then, we’ll talk about how to choose brands that sell the most natural products, and what to consider when making your purchase. We hope you find this guide helpful!
Summary
- Peanuts belong to the legume group, so they are high in protein and good and necessary fats for our body. Eating peanuts, unlike other types of snacks, is good for our health, helping for example to maintain blood pressure.
- There are several types of peanuts available on the market, such as Japanese, enchilados, or salted. This time, we will explain the differences between these types of peanuts and natural, unprocessed peanuts.
- When buying peanuts, it is important to pay attention to the nutritional indexes, as many will have undergone processes in which sugar, for example, has been included. Our type of consumption will determine what type of peanuts are suitable for us, and how to buy them with respect to our diet, frequency, and amount of consumption.
The Best Peanut: Our Picks
Buying Guide
The peanuts you buy will depend a lot on the context in which you are going to use them, so you need to be careful about which brands are good for different types of snacks. In this section, we introduce you to some peanut basics and explain how to find out which type is best for you.
What are peanuts and what are their benefits?
When consumed in adequate amounts, peanuts can help improve or prevent many health problems, such as heart disease, high cholesterol, or blood pressure. However, being high-calorie foods, they can cause weight gain if consumed in large quantities.
Many versions of peanuts are also processed with chemicals, fried, or have other added ingredients that add large amounts of sugar, salt, or unhealthy fat. This not only takes away the benign properties of these seeds, but also makes them harmful to the body when the amounts are not measured.
Peanuts in the shell or packaged – what should you look out for?
Peanuts in the shell
Peanuts in the shell have many nutritional benefits, and are mainly distinguished by the fact that they do not have any additional or artificial ingredients. They are available from local producers, or in bulk in some shops. They are more difficult to find, and have to be shelled by hand.
Packaged peanuts
| In-shell peanuts | Packaged peanuts | |
|---|---|---|
| Flavour | Natural | Enhanced with ingredients |
| Nutrients | Nutrient-rich | Nutritious, although consumption of additional ingredients should be moderated |
| Processing | Unprocessed | Processed |
| Accessibility | Difficult to locate and consume | Easy access, easy consumption |
Can I eat peanuts if I am on a diet?
Our answer is always yes to peanuts, as long as you respect the portions and buy only natural peanuts, either in the shell or packaged. Peanuts, besides having many disease prevention benefits, are a “good fat”.
In the group of good fats we also find products such as avocados, nuts and olive oil. These fats, in small amounts, are good for giving energy to our body and help to eliminate the bad fats we have stored up.
What about peanut butter?
The most commercial products, for example, always add large amounts of sugar and other ingredients to obtain a better, more spreadable texture. We recommend that you include peanut butter in your diet, but make sure it is 100% natural.
Tip: The best way to tell if a peanut butter is natural is to let it sit in the jar. If you notice a separation between the oily component and the peanuts themselves, the butter is natural. If it always remains a uniform paste, the butter has additives.
Buying Criteria: Factors that allow you to compare and rate Peanuts
When we buy peanuts, we will necessarily be thinking about the specific use we are going to give them and, based on that, we will be able to know what nutritional and taste qualities we need in our product. Here is a list of buying criteria that will guide your decision step by step.
- Type of consumption
- Frequency of consumption
- Moderate consumption
- Frequent consumption
- Consistent consumption
- Type of diet
- Presentations
- Japanese and Japanese enchilados
- Salted or enchilados
- Natural
- With lemon
- Roasted
- Quantity
Type of consumption
The type of consumption is the most important factor in the choice of specific peanuts, as this will determine the nutritional levels we need and how important this aspect is in our purchase.
- For parties: If we want peanuts that we can use for gatherings at home, for example, but that we won’t eat every day, we recommend getting peanuts with additional flavours, such as peanuts with garlic and salt or enchilados. These are perfect for snacking when you have guests over.
- For lunch: Peanuts are great for lunch, especially in their natural shelled form (roasted), or in peanut butter. It is important that you are not eating peanuts with additional flavours on a daily basis, unless they are unsalted enchilados, as many peanut flavours have too much sodium.
- For dieting: If you want to buy peanuts to follow a diet plan or to have a healthier diet, we recommend buying unprocessed peanuts, if possible in the shell. If you don’t have much time to peel them, there are fat-free roasted peanut options.
Frequency of consumption
The frequency of consumption is directly related to the type of consumption, and will basically tell us how healthy it is to eat which type of peanuts at a certain frequency. This will help us to know if what we are consuming is good for our health or if it is affecting us.
Moderate consumption
If your consumption is moderate, i.e. you only eat peanuts at gatherings or once in a while as a treat, you can basically indulge in your favourite flavour of peanuts. Remember that it’s okay to have a tasty snack once in a while, but always opt for natural ingredients.
Frequent consumption
If you eat them frequently, i.e. several times a week, we recommend that you do not eat peanuts that are high in calories or have a lot of processing, such as Japanese peanuts or fried peanuts. You can opt for lemony ones, although you should watch your salt intake. It is best to eat them roasted or in the shell.
Consistent consumption
If you eat peanuts on a daily basis, your diet is probably quite balanced, as long as you opt for natural peanuts in the shell or roasted peanuts, making sure they do not have added fats or are not fried.
Type of diet
Our diet is also a factor that can influence our choice, as different types of peanuts have slightly different properties. In short, we need to know whether we will be using peanuts to supplement our protein intake or to complement a dietary regime.
- Vegetarian: If you are a vegetarian, peanuts are one of the most recommended foods to supplement your protein intake. Many people choose to eat peanut butter, as it has large amounts of peanut (protein) in each spoonful and is easier to eat than individual peanuts.
- Carnivore: If your diet includes meat, you should take care that your peanut intake does not exceed the daily calorie requirements of your diet, as this food will be an additional healthy fat but will probably be exceeding your protein intake.
- To lose weight: To lose weight, the ideal presentation of peanuts is in shell, since the time we take peeling them serves to send the signal of satiety to the brain and to remove that anxiety that we can get when we want to eat. Besides, these are the healthiest and most natural peanuts.
Presentations
Different presentations or flavours of peanuts will have different effects on your body. Here, we break down each type and explain what nutrients or ingredients they provide and what type of diet they are ideal for or, on the contrary, should be avoided.
Japanese and Japanese enchilados
Japanese peanuts are the least healthy of all the varieties, as they have a coating of flour, corn, fat, salt, among other ingredients, which makes their calories rise to 300 kcal per 60-gram bag. We do not recommend this type of peanuts to people who consume them frequently.
Salted or enchilados
Salted and enchilado peanuts are a crowd favourite, but they are fried so that the salt adheres to the peanut. We only recommend these peanuts as a party snack. Some brands, however, use natural ingredients, which makes them a more frequent snack.
Natural
Natural or raw peanuts are the best option for a healthy diet, and are ideal to eat with yoghurt, in a bowl, or on their own as a mid-morning snack. They are also quite tasty, so they can be eaten in any context.
With lemon
Lemon peanuts, like salted and enchilados, taste great but have extra fat, as most are fried and contain a lot of salt. As a tip, we recommend buying natural or roasted peanuts and squeezing a lemon with salt substitute.
Roasted
Finally, roasted peanuts retain all the nutritional aspects of natural peanuts, but have a different taste and texture added by roasting. These peanuts taste great and are ideal for any diet as long as they are free of added fats.
Quantity
Finally, to know how many peanuts we need to buy, it is important to know the portions we should consume, which will depend on the type of diet we are following. We should mainly look at the amounts of calories, fat, carbohydrates, and protein.
- Serving size (30g): A serving of 30 grams is what you should eat for lunch. In peanut butter, this equals half a tablespoon. This serving is ideal for a mid-morning snack when dieting, as it has 159 calories, 13 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of carbohydrates, and 7.2 grams of protein.
- Bag (200 g): These bags are ideal to buy weekly for a single person, if you eat one or two servings of peanuts a day. They are not very large, and the truth is that almost no one eats just a 30-gram serving unless they are on a diet.
- Box (5 bags): Our recommendation is to always buy peanuts in bulk or in a box of bags, as they are very durable and, this way, we will always have peanuts at our disposal, especially if we have a large family.
(Featured image photo: forwimuwi73 / Pixabay.com)
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