Unsweetened Peanut Butter is Gastronomically Superior

And I'll explain why. The role of the peanut in many beloved American peanut recipes is to be the savory contrast to sweet. Peanut butter and chocolate, ants on a log, peanut butter banana toast, and of course, peanut butter and jelly. The role of the peanut here is to offer important contrast to its succrine counterpart.

The viral peanut butter, date, and chocolate snack (see "Date Better") works so well because the date offers sweetness, the chocolate bitterness, and peanut butter fatty nuttiness. It's an intentional, perfect combination. Using a sweet peanut butter (or an overly sweet chocolate for that matter) upsets the sweetness proportion and flavor profile.

The same goes for peanut butter in a peanut butter and jelly--sweet tartness perfectly paired with salty nuttiness. Jif and Skippy have led us astray.

Anyway, that's my spiel on why it makes no sense for the "default" peanut butter to be sweetened. ...I, like you, am overly passionate about peanut butter matters.

(Salt, by the way, non-negotiable.)