Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Tropical Traditions Coconut Peanut Butter Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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We happen to have a peanut butter connoisseur in our home. Her name is Darah.  She LOVES peanut butter. And she is particularly fond of special varieties. Lately, she’s been really hooked on Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Peanut Butter. Doesn’t that sound delicious? I can tell you from experience that it IS delicious! It’s made with two ingredients: organic peanuts and organic coconut. That’s it! NOTHING else!

Have you read the label of popular peanut butter brands? I’m afraid they can’t boast such a short list of ingredients. I love serving Darah something that doesn’t have extra oils and sugars added to it.

The flavor is simply scrumptious, as well. Coconut peanut butter is a genius idea, and it works well by itself, paired with jam, or in many recipes that might call for peanut butter. Darah likes it best on a graham cracker, and every once in a while, I’ll sprinkle a touch of cinnamon-sugar on top for a special treat.

I have been very impressed with this product, and I’m not at all surprised. Every single product we have tried from this company has been superb. They are truly committed to bringing you the highest quality, and they do not make compromises to try to make an extra buck here and there. I really appreciate when a company is this reliable. I wouldn’t hesitate to order anything from them, because their track record has been spotless with me! 🙂

Buy it!: Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Peanut Butter would be a really fun holiday gift for the peanut butter fan in your life. A 16 oz glass jar is regularly $14.99 but is on sale now for $9.99! Very affordable gift idea!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a 16 oz glass jar of coconut peanut butter from Tropical Traditions! Yummy!

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Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Water Vinegar Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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Tropical Traditions has a very cool product on the market that I want to highly recommend you add to your pantry. It’s called Organic Coconut Water Vinegar, and I think it makes an excellent alternative to distilled vinegar for your recipes. It’s got a great flavor and it is PACKED with nutrients. If left on its own to ferment and turn into vinegar, those nutrients are retained in the vinegar. Most vinegars, coconut or otherwise, are pasteurized using a heat process which does kill off most of those great vitamins and minerals that it normally possesses. Tropical Traditions has worked closely with scientists for use to produce an incubation system that is truly safe and that retains all the goodness that coconut water has to offer.

Additionally, Tropical Traditions is dedicated to making sure their harvesting practices are sustainable. Most other coconut vinegar products are made by harvesting a coconut flower bud, which if left alone would produce coconuts. Trees dedicated to this process will never produce coconuts, as a result. Tropical Traditions uses the coconut, itself for a more natural and healthy final product.
So what do you do with coconut water vinegar? I took the same approach to using this product as I did to using coconut oil, which was a new product to me when I first started using it. I simply started reaching for my coconut water vinegar when I would have normally reached for traditional vinegar. The results have been absolutely delicious! I personally find the flavor to be brighter, though not at all overpowering. And I love knowing that I’m using something that is so very good for my family and the environment.

Buy it!: A 16 oz bottle of Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Water Vinegar retails for $10 and a 32 ounce jar retails for $18.50. I know our 32 ounce jar is going to last a really long time since recipes that call for vinegar usually don’t call for more than a tablespoon.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a bottle of Organic Coconut Water Vinegar!
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Tropical Traditions Rocks: From Skeptic to Big Fan

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If you’ve been reading blogs at all in the last year, you’ve likely seen at least one or two posts about the company Tropical Traditions. I’ve read several posts, and was initially completely skeptical of a company that could offer such a vast range of products.

But I kept reading reviews from bloggers whose opinions I trust. And my skepticism shifted to genuine curiosity. The products this company makes seem to get high praise again and again. I really wanted to see for myself if I agreed.

So now it is my turn to talk about Tropical Traditions. And after trying out one of their products for about a month, I can tell you that this skeptic is now a big fan.

 

I have personally never used coconut oil in my own kitchen. We are big fans of extra virgin olive oil, and use that for as much of our cooking, as possible. So when the Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil arrived, my first question was what in the heck to do with it! Fortunately, Tropical Traditions anticipated this question and provided an answer. From their site, “There are many ways to use coconut oil and incorporate it into one’s diet. Since it is a stable cooking oil, one can simply replace unhealthy oils in their diet with coconut oil. Since it is a solid most of the time at room temperature or when refrigerated, it can be a butter or margarine substitute for spreads or for baking. Any recipe calling for butter, margarine, or any other oil can be substituted for coconut oil. It is popularly mixed in with “smoothies.” There are also hundreds of FREE recipes here that have been submitted by our customers over the years.”

We had a shrimp dish on our menu the week the product arrived, and I thought I’d try out the coconut oil with that dish. I thought perhaps it would give it a tropical flair like what I would taste at a place like Bahama Breeze (oh how I miss that restaurant since we moved!). OH. MY. WORD. You guys…it was DELICIOUS! The coconut flavor was present in the dish, but it really just complimented the food and didn’t overpower it at all.

The next day, I decided to use the spread as an alternative to butter on my toast. Also delicious! We then tried it with our popcorn that night (we hand crank our popcorn and use a mixture of butter and olive oil. The coconut oil replaced the butter. Tim wasn’t crazy about the overall taste, though he said he liked it just fine. I thought it was great, and took the popcorn in a slightly sweet direction. I think he prefers his popcorn to be more savory, whereas I’m always going to like something if it is sweet! So we were a house divided on that one.

Since I liked the coconut oil so much, I decided to do a bit of research on it. My mom had the impression that coconut oil would contribute to high cholesterol, so I did have a few concerns. The impression that I get is that it is that coconut oil is high in saturated fat, so I wouldn’t want to use it instead of something like extra virgin olive oil. However, if I’m using it to replace a different oil that is high in saturated fat (like butter), that’s the way to go. Tropical Traditions has a great link to some research if you want to read up on why replacing butter with coconut oil might make sense. After we did our homework, we have personally decided to replace butter with coconut oil in several of our dishes. And I’m now using it instead of butter on my toast and bagels.

Buy it! If you’ve never bought coconut oil before, the price tag might alarm you. It isn’t cheap. But the prices Tropical Traditions offers are competitive, and the quality of their oil is one of the very best; just ask all their loyal customers who rave about it! Plus, if you get on their email list, you’ll see that they regularly offer discounts on their oil (and other products). I’ve seen it for as much as half off! The Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil, which is the best of the best, retails for $37.50 for a quart. They offer a variety of sizes, though.

Edit: this giveaway is now closed. 

Win it!: Joy of joys, here’s your chance to get your own jar of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions! The contest will run until January 22nd at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me another product Tropical Traditions offers that you’ve either tried or want to try.

My answer: I want to try their carpet cleaner. Darah is into blueberries right now, and you can imagine how our rugs feel about that!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Sign up for the Tropical Traditions newsletter (emails once a week…always a great sale happening!)
2. Blogger love: Subscribe to Stuff Parents Need by RSS or email
3. Rare bonus entry opportunity: Follow both Tropical Traditions and Stuff Parents Need on Twitter for a third entry (leave your twitter id)

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my home page.

Disclosure: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.