Nature Nate’s would like you to stop eating high fructose corn syrup. They’d like to help you kick that habit. Statewide in Kroger, Nature Nate’s, the nation’s No. 1 branded honey and fastest-growing honey, is officially launching a new line of food products, including nut butters, fruit spreads and syrup, all made with clean labels from natural ingredients and pure honey.
Nathan Sheets, president and chief steward at Nature Nate’s, hates high fructose corn syrup like Garfield hates Mondays.
In an interview last summer, he said, “I believe high fructose corn syrup is killing us all,” and hinted that his ambition was to take everyday foods like syrup, peanut butter and jam, and replace corn syrup with honey. Now, he’s finally doing it.
For the first quarter of 2018, Nature Nate’s new line will be sold exclusively at select Kroger stores in Dallas and Houston.
“We use super clean ingredients. Peanuts, fruit, honey, sea salt,” he says. “We took 100 percent maple syrup and compared it to normal syrup. Ours had a lower calorie count and sugar count than pure maple syrup. We took our peanut butter and put it up to a store brand organic one and it had less fat, less salt–less everything. It’s exactly what I wanted.”
There are major challenges to working with honey, he explains. Honey is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture, making the nut butters thicker. They’re slightly harder to spread than a typical nut butter because honey makes its thicker.
“At my house I keep finding my kids eating it out of the jar with a fork,” Nate jokes. “The peanut butter and almond butter are ridiculously good.”
As for the maple syrup, he likes the flavor even more than traditional syrup. “It somehow holds onto your pancakes better,” he says.
He has many more food products he’d like to introduce honey to, but in the meantime, customers can sample honey maple syrup, honey fruit spreads—strawberry, cherry and mixed berry—honey almond butter and honey peanut butter.
Find out more at naturenates.com
