Today I finally (after passing it at least 100 times) decided to purchase the hotel peanut cream inside a cardboard box: http://mesubim.com/2015/12/14/hotel-peanuts-cream/ to see what was inside.

There was some debate at the shop about it, some were in favor of buying it, while others thought we should pass it over, and now I understand. Years ago when peanut butter wasn’t imported into Japan, at least not as a regular staple, it was promoted by certain luxury hotels such as the famous Hotel Okura.

In fact you find today hotel margarine and it falls in the same category. So the hotel had its own version of creamy peanut butter, and called it peanut cream, a play on words. They likely added some sugar and oils/fats and emulsifier to make it extra creamy. In the end the luxury of the peanut butter was in the cream, and not the peanut, get it?

PS: fifteen years ago Skippy’s peanut butter in France was sold in a specialty shop and wasn’t available in supermarkets.