Grenade Protein Spread

What is Grenade Protein Spread?

It is a spread formulated with whey protein concentrate and sweetened with maltitol instead of sugar. It provides 20 g of protein per 100 g and 1.8 g of sugars per 33 g serving. The flavours listed: Salted Caramel, Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate Cookies and Hazel Nutter.

The ingredient list for the milk chocolate version is short: vegetable oil (rapeseed and palm), maltitol as the sweetener, whey protein concentrate, skimmed milk powder, 7% fat-reduced cocoa, lecithins as the emulsifier and natural vanilla flavouring. The manufacturer describes its palm oil as sustainable; we report that statement exactly as it publishes it, without having verified it.

The principle is easy to grasp: the sugar in a conventional spread is replaced by a polyol, and part of the dry matter by milk protein. What you end up with is still a spread — fatty, dense, calorie-rich — and that is the first thing to take on board. The British brand's full range is in our Grenade section, and the category as a whole under protein snacks.

What does a 33 g serving contain?

These values relate to the milk chocolate version. The manufacturer indicates that they vary slightly from one flavour to another; the net weight of the jar is not included in the data supplied, so we cannot work out the number of servings.

The line that explains this entire product is the one for polyols: 29 g per 100 g. Maltitol takes the place that sugar would occupy in an ordinary spread, and that is what brings the sugars down to 5.6 g per 100 g, against around thirty grams for a supermarket product. The gap is real and verifiable.

But read the line above it: 520 kcal and 38 g of fat per 100 g. A conventional spread sits at around 540 kcal. In other words, the sugar has changed, not the calorie density. This product solves a sugar problem, not a calorie problem, and you should buy it knowing that.

One point of regulatory vocabulary is worth stating plainly. The 20 g of protein account for 80 kcal out of the product's 520, or 15.4% of the energy value. The threshold for the “source of protein” claim is 12%: it is cleared. The threshold for “high protein” is 20%: it is not. This spread is therefore a source of protein, not a high-protein spread, and the distinction is not cosmetic. The wording that may be used remains: protein contributes to a growth in and the maintenance of muscle mass.

How should you use Protein Spread?

Dose: 33 g, or roughly two heaped teaspoons. Base: wholemeal bread, pancakes, rice cakes, a bowl of oats. Timing: breakfast or as a snack. Frequency: one serving a day is a sensible benchmark. Duration: none, it is a food; use within three months of opening.

Storage calls for two specific habits, and they are not optional. Keep the jar between 15 and 22 °C and above all do not put it in the fridge: in the cold the spread hardens and becomes impossible to spread. And stir before use: oil separating out at the surface is normal in a spread with no stabilising additive, and it blends back in with thirty seconds of a spoon.

On the serving size, a word of honesty. Thirty-three grams is not much — two teaspoons. Eating it with a spoon straight from the jar, you go past 60 or 80 g very quickly, which is 300 to 400 kcal. The one habit that changes everything: serve yourself onto a plate rather than eating over the jar.

In the kitchen it takes a few seconds of heating quite happily, for drizzling over protein pancakes or a bowl of oats. It also works into a cake batter, bearing in mind that polyols cope poorly with long baking at high temperatures.

Who is this spread for, and who is it not for?

It suits those who like something sweet at breakfast and are looking to bring their sugars down without giving up the pleasure. It also suits those following a flexible diet who would rather build a treat in than cave in on a whole jar on a Sunday evening.

It contains MILK, in two forms: whey protein concentrate and skimmed milk powder. Traces of GLUTEN, SOYA and NUTS are possible. It is therefore suitable neither for vegans nor for people allergic to milk proteins.

The most important statement concerns the polyols: excessive consumption may produce laxative effects. That sentence is mandatory from 10% polyols onwards, and at 29 g per 100 g we are a very long way above that. In practice: a 33 g serving delivers 10 g of maltitol, which most people tolerate without any trouble. Three servings in a day, or 30 g of polyols, and many will have an unpleasant time of it. If you are affected by irritable bowel syndrome, serious caution is called for.

What you should not expect from it, and this is the most useful point on this page: it is not a weight-loss product. At 520 kcal per 100 g, it sits at the level of a conventional spread. Nor is it a source of protein in the sense you have in mind: 7 g per serving does not replace a shake, and you would have to eat 125 g of it — 650 kcal — to match the protein in a serving of whey. What it does well is replace a sweet spread with the same thing containing far fewer sugars. Nothing more, and that is already useful.

Protein spread or peanut butter?

This is the comparison that settles it, and it is closer than it looks.

A plain peanut butter generally provides 25 to 30 g of protein per 100 g, with no sweetener, no polyol and a single ingredient. It is the better choice if your priority is a simple composition or the protein content, and if your gut does not cope with polyols. Its calories, on the other hand, are higher still, around 600 kcal per 100 g, and it tastes nothing like chocolate.

Protein Spread wins on one front only, but it is the one that triggers the purchase: it answers a craving for something sweet, which a plain peanut butter does not. If your problem is the spread in the cupboard at 30 g of sugars per 100 g, this is a direct and effective replacement. If your problem is your calorie total for the day, neither one will solve it, and you should be looking at zero-sugar jam, which is far less dense. For a genuine protein snack, it is our protein bars or a protein shake you should choose, not a spread.

Frequently asked questions

Is it really lower in calories than a conventional spread?

Barely. This product comes in at 520 kcal per 100 g, a supermarket spread at around 540. The real difference is in the sugars — 5.6 g against around thirty grams — not in the calories. Buy it for that reason, not to lose weight.

What is maltitol, and is it a problem?

It is a polyol, a bulk sweetener that replaces sugar by volume. At 29 g per 100 g, the regulatory statement applies: excessive consumption may produce laxative effects. A 33 g serving delivers 10 g of polyols, generally well tolerated; three servings in a day, much less so.

How much protein is there in a serving?

Seven grams per 33 g of spread. It is a top-up, not a main source: you would have to eat 125 g of it to equal a serving of whey, or 650 kcal. Treat those 7 g as a bonus on a slice of toast, not as a building block of your daily protein total.

Should it be kept in the fridge?

Definitely not, and it is the instruction most often ignored. The manufacturer asks that the jar be kept between 15 and 22 °C: in the cold the spread hardens and becomes impossible to spread. Use within three months of opening.

Why is there oil floating on the surface?

It is natural separation, flagged by the manufacturer, and not a fault. Stir the spread with a spoon before each use to blend the oil back in. A spread that never separates generally contains more stabilisers.

Is it suitable for vegetarians and vegans?

For vegetarians yes, for vegans no. The formula contains whey protein concentrate and skimmed milk powder, two dairy ingredients. Nor is it suitable in cases of milk protein allergy.

Do the flavours all have the same values?

No, the manufacturer states that the figures vary slightly from recipe to recipe: the table on this page relates to the milk chocolate version. Hazel Nutter and White Chocolate Cookies differ more, the former because of its nut content. Refer to the label on the jar you receive.

Where can you buy Grenade Protein Spread?

The flavours can be ordered from this page, and we ship throughout France and Europe. This is a cupboard product rather than a supplement: it keeps for three months after opening, so there is no point stockpiling five jars.

At the Vendargues shop, about ten minutes from Montpellier, this is one of the aisles where we talk people out of buying more often than we sell. The question we ask is always the same: how often do you open the jar? One serving a day is a well-managed treat; three is 500 kcal and 30 g of polyols, and that is no longer the same product at all.