Meridian Foods is launching what it says is the first ‘dry roasted’ ­flavour peanut butter.

The butter is made from 95% skin-on peanuts, 4% yeast extract and 1% salt, a recipe Meridian said gave a flavour similar to dry roasted peanuts. It comes in a 280g jar (rsp: £2.29) and will be stocked by Holland & Barrett and independent health food retailers from early 2015.

It joins a range of other peanut, nut and seed butters ­produced by Meridian. The company has experienced rapid growth this year, with sales almost doubling to £2.52m [Nielsen 52 w/e 11 October 2014]. It is now the ­number-three peanut butter brand, behind Sun-Pat and Whole Earth.