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There was a small storm of protest from health conscious consumers when the last jars of "original recipe" Black Cat disappeared from supermarket shelves to make way for a version with added sugar and salt.
In many supermarkets Black Cat had been the only sugar-free peanut butter on offer.
The matter was aired on radio talks shows, there was a spate of calls to the Heart Foundation's Diet Line, and dozens of people rang the manufacturer, Tiger Brands, directly.
However the purists can breathe again: the original recipe will soon be available on the shelves again, albeit with a new look.
Black Cat peanut butter has been manufactured in South Africa since 1926, and its "no sugar, no salt" boast allowed it to carry the Heart Foundation healthy eating logo.
Despite its place in the national psyche, however, it became clear in recent years that the brand was "losing relevance" for consumers, spokesperson for the brand Glenn McCall said on Monday.
He said market research carried out for Tiger Brands last year showed that while adults saw Black Cat as the peanut butter "authority", children rejected it as the one "mom buys and forces me to eat".
"Furthermore, the research illustrated that respondents overwhelmingly preferred sweeter, creamier formulations," he said.
Relaunch
The re-launch of Black Cat with a "richer, creamier recipe" was meant to address these concerns.
"In so doing we believe that it will restore Black Cat peanut butter's relevance to children, its primary end-users."
Booming sales figures showed this belief was correct, he said.
However, for those with specific dietary needs and health concerns, or who relied on peanut butter as a key source of protein, the original recipe Black Cat would be back in stores in October, this time with a distinctive bright yellow lid.
It had always been the plan to bring it back once stocks of the old bottles had been cleared, McCall said.
"We obviously made a calculated decision over this. We always knew we were going to alienate a section of our most loyal Black Cat consumers. But we always said it would (only) be for a period."
The Heart Foundation's director of nutrition and education Shan Biesman-Simons said she welcomed the fact that the old recipe would return.
Peanut butter, with its good quality fats and its protein, was a "really good food spread".
However she was not happy with the decision to add sugar and salt to the mainstream product.
It might have made economic sense to Tiger Brands, but it was not necessarily friendly to the population at large, she said.
An alarming 12% of South African children were obese, which put them at risk of heart disease, diabetes and cholesterol problems.
"There's nothing wrong with kids having a little bit of sugar, but if sugar's added to all basic foods, then that little bit's going to be a very high percentage," she said.
