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ukahela
Feb 18th, 2006, 03:20 PM
does anyone of you make your own nut and seed butters?

I just made almond butter, it turned out great! So now I can have it untoasted, just a bit worried that my blender will get overworked... I was doing it bit by bit, so it took about a day or so :). I read somewhere that in some places you can have it done in the supermarket -- now that's luxury! I also made tahini, it didn't get as liquid, probably I wasn't doing it for long enough, just couldn't be bothered. But at least now I can have it organic and no salt. mmm! a little bitter, but that's okay.

what other seeds or nuts work well to make pastes? would pumpkin seeds work? they are one of my favourite seeds so I think I'll give it a try! And what about pecans? Cashews? and what about sprouted & dried sesame seeds? or any sprouts for that matter?

mmm, I won't eat anything but home-made nut butter from now on! :p

thecatspajamas1
Feb 18th, 2006, 04:26 PM
How do you make it?
I have a mini-blender... I would love to make almond butter.

FR
Feb 18th, 2006, 04:47 PM
I do not make my own but I love nut and seed butters. Tahini and sunflower seed butter are my favorite two seed butters. I just picked up some macadamia nut/cashew butter. It rocks.

ukahela
Feb 18th, 2006, 06:49 PM
catspajamas: it's very easy, you just start by grinding yhe almonds at medium/high power until powdered. then you keep grinding for a little while on low speed. Leave for a while (one or two hours should do it), then grind again (low speed). And wait, and grind, and wait, and so on... The point of not doing it all at once is that the blender can get overheated -- especially if it's one of these regular small blenders. anyway it needs to be one of those that has a grinder part. I'm a bit worried about the motor of my blender getting fucked up, it's a multiuse thingy with blender/grinder/juiced press and some other things, and they use it a lot so I really don't want that to happen. Wonder if there is some (pref. cheap...) grinder that would serve for making nut butters.. I don't suppose a coffee grinder is anything like that..?

mmyum :cool:

fr: macadamia and cashew nut butter?! Must be great! But aren't macadamias extremely expensive?

FR
Feb 18th, 2006, 06:52 PM
fr: macadamia and cashew nut butter?! Must be great! But aren't macadamias extremely expensive?:cool: :cool: :cool: :o

Sure are. However, I picked up a 16 oz. Jar from Trader Joe's for four bucks. ;)

ukahela
Feb 18th, 2006, 06:55 PM
Oh! then please e-mail me a jar, he he!!

FR
Feb 18th, 2006, 06:56 PM
It is lovely. I am a huge nut and seed butter fan, but rarely buy peanut butter.

Tigerlily
Feb 18th, 2006, 07:16 PM
I love tahini. I make a creamy salad dressing out of tahini and lemon juice (with some water to thin it out).

speedylemons
Feb 18th, 2006, 08:40 PM
Would using a food processor be easier to make nut butters? Or would you still need to do it for hours...? I just got a cool one :D:D and i have organic pumpkin and sunflower seeds!!!!!! I'm drooling everywhere.

ukahela
Feb 19th, 2006, 08:10 AM
pumpkin seed butter in progress, turning out great! it's a dark green, beautiful colour, strong smell and getting increasingly liquid. Soon to be devoured. :D

tahini lemon juice, sounds great for salads! have you tried tahini with pickles, Tigerlily? :D it's great with bread, was addicted to that for a while. Some people seem to think it gross...;)

theahsleybeyer: I suppose it depends on your food processor. What I have is something like that, a reasonably good one but not a superpower force motor and beyond the warranty date, so I take no risks ;) anyway if you go on for long, the seed paste tends to get hot as well, I think that might affect the time it can be stored so I try to avoid that.

ukahela
Feb 19th, 2006, 08:17 AM
FR: I'm also not particularly fond of peanut butter. I used to like it though, but as most varieties have salt and sugar added, I sort of got out of habit of eating it, and lost the taste for it. Seems to be the case with many things, what you usually eat is what you crave...

maybe I can get hold of some macadamias somewhere, and make butter out of them! maybe they need to be together with cashews or something else, as macadamias are very fatty and the paste would turn out a little strange..?

/the miller :cool:

Tigerlily
Feb 19th, 2006, 06:15 PM
tahini lemon juice, sounds great for salads! have you tried tahini with pickles, Tigerlily? :D it's great with bread, was addicted to that for a while. Some people seem to think it gross...;)


I never tried it with pickles alone, but I had it with pickles in a falafel sandwich. :)

speedylemons
Feb 19th, 2006, 10:22 PM
oh man, i'm so making pumpkin seed butter for lunch. well not JUST pumpkin seed butter.. heh. :o

Peas'nHominy
Feb 20th, 2006, 12:02 AM
I found cashew butter absolutely amazing! I can't buy it anymore -- tried it maybe a year ago, and Luke had to go to the ER -- had a violent allergic reaction. Scared me to death! I don't know if it was because of the cashew or if it had a trace of peanut in it. He does fine with almond, but I'm too freaked to buy it ready made, in case it has even a trace of peanut in it.

Maybe I could make some kind of seed or almond butter for him myself at home, so then I'd know it would be safe...
Is that all to it? Just grinding it up 'til it's buttery? No other ingredients necessary?

Jane M
Feb 20th, 2006, 12:36 AM
I've never made it myself but according to some of the recipes on VegWeb yep. The instructions say that the oil in the nut does release just not right away. Hmmmmm....homemade almond butter....lucky boy!!!!:p

Peas'nHominy
Feb 20th, 2006, 02:21 AM
Okay. I just blended up some raw sunflower seeds, then mixed in a little tahini. I've got it in a glass canning jar in my frig. So....I guess I wait for a while on the seeds' oil? :)

I'm all out of almonds. Guess I'll get some next time I go to the grocery store.

Jane M
Feb 20th, 2006, 02:24 AM
I've always worried about children with allergies like yours and what they could get into at school. How do you handle it?

Peas'nHominy
Feb 20th, 2006, 02:51 AM
I homeschooled my kids up 'til recently, but I'm still pretty lucky because my mother-in-law is at the school. Also, it's a VERY small school. Everyone there knows that he's allergic to peanut. Also, a couple of the teachers there are vegetarians, so they are completely comfortable with my children's vegan needs. (Whew!) They have grades through middle school, so my older son who is 13, gets to see his siblings all the time throughout the day. So TJ and Leia keep an eye out for their little brother, too. I'm very fortunate. If it wasn't for this specific school, I KNOW I would still be homeschooling.

It is very scary being invited to friends' homes, though. I just don't get it, really. It's not like it would hurt someone to not pull out the peanut butter or peanut oil for the one meal they invite us to, yet it could actually kill my child. I would have thought that people would realize that it's not a sacrifice for them to skip the peanut stuff, but apparantly some people would rather put my child's life in danger instead. It just doesn't make any since. I'm not going to go back to their homes again. They can just come to my house instead. I just don't get it.:confused:

Jane M
Feb 20th, 2006, 03:15 AM
That is what concerned me. It is so hard to get people to understand or even want to understand the danger they are causing. You have my greatest respect for how you are handling the matter.

insubordination
Feb 20th, 2006, 10:32 AM
Honestly, people are ignorant of it (myself included). Maybe it's because I'm not a mother.

Until someone pointed out that serving kids peanut butter was not a good idea one day, I didn't think of it. I'm glad I know now. Wouldn't want to hurt anybody.

On another note, my food processor isn't good enough for really fine nut butters so I buy them instead.

I once read this in a vegan voice interview but for those who don't eat sugar, here's a great treat. Don't know exact quantities but you'll figure it out (most important is to not overdo on carob powder).

5 big gooey dates
half to one cup of raw almonds (these work better than other nuts)
carob powder - a tablespoon or two
Water OR flaxseed oil OR coconut cream.

Blend nuts and carob until fine, then add dates and blend. Add water/oil/cream if necessary.

Roll into balls and cover in shredded coconut (optional)

It's so delicious, non vegans love it too. Put 'em in the freezer. So great frozen.

Jane M
Feb 20th, 2006, 01:46 PM
Ok copied the recipes from VegWeb:

Almond Milk
Ingredients (use vegan versions):

1 cup blanched, slivered or chopped almonds
4 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla
vegan maple syrup to taste


Directions:
Put almonnds and half of the water in the blender. Blend for a good three to five minutes. With the blender still on, add the rest of the water a little at a time, then the vanilla and syrup. Blend another 2 minutes. Line a collander with a cheese cloth (you can get it at a cooking store, food co-op, or even a fabric store), and pour the milk through it. Squeeze the excess out of the almond gook in the cloth.
The gook left in the cloth makes a great facial scrub, or you can knead vegan sugar, color , and flavor into it and treat it like candy.
Serves: 2-4
Preparation time: 15 minute
Nutrition Information: This is great for vegans! And if you can find a good source for almonds it's cheaper than edensoy. . .

Almond Butter
Ingredients (use vegan versions):

whole raw almonds
salt, optional

Directions:
Using no oil, toast the almonds in the oven, stirring every few minutes, until beginning to change color. Cool.
Place in a food processor and grind until very fine. Continue to process until the almonds begin to release their oil, resting the motor from time to time. Process until oily and smooth. Store in an airtight jar. * Don't be tempted to think the oil will not release. I assure you it WILL happen.



Hope these are of some help. Never made them myself but use a lot a recipes from this site with good luck.

ConsciousCuisine
Feb 20th, 2006, 01:53 PM
Here's my raw recipe. You can also use jarred nut and seed butters to make "milks".

Nut/Seed Milk

1 cup almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or cashews, soaked overnight then rinsed

1 quart of pure water, at room temperature
Dash of Celtic sea salt
1/8 cup raisins or 2 dates, pitted and soaked in water
(add cinnamon, ginger or other warming spices as desired or a few raw cacao beans)

Take the rinsed nuts or seeds and place in a blender or food processor with the remaining ingredients and blend until creamy and smooth. Strain if desired and enjoy in smoothies with fruit, ground flax, cereals, sprouted quinoa or alone.

Peas'nHominy
Feb 20th, 2006, 03:53 PM
I mixed the seeds some more, and this time it turned into a beautiful butter, and it tastes great! I was so excited :D that I called Luke- "Look what mommy made!" Seeing it, he got big-eyed :eek: and walked out of the kitchen ve-ry-slow-ly, looking over his shoulder as if to make sure it wasn't going to attack him from behind!

Poor little guy - I scared my baby with seed butter!:(

insubordination
Feb 21st, 2006, 07:17 AM
That's hilarious! Look seed butter. SEED BUTTER!

D'oh, that's where I went wrong. Didn't toast the almonds first. Will try again now.

ukahela
Feb 21st, 2006, 10:21 AM
no need to toast the almonds, i didn't and it turns out fine! only thing you need is patience....! it might be faster if you add some extra oil, though.

i just read on anutrient table that almond butter has less proteins, calcium fat and the rest of the minerals than whole almonds...??! how's that possible? although maybe they said paste, so it could have water added? seemed strange.