Peanut Butter Replacements - Suggestions Wanted

[Ms_Derious]

I am, I admit, a peanut butter fiend. I love the stuff, I literally can't get enough of it. I love it on toast, in oats, on pasta sauces, even diluted with OJ and soy sauce over veggies.

However, for some incredibly long winded reasons, I need to find a substitute. Booooo. I can still have nut butters, but not peanuts.

What alternatives have you had, which ones have you enjoyed, and which are closest to 'the real deal'?

I'm not above using a nut mill and making my own, but nuts are expensive, and I'm not keen on making myself a big old jar of fail.

[RubyDuby]

almond butter is my favorite.

[pat sommer]

Yes, almond butter is the best! But if you are after a highly processed PB taste -high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats etc- then substitutes are difficult.

Do you like dark sesame oil? Tastes peanutty to me and a few drops can be added to other 'butters.

[harpy]

Have you tried cashew butter, Ms Derious? Rather expensive, but delicious IMO, and quite similar to peanut.

Pistachio butter is wonderful but hideously expensive and also hard to find. Maybe you could try making a small quantity though - I can't really see what could go wrong (famous last words!).

[Ms_Derious]

Yes, almond butter is the best! But if you are after a highly processed PB taste -high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats etc- then substitutes are difficult.

Do you like dark sesame oil? Tastes peanutty to me and a few drops can be added to other 'butters.

I tend to buy unsweetened PB which just contains peanuts and oil (and a little salt), so it's not so processed. In fact, I bought some cheap PB a few weeks back and in my excitement at it's cheapness I didn't see the amount of sugar in it. It wasn't very nice and got used up in sweet dishes.

Thats a really good ideas about the sesame oil :) I'll try that!



Have you tried cashew butter, Ms Derious? Rather expensive, but delicious IMO, and quite similar to peanut.

Pistachio butter is wonderful but hideously expensive and also hard to find. Maybe you could try making a small quantity though - I can't really see what could go wrong (famous last words!).

I have tried cashew, and really liked it. Again though, the price... I think I'll have a go at making that myself :) Pistachio I've never seen... but I really want some now.

[harpy]

How about tahini, too, if you like the sesame taste? A little goes a long way but that's all to the good I suppose.

[Ms_Derious]

How about tahini, too, if you like the sesame taste? A little goes a long way but that's all to the good I suppose.

Yes, tahini is nice too. I think maybe I'll try mixing tahini with a less strong nut butter, like cashew, and report back. If it's a success, I'm patenting it! ;)

[pat sommer]

Dark sesame paste (Chinese) is cheap and pretty close to PB. It is soo dark though that I worry about acrylamides. Hey, at least no aflatoxin.

Gave up PB years ago when, satisfying my cravings, I could no longer ignore the mouth soreness afterward.

Sunflower butter isn't too dear and IMO goes well with jam but I think an American passport is required for such a sarni.

[Ms_Derious]

Sunflower butter isn't too dear and IMO goes well with jam but I think an American passport is required for such a sarni.

LOL. My current sarni of choice is PB, Jam, raisins and sunflower seeds (sometimes I use pumpkin seeds instead). If I'm feeling hungry, I put some chopped banana in there too :)

[everdream]

Sunflower butter isn't too dear and IMO goes well with jam but I think an American passport is required for such a sarni.
Did you mean by that that it's only available in the US?
If so, I've seen it in a small whole foods shop local to me, and I'm in UK.

[pat sommer]

I think it has been banned from public in most civilized countries.

off to bed now; dreaming of fried PB and banana sandwich

[Mr Flibble]

cashew butter is too pretty good, but not worth the extra money IMHO.

If i were to have a go at making it myself I'd go with hazelnut. I've made hazelnut paste a few times for making truffles with and it works really well.