Hi all-

For the second time in a week I have had a dismal failure regarding making nut and seed butters. The first time I used unhulled sesame seeds. Used my new Omega 8006, which claims to be able to make them (they say you sometimes have to add oil, which I did). It turned into MEAL. I thought it might have had to do with the seeds being unhulled. Today, after soaking organic RAW almonds and taking off the skins, I tried again in the Omega. Meal. Put the meal in my food processor. Still meal. It doesn't get oily at all! It's almost like defatted or something. Would a coffee grinder do the trick and why would it be better than a food processor or the Omega?

Banana,

John Kohler has a ton of videos on You Tube and he has a few making nut butters which he did very recently. His videos are under "rawfoods" He did all kinds of nut butters, and put the product through several times - each time it got a little more stuck together. Though he said the raw nuts were less fatty than the roasted, I think. Anyway, check it out = very informative. He used the Omega also in his demonstration.

I have made it by adding oil and also by adding water which makes more of a paste than a butter but it's spreadable.

Boysenberry: Yeah, thanks...I noticed that last night and watched a couple of vids, wrote some comments and he answered me back. Even after subsequent pressings, the nuts really didn't stick too well together. And what drove me batty is that I saw a video with the Champion and a little boy making almond butter and the stuff just comes out very creamily! It turns out that roasting the nuts brings out the oil. Man, it also makes the nuts taste better. It makes it tempting to use roasted nuts, regardless of the uncooked benefits. But I don't want to! Do you know if a Vitamix or Blendtec would make creamy almond butter without added ingredients?

Coco-

I tried to add untoasted sesame oil and it seemed to just get lost in the seed butter. Even water didn't seem to do much. But thanks, I'll give it another go!

I hate cleaning the blender after fruit and greens, I can't imagine peanut butter. But that is just me.

Add some coconut oil.

boysenberry Wrote:
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> I hate cleaning the blender after fruit and
> greens, I can't imagine peanut butter. But that is
> just me.


lazy girl's guide to cleaning your blender:

straight after using it put some warm water and dish soap into the blender, just a bit! and run it. rinse. voila, clean!

generally what people don't also know is that most companies selling a product like peanut butter, tahini, almond butter etc, they will ad as much oil of the same nut or seed until the product is their favored consistency. I reccomend buying the same oil as the paste you are making. Like if you plan on making almond butter buy cold pressed almond oil.
Your product will be thicker than normal. Try also running it through your machine 2-3 times. yes, the vitamix/blendtec will definitely make butter, but you must be careful of not over heating. don't turn the blender up so high, and turn it off when you notice warmth in the carafe.
What I really wanted to post was something o noticed about the oil content of seeds nuts after being soaked. I assumed that some of the oil in a nut got used in the process of soaking. With almonds, at least , i was wrong. The water soaking actually extracts more of the water soluble substances, thereby increasing the relative level of oils. SO my theory is that by soaking seeds and nuts over night, not too long, it will help make them more ready to make butter. But of COURSE, you must dehydrate them before grinding them, and be sure they are TOTALLY void of water before grinding.
My local whole foods has raw valencia peanuts!!! which is exciting to me because i love peanut butter. I made raw peanut butter out of raw spanish peanuts and peanut oil. it was good, but not the fire.....
So now the whole foods sells the valencia peanut raw, which is the more typical "ballpark" peanut. they look very clean, so i'm not worried about mold.
BUT i am generally suspicious, as all almonds produced in california must either be treated by steam or chemicals, so I am equally paranoid that they also do that with these "raw" peanuts. BEWARE FOLKS, if your almonds come from cali, they are NOT raw !!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry to burst some peoples bubbles, but the truth shall set you free . . . . . . . . . .

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

Hmm...Interesting! I did not dry out my almonds. I wonder if that's why they did not get oily?

Hi there, I just stumbled on this website the other night when I was searching for a raw almond butter recipe. [www.rawmazing.com]. It's a great site with all sorts of recipies. I haven't made the almond butter yet but if it turns out as good as it looks in the pictures i bet it will be delicious. good luck!

hiya! i make nut butters all the time in my champion (using the blank) i NEVER add any extra oil and have fabulous results producing a smooth and creamy butter. you have to pass it through 6 times or so. not just once! everytime you pass it through, it gets creamier.

i soak and dehydrate the nuts first. walnut butter is to live for!!

jennifer

rubyjewel Wrote:
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> Hi there, I just stumbled on this website the
> other night when I was searching for a raw almond
> butter recipe.
> [www.rawmazing.com]
> -butter/. It's a great site with all sorts of
> recipies. I haven't made the almond butter yet but
> if it turns out as good as it looks in the
> pictures i bet it will be delicious. good luck!

Oh, wow, thanks! I had never seen a recipe which said that a food processor could make nut butter. I have a Hamilton Beach (350 watts?) and I am not sure if it's powerful enough but I could try it and see. I never would have imagined that it could go from meal to oily goodness! Woot!

mmmveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> hiya! i make nut butters all the time in my
> champion (using the blank) i NEVER add any extra
> oil and have fabulous results producing a smooth
> and creamy butter. you have to pass it through 6
> times or so. not just once! everytime you pass it
> through, it gets creamier.
>
> i soak and dehydrate the nuts first. walnut butter
> is to live for!!

I don't have a dehydrator...Do the nuts really have to be dry in order to process them? Do you know why this is? I soaked the almonds and then took off their skins. They were still a bit moist when I made them into meal...
>
> jennifer

i haven't tried them any other way so i have no clue.. sorry

YEP, they need to be dry. What happens in the magical process of making nut butter, is the nut is broken down to such a degree that it is no longer a suspended oil in fiber, it is in fact mostly oil seperated from the fiber. which makes it delicious and runny. Or still thick in most cases, but still what we think of as "butter". Anyway, if there is still water in the nut, it will never seperate into an oil and fiber blend because the fiber will be swollen with water! water in nut butter is going to promote a product that will go bad quickly also. Nut butter is a food thing that can travel without refrigeration everywhere. as it is just oil and nut fibers, no water to rot. The quality you seek is found with the delicious dry nut. If I had no dehydrator, I would either just use a screen and a fan or my oven, on the lowest setting with the door partially open. this would depend on the humidity. this is not ideal, but you gotta do what ya gotta do. sun drying them in a sunny dry room with a fan might be good.

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

I did get around to making the almond butter using my food processor. Im just a little worried that if I run it for 12 minutes straight every week, it is going to collapse. Does any know of an actual nut butter machine that works well? Thanks. By the way homemade almond butter taste ten times better then the store bought version.

JEN

RAWLION Wrote:
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> BUT i am generally suspicious, as all almonds
> produced in california must either be treated by
> steam or chemicals, so I am equally paranoid that
> they also do that with these "raw" peanuts.
> BEWARE FOLKS, if your almonds come from cali, they
> are NOT raw !!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry to burst some
> peoples bubbles, but the truth shall set you free
> . . . . . . . . . .

There are actually raw California almonds available. They are very difficult to find, but they exist. There are a couple of sites that sell them and a few farmers.

mmmveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> hiya! i make nut butters all the time in my
> champion (using the blank) i NEVER add any extra
> oil and have fabulous results producing a smooth
> and creamy butter. you have to pass it through 6
> times or so. not just once! everytime you pass it
> through, it gets creamier.
>
> i soak and dehydrate the nuts first. walnut butter
> is to live for!!

Hi MMMVeg -

I am very interested in making almond butter. Can you tell me how long you soak and dehydrate almonds (at what temp) before making the butter? And it turns out creamy like the traditional butter, right?

Thanks!

here is a nut butter machine (google nut butter machine and you will come up with all sorts of contraptions ...some as high as a few thousand dollars !)

[gadgets.boingboing.net]

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

i kept my Champion even after getting my Omega b/c it made nut butters beautifully- i love macadamia and brazil nut butters. but walnut, almond and hazelnut all whipped up beautifully in my Champion.

i can make almond flour in my Omega, and with walnuts, after putting through four or five times it will make oily/buttery substance. same with almonds.

if i were to start making nut butters, i'd get a champion. useful for raw fruit sorbets as well.

peace-

Jeez, guys, just use your food processor! And blend! Takes a long time but works great IMO. [Directions here.]

soak the nuts for 4-12 hours. then trow em in the dehydrator for a minimum of 24 hours. this can be the tricky part because they can feel dry on the outside, but you gotta be sure by biting into one or squeezing it until it crushes between your fingers. make SURE the nuts are dry before attempting nut butter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

I really cheap and simple way to do as you say, dehydrate your almonds or anything for that matter, is get one of those big square box fans, on the side the air blows out of, place one of those heater filtration things, one big enough to fit over the whole fan, ya know the kind? with all the ridges? make sure to use ones that are pure cellulose or cotton, anything that doesnt have fiberglass in it...im not sure if the fiberglass ones are dangerous, but it seems like they would be... then place another one on top of this, depending on the strength of your fan you could easily have 3 layers, with the final one on top being empty, then stretch those bungee cords that have hooks over all of the stacked layers to hold it in place, id use a couple at least, then turn your fan on, and voila! best dehydrator in existence... works great and fast, and no heat is being used... it dried out the apricots I had faster than my old conventional dehydrator did!!!

i love the ghetto-tech idea !!!

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

yea i love that idea too

in the summer i use one old screen door layer my stuff on it putanother screen door on top of it , set up on a couple saw horses , bungee them down an leave it all outside morning till night , sometimes a few days and i have great results no bugs and my dried stuff has been kissed by the sun

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I make nut butters in my blender, not my juicer. All of the oil is still there. Always the way I've done it. No problem.

Paul

Im glad you two like my idea,I got it from Alton brown actually, he has a show called "Good eats"lol... I like using the fan versus the sun method though cause even the sun alters the natural flavor of whatever im drying, while the cool fast air from the fan (the colder the better, as long as its not to cold for your fan to run) seems to leave whatever im drying tasting exactly like it did fresh only more concentrated... I do prefer some things sun dried over this method though... like grapes...mmm raisins... but sun doesnt get hot enough for long enough where I live to safely sun dry stuff, plus the humidity is rather high here...

i see no reason not to add a little oil to the mix. maybe some coconut butter ?

when i was doing it i just added water - came out like some sort of a paste - quite edible but i have to wonder how long it could be stored - i just ate it all immediately

Adding oil didn't work for me. The sesame didn't form a paste; it was like an oily crumbly thingie. Oh well, I'll try again...sometime...