Making your own peanut butter?

[Ffte]

I know you just puree peanuts till it's at the consistency you prefer, but I'm wondering if those of you who have made it prefer to use a food processor or blender?

I've been buying natural peanut butter for years, but really why, when I can make it myself?

 

[Gayle]

Hi Dawn - I've made almond butter using my food processor and it came out pretty nicely. I added a little melted coconut oil to help smooth it out.

 

[nicolegadino]

I'm lucky if I make myself a sandwich. My hubby is the chef! I wonder, I'll have to ask him to try peanut butter! Thanks for the idea!

 

[kathryn]

I don't think a regular blender will work, unless you add quite a bit of oil to keep it softer. A high-powered blender (like a Vitamix or Blendtec) would give the smoothest consistency.

Other nuts are actually more nutritious than peanuts (which often have aflatoxin, a carcinogen, in them). You can make butters out of almonds, brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds, or any other nuts or seeds.

If you already have a Champion or Green Star juicer (no use getting one just for this) you can run nuts through it with a 'blank' screen in place and it will grind them into a smooth butter.

 

[Ffte]

Hi Dawn - I've made almond butter using my food processor and it came out pretty nicely. I added a little melted coconut oil to help smooth it out.

Thanks!! Funny you should mention almond butter. I picked up almonds and was planning on making almond butter too. I don't have coconut oil, so I'll start with a small batch and see if I can live with a not so smooth almond butter.

 

[kathryn]

Thanks!! Funny you should mention almond butter. I picked up almonds and was planning on making almond butter too. I don't have coconut oil, so I'll start with a small batch and see if I can live with a not so smooth almond butter.

If you got raw almonds*, you can make them blend more smoothly by soaking them overnight in water, then rinsing and draining well (this removes the antinutrients in the husk and makes them more digestible, as well as removes any bitterness), then letting them air dry before blending/processing into butter.

*But beware of buying raw commercial (rather than organic) almonds, as since September 2007, they've been fumigated with a known carcinogen.

 

[Ffte]

Thanks for the tip.

 

[mgm1]

Kathryn, even organic almonds have been fumigated. There is only a small group of farmers who don't fumigate. Marcona (spanish) almonds are good alternatives.

[But beware of buying raw commercial (rather than organic) almonds, as since September 2007, they've been fumigated with a known carcinogen.[/QUOTE]

 

[kathryn]

Kathryn, even organic almonds have been fumigated. There is only a small group of farmers who don't fumigate. Marcona (spanish) almonds are good alternatives.

Organic almonds are treated by using steam, not fumigated with carcinogenic chemicals (which makes them not really raw0--though some places claim they still sprout because the heat doesn't go all the way to the center of the almond--but doesn't make them toxic).

www.rawfromthefarm.com sells raw almonds that are treated by freezing rather than steaming.