Almonds for Almond Butter: what to look for?

[deadken]

A while back I started a thread here about which blender to buy. I ended up buying a Vitamix and have been thinking about making some Almond Butter with it. The thing is, I don't know what to look for.

Should I be looking for country of origin?
Should I only buy organic?
When the intention is to be used for Almond Butter, should I buy raw or roasted?
Does anyone know of a good safe place to buy Almonds?
Should I be looking to buy them online or local?

I figured I'd post here instead of in Off Topic. I *think* that there are probably people here that make their own Peanut and Almond butters. Should someone want to share a recipe, that would be great. I imagine this could get expensive and time consuming if I just randomly pick recipes off the internet.

Thanks in advance for any helpful or funny posts!

 

[SP33Demon]

A while back I started a thread here about which blender to buy. I ended up buying a Vitamix and have been thinking about making some Almond Butter with it. The thing is, I don't know what to look for.

Should I be looking for country of origin?
Should I only buy organic?
When the intention is to be used for Almond Butter, should I buy raw or roasted?
Does anyone know of a good safe place to buy Almonds?
Should I be looking to buy them online or local?

I figured I'd post here instead of in Off Topic. I *think* that there are probably people here that make their own Peanut and Almond butters. Should someone want to share a recipe, that would be great. I imagine this could get expensive and time consuming if I just randomly pick recipes off the internet.

Thanks in advance for any helpful or funny posts!

http://www.healthnutnation.com/2013/05/08/make-almond-butter-at-home/

Notes

* To make almonds more digestible, remove the phytic acid by soaking overnight in an acidic medium such as water and lemon juice or water and whey. Simply cover the almonds with an extra inch of water on top. Add a tablespoon of whey or lemon juice to the water. Allow to soak overnight. Rinse in the morning, and dry in a food dehydrator and toast in the oven.
**I highly recommend standing right at the oven, stirring the almonds every few minutes, and tasting after about 8 minutes (careful, they're hot on the inside!). As soon as you smell a slightly toasted flavor, they are done.

Also from the comments:

Lauren- I honestly do not know why, but even when I do everything right, this [putty texture] happens sometimes. I almost think it has to do with a batch of almonds being old, or just not as oily.

So basically you want fresh almonds that are oily. Also pick up some lemon juice to soak them.

 

[RagingBITCH]

What do you look for in your current peanut butter? If you don't care about country of origin or organic, then it won't make an oz of difference in your AB.

In terms of raw vs roasted, old vs new - never noticed a diff in terms of "old" vs "new". I mean, if you buy it out of a bulk bin at Sprouts, how do you really know it's "new"? Let's be honest. Probably a difference if you have some in your pantry from 2 years ago, but no one really is going to know the difference from a few months old.

Roasted vs raw - roasting brings out some highlights in the flavor.

In terms of Sp33d's post about the putty texture - she's just not processing it long enough. I've done it both on a 3 cup Kitchenaid food processor as well as a 10 cup - it's all about how long you let it run. Adding in a little bit of oil helps smooth out the consistency too. You can make it almost liquid if you let it run long enough.

Follow the directions above but don't worry about all that other nonsense about soaking it. If you've never cared about where your PB came from before, it's not worth the time and effort to mess with it. Get some almonds, toast it, throw it in a food processor, add some oil while processing, and remove once it hits your desired consistency.

 

[Kaido]

Lauren- I honestly do not know why, but even when I do everything right, this [putty texture] happens sometimes. I almost think it has to do with a batch of almonds being old, or just not as oily.

The trick is to use a food processor; the Vitamix etc. are often too powerful & can ruin the consistency, although it is possible. Here's a good tutorial using a food processor:

http://detoxinista.com/2012/09/how-to-make-homemade-almond-butter/

For most nuts, it's going to take at least 20 minutes. First it chops, then it grinds into almost a flour, then it turns into a dough & sits there for awhile and heats up, then after a certain point the oils get pressed out from the heat & the whipping and it suddenly liquifies into a spreadable butter. Most people don't wait until that point happens...it takes a LONG time! And unless you have a heavy-duty food processor, you should give it a break every 5 or 10 minutes so it doesn't overheat. Also, let it keep going for a few minutes after it liquifies so that it blends up really well.

Homemade nut butters taste awesome too...freshly-made makes a big difference in flavor. You should also definitely try cashew butter, it's off the hook fresh!

http://thehealthyfoodie.com/cashew-nut-butte/

OP, I would recommend buying a few jars of Justin's Nut Butter to get some flavor profiles going on for comparison: (check the healthfood aisle or Whole Foods)

http://justins.com/products/#nut-butters

You can do a lot of variations with homemade nut butters:

1. Plain
2. Roasted
3. Salted
4. Vanilla
5. Chocolate (Nutella style!)
6. Honey
7. Cinnamon
8. Maple

Plus you can change the consistency (creamy, spreadable light chunk, and regular chunky) & mix different nuts together for different neat flavors. You can also make spreads by combining ingredients, such as cinnamon vanilla almond butter:

http://bakedbree.com/cinnamon-vanilla-almond-butter

 

[deadken]

Thank you all for the great replies! I picked up a 3lb bag of Almonds from BJ's. When I get the chance, I'll roast them and grind them up. Thanks for the tips.

 

[RibeyeAndScotch]

I've been making almond butter for years. It's an awesome way to maximize gains while snacking.

I just roast a tray full of regular store almonds for 20 min @ like 200
throw them all in my ninja blender
blend until creamy

I love to dip pretzels in almond butter.

 

[lazybedone]

thanks for the information guys on how to do home made almond butter . Get busy this weekend and hopefully post a pic of the recipe when finished.

 

[MongGrel]

Some things just amaze me these days I guess.

 

[deadken]

Some things just amaze me these days I guess.

Your point?