Homemade Nut Butter

Have you tried it? Here’s what you need:

1. nuts

2. food processor

Yep, that’s it!

Note: My sister Madeline has tried this in a blender with some success. She has this amazing ability to make do with what she has available, and since she’s seriously addicted to peanut butter she’d try anything to be able to make her own fresh PB at home, short of buying an expensive food processor (not really in a college student’s budget)! I think she said it worked but took a really long time.

Making your own almond or peanut butter can save money and can be much healthier. I did a comparison between buying raw whole almonds/peanuts and using them to make your own nut butter, and buying premade nut butters. I bought the nuts in bulk at Whole Foods. Prices will vary depending on where you shop.

Here are the results:

For almond butter made from raw almonds, you save $0.42 per ounce, or about $6.72 per 16-ounce jar, by buying your own nuts and making it at home. For almond butter made from organic raw almonds, you save $0.35 per ounce, or about $5.60 per 16-ounce jar, by making your own. Nutrition facts were very similar for the two.

For peanut butter, buying premade appears to be cheaper or very similar in price. I spent an extra $0.04 per ounce, or about $0.64 per 16-ounce jar by making my own.

BUT…

The store-bought jar of peanut butter had slightly more calories, fat and saturated fat; slightly less protein and fiber; and (get ready) 950% more sodium! The extra sodium and fats come from the added ingredients in store-bought peanut butter.

Saving money and enhancing nutrition is great. But the best part of making your own nut butter at home is you can add things like cinnamon, nutmeg or honey; or you can add other nuts, like walnuts or cashews. When you add cinnamon, the nut butter smells like freshly baked cinnamon rolls... yum.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Pour nuts into food processor using the appropriate blade (varies).

2. Turn food processor on.

3. Keep processing until desired consistency, typically 12-15 minutes (depends on power of your food processor).

4. Add flavors (honey, cinnamon, etc.) about 10 minutes into the process.

5. Make sure you grind the nuts long enough. You don’t want it to look dry. It should be very creamy and smooth!

I also did a taste test on Ed to see which of 3 almond butters (homemade, MaraNatha’s or Justin’s) tastes best to him.

Result?

Homemade!

Tomorrow I will do a nutritional comparison: peanut butter vs. almond butter.