We’re Nutty about Nut Butters!
If you’ll pardon our pun (we couldn’t help ourselves) but seriously nut butters are great. Now we’re not talking about the thick, creamy peanut butters that our American buddies are so fond of, but the real, nut only’ butters that have been hitting the supermarket shelves recently.
We’ve done quite a bit of experimentation with nut butters as they add such a groovy texture to toppings of cakes, in biscuits and on toast. You can literally butter’ any nut. I’m always surprised to find that almond butter, cashew butter, and walnut butter are now things that people can readily get their hands on.
Although you can buy these items in health food stores and supermarkets, they’re also super easy to make at home. We often find ourselves in a pinch and chuck a few handfuls of cashew nibs in a food processor, wait patiently for ten minutes and there you have it! Deliciously pure cashew butter. Most nut butters are high in protein, vitamins, fibre and are heart healthy snacks for any time of day, even more reason to love them.
Probably the best known nut butter there will ever be is peanut butter. It has a sweet, sticky and distinctly peanut-like flavour that is almost impossible to put into words. What we’d like to share with you is that it can be just as scrumptious but without the extra (most of the time unneeded) ingredients. When peanut butter is mentioned, most people will think of a super thick, sandy spread, when in actual fact peanut butter should be just peanuts. Homemade and all natural peanut butter is crunchy, oily and speckled with dark freckles from the peanuts skin. If you’re looking for a slightly healthier option to satisfy your peanut cravings this is the way to go. Either make your own or look for the all natural’ brands in store.
Of course we could go through all the different types of nuts and what their butters are like, but it would probably be more fun for you to find out for yourself. We’ll give you a push and a little know-how so you can decide which ones sound like they will tickle your fancy.
Almond butter doesn’t taste like whole almonds (weirdly) or marzipan but has it’s own flavour all together. It stabilises blood sugar levels and is great for the heart as it has a higher amount of monounsaturated fats which work to reduce cholesterol in the blood.
Walnut butter is an excellent source of omega 3, something that some vegetarians and vegans struggle to get into their diet, it’s thick and tastes like autumn.
Tahini – is our wild card as it’s not a nut! It’s made from sesame seeds but we love it just as much. It has a wonderful savoury flavour and is popular in the Mediterranean, a delicious alternative to hummus and perfect on almost anything.
We wish you the best of luck on your nut butter voyage of discovery, enjoy!
