INTRODUCTION

This almond butter is just delicious. To me, it is very very addictive possibly because I am an almond lover.

Many nuts have natural fats that can be extracted and there are many types of nuts butter. One of them which is very common in the region is peanut butter. If you like peanut butter and almond, chances are you will like this almond butter.

This almond butter can be used to as a bread spread and also for baking such as cookies. It was sold rather expensively as almond is not a cheap nut. The almond butter is definitely a good alternative for those who are allergic to peanuts and dairy products.

Almond butter is a food paste made from almonds. Almond butter may be crunchy or smooth, and is generally “stir” (susceptible to oil separation) or “no-stir” (emulsified). Almond butter may be either raw or roasted, describing the almonds themselves prior to grinding. It is recommended that almond butter be refrigerated once opened to prevent spoilage and oil separation. Almond butter is high in monounsaturated fats, calcium, potassium, iron and manganese. It’s considered a good source of riboflavin, phosphorus, and copper, and an excellent source of vitamin E, magnesium, and fiber. Almond butter also provides dietary protein. (Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_butter)

It is amazing to see how one can extract the oil from almond.. and I paid dearly for this exercise. While I was blending the almond meal and when I saw it started to turn into liquid and oil secreted, I never realized that the whole exercise is so hot until the plastic cap at the top of my immersion blender has melted… I have to buy a spare part to replace this.. My lesson learned is do not blend continuously. You need to take a short rest for the butter to cool down.

There is essentially no recipe. What is needed to just continue blending the almond. When you blends, oil from the nuts will start to secrete. It just take a bit of patience. I have initially set aside 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil to facilitate the blending, at the end, I did not use this oil. Therefore, the whole bottle is made from pure almond plus pinches of salt. The entire exercise is very similar to extracting coconut butter or kerisik from coconut. For for coconut, I have use the pounding method to get the coconut oil. If you are interested, you can refer to this post: Coconut Become Butter ?–Kerisik (椰子酱）

You may be wondering why my almond butter is beige in colour yet those sold in stalls are brownish. The reason is because I used blanched almonds or almond without skins. I have also started this experiment using almond meal or grind almond powder purchased from bakery store. It is not necessary to use almond powder, you can start preparing from whole almonds, blanched or with skins. It is just take a bit longer than this exercise.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepare 1 small bottle of almond butter

• 4 cups of almond meal or whole almonds
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (optional only if you cannot blend properly)
• Pinches of coarse sea salt or table salt to taste (optional)

* The quantity is for reference only. There is no need to give a quantity as essentially there is only one ingredient and salt can be adjusted to suit individual taste bud.

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Roast your almonds (almond meal or whole almond) in the pre-heated oven of 150 degree Celsius for about 15 minutes or until aromatic. It is imperative to roast the almond until fragrant, otherwise, the almond butter will be tasteless. Therefore, as long as you are satisfied with the aroma, it is considered as done. It is ok to be a bit brownish as some almond butter sold are brown too..

• Transfer the salt, toasted almond meal or whole almond to a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Blend until it become liquid like texture. The whole exercise will take quite a while and for me, it took about 10 minutes. If your blender cannot proceed with the blending smoothly or it take too long with the blending, add the cooking oil to facilitate and expedite the blending. Stop the blending when you feel that the food processor is too hot. Scrap the side to ensure even blending.

• Once it cools completely, transfer to an air tight sterilize bottle, store  in the fridge to avoid oil separation and best consumed within a month. This almond butter is a good alternative of peanut butter and normal butter to be used as bread spread. If you want chunky almond butter, just add some chopped almonds to the creamy almond butter above.

CONCLUSION

I knew most readers may not be familiar with this almond butter. Trust me, it is beneficial to health, delicious and rather costly to purchase from the stores. Why not give it a try?

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