I have not been able to find raw nut butters anywhere in Australia. Before I found this site I resorted to ordering some from the States, but now I am wondering whether anyone knows of local stockists? Alternately, Sheryl and Piers, have you thought about stocking raw nut butters on your site? I am sure it would be quite a popular product, as it seems very hard to come by.

I bought mine from a company called Deer Garden Rejuvanitive Foods in America. They do something called a turnaround order, where you can order a product but nominate a local health food store to stock it for you. You then purchase it from the shop. I'm not sure if this would apply to Australia, but they are obviously interested in expanding their distribution in this way, and they ship anywhere in the world, so the chances look good! Anyway, if you are interested in looking into this for Raw Pleasure, they have a website at www.rejuvenative.com. Let me know what you think...

Another angle, of course, is making your own. I have a Greenpower Kempo juicer, and one of the things I was looking forward to when I purchased it was making my own nut butters. However, I haven't had great success. Peanut butter was no problem (I don't eat it but made it for a friend), although it was a bit dry and needed some oil added. But almond butter was a complete disaster! I soaked the almonds and put them through with the blank plate on, but it just didn't homogenise enough. It created a thick, minced paste, nothing like the runny almond butter that you buy. I put the mixture back through several times, and added a whole bottle of cold pressed almond oil, but it just didn't work.

Does anyone have any tips for making your own nut butters??!    I saw in one of your posts, Sheryl, that you were able to make a very successful nut butter using Brazil nuts thru a Champion. I haven't tried Brazil nuts yet as I was a bit put-off after my earlier disaster. Are there some nuts that work better than others, and should they always be soaked first or not? Did you have to add oil? Also, it is actually possible to get a runny result with a juicer, or should I just be expecting a paste?

Thanks for your help...

 

Yummy !
Yes i would definately buy them too if we had a source here in Australia.
I will try to make myself too. By the way Joss my nut cheese woked sucess with rejuvalec !! Its soo yummy!! My parents which are not 100% raw ,loved it.

cheers Alegne

Great idea, Sheryl. However I won't need to buy any more nut butter for a while as I ordered quite a large batch from the States only recently. I'd still like to know where else I can get it from for when I run out, though (sometime in the future), so I guess when that happens I'll be able to email you and see if you are still in a nut-butter making mood!

 Joss mentioned a post you had on raw nut butters somewhere - where is this? I'm still interested in knowing how I can make my own. Do you have any special equipment/ techniques that you use?

i was blessed enough to have some of that almond 'brain blissing' butter when i was at rp headquarters.

it was off the scale!!!

for me i had never had such a true nut butter.

Thanks so much, Sheryl. With a glowing recommendation like that, I can't wait to try it  .

Hi Donna,

I wouldn't recommend it. I believe the instruction manual says you can, and the warranty says if you do they must be soaked first, then ground one at a time. I find that soaked almonds (if not dried) don't give a good tasting almond butter. We don't use the Champion to juice, but had the opportunity to get a second hand one cheap - it's the only tool I've found that does good nut butter.

Sorry I don't have a better answer. One idea thuogh - if you have a small nut/coffee grinder you can make batches of softer nut butters like macadamia, brazil nut and cashew quite easily. Breville make a good little stainless steel coffee grinder they recommend for nuts too. That's what we use.

Cheers,
Sheryl

Hi Glowgirl (what a charming name!),

You shouldn't need to soak softer nuts, and actually with a twin gear juicer you can probably do other nuts striaght too... just check your warranty because you wouldn't want to void it.

We us a Green Life juicer by Tribest (have for the last 5 years). It's an excellent juicer. When I make almond butter in it, it comes out sort of a powder, and either need to add oil or water to it to make smooth. Oil will make the butter last longer... water is good only if you'll use it all in the next day or so. Always keep fresh nut butters chilled. One trick I have used is to make half almond butter mixed with half brazil nuts. Brazil nuts go smooth very easily, and together they make a nice nut butter, without the need to add anything else.

I've also made nut butters in my Vitamix - for soft ones you just blend... for harder ones you need to add oil/water.

Cheers,
Sheryl

PS Will buy almonds this week, and make the almond butter next weekend! LOTS OF IT!