This post is about oil level testing of nuts.
Almonds have 78% fat content. Trying to make almond butter with 1 tbsp. of oil created more of a soup than a butter. I have been incrementally decreasing the amount of oil I use with blanched slivered almonds. At 1 tsp., I was satisfied, but the finished product did not have the consistency of store bought peanut butter. Therefore, I am attempting another round of almond butter using only ½ tsp. of virgin sunflower oil.
Unfortunately, I deviated from my own protocols. While spinning the butter, I decided to go more with look and feel than any particular procedure. The only thing I strictly kept to was 10-second bursts of the Ninja® to prevent it from burning out {although while sitting here typing this, I can smell the Ninja® in the other room}. If one really wants to increase the frequency or batch size, one might consider a more powerful and, hence, expensive machine than the puny Ninja®. All this said, I was a little surprised at the final result.
Not only is the product creamier than previous attempts, but it is also the most nut tasting of the butters I have made. I surmise this is because the longer processing resulted in more of the essential oils being released, giving more flavor to the final product. However, the consistency was more like a jam than a butter, as the picture demonstrates. It is still spreadable, but not what one expects. To see if the product will solidify, I vacuum sealed it and placed it in my kitchen cupboard, and I will check it in a few days to see if it butterizes.
The above result has caused me to fret whether the failure of the pistachio butter a few days ago was the result of impatience. Now, therefore, I will attempt the 72%-fat-content pistachio butter again but using 2 tbsp. of the oil, twice the amount as yesterday.
As the picture shows, it is a bit chunkier than the almond, though I think I have proved a few of my theories.
First, a nut with less natural fat must be primed with a larger amount of oil. The sunflower oil is a good choice because it has very little flavor of its own. The pistachio butter was very pistachio-y, if a little odd to the mind. The almond butter was quite nutty as well.
Second, there is no one particular procedure that will produce consistent result across different nuts. It took more pulses of the pistachio to get to the pictured result than it did for the almonds. Had I not been an impatient person, I could have spun the pistachios more to get a smoother blend, hence proof of my abovementioned {yes, that is a word, and it even passes Word spell check!} impatience theorem.
Third, the Ninja® food chopper is probably the lowest end of tools that will accomplish nut butter making. In fact, that is the very reason I purchased this device: It was the least expensive machine which could make nut butter, albeit this claim was made by people on YouTube rather than the company itself.
The next steps are to see how the butter changes with resting and to create a chart of nut:butter ratios by experimenting with more types of nuts, including roasted.
POSTSCRIPT: These two nut butters have been sitting in my kitchen cupboard for about 2 days now. Both of them remain more of a nut jam than the peanut butter we have come to know and love. This is still a usable product, as I had an almond butter sandwich last night. However, don't expect Jif or Peter Pan to come out of the Ninja®.
The pictures on the page appear smaller than they are. To see them larger, simply double click on the picture. Also, I always welcome your constructive criticism. Click on the Comment link below next to the icon of a pencil; it may say “No” or have a number in front of it.
Almonds have 78% fat content. Trying to make almond butter with 1 tbsp. of oil created more of a soup than a butter. I have been incrementally decreasing the amount of oil I use with blanched slivered almonds. At 1 tsp., I was satisfied, but the finished product did not have the consistency of store bought peanut butter. Therefore, I am attempting another round of almond butter using only ½ tsp. of virgin sunflower oil.
Unfortunately, I deviated from my own protocols. While spinning the butter, I decided to go more with look and feel than any particular procedure. The only thing I strictly kept to was 10-second bursts of the Ninja® to prevent it from burning out {although while sitting here typing this, I can smell the Ninja® in the other room}. If one really wants to increase the frequency or batch size, one might consider a more powerful and, hence, expensive machine than the puny Ninja®. All this said, I was a little surprised at the final result.
The above result has caused me to fret whether the failure of the pistachio butter a few days ago was the result of impatience. Now, therefore, I will attempt the 72%-fat-content pistachio butter again but using 2 tbsp. of the oil, twice the amount as yesterday.
First, a nut with less natural fat must be primed with a larger amount of oil. The sunflower oil is a good choice because it has very little flavor of its own. The pistachio butter was very pistachio-y, if a little odd to the mind. The almond butter was quite nutty as well.
Second, there is no one particular procedure that will produce consistent result across different nuts. It took more pulses of the pistachio to get to the pictured result than it did for the almonds. Had I not been an impatient person, I could have spun the pistachios more to get a smoother blend, hence proof of my abovementioned {yes, that is a word, and it even passes Word spell check!} impatience theorem.
Third, the Ninja® food chopper is probably the lowest end of tools that will accomplish nut butter making. In fact, that is the very reason I purchased this device: It was the least expensive machine which could make nut butter, albeit this claim was made by people on YouTube rather than the company itself.
The next steps are to see how the butter changes with resting and to create a chart of nut:butter ratios by experimenting with more types of nuts, including roasted.
POSTSCRIPT: These two nut butters have been sitting in my kitchen cupboard for about 2 days now. Both of them remain more of a nut jam than the peanut butter we have come to know and love. This is still a usable product, as I had an almond butter sandwich last night. However, don't expect Jif or Peter Pan to come out of the Ninja®.
The pictures on the page appear smaller than they are. To see them larger, simply double click on the picture. Also, I always welcome your constructive criticism. Click on the Comment link below next to the icon of a pencil; it may say “No” or have a number in front of it.
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