My kryptonite of packaged foods is flavored nut butters. I simply can’t pass one up! Most recently I found a cashew/almond butter flavored with chai spices that was *pretty* divine…but I had some complaints.
First, it was too grainy and not smooth enough. Second, it wasn’t made with sprouted nuts, and third, I wanted even more chai-ness swirled in. And so, of course, it was time for me to make my own. Chai-Spiced Cashew Almond Butter was born.
The biggest reason that I make my own nut butter is that I want to be eating sprouted nuts. All the time. I don’t want unsprouted nuts because I don’t want the anti-nutrients in my body, of my kids body, I don’t want the digestive distress and I want all of the beautiful benefits that these gorgeous little plant foods provide! (If you want even more reasons to eat sprouted, check out this piece I created for the Back to Forward membership!)
The further reason is that nut butter has a tendancy to go rancid. The oils in nuts (and seeds) are very sensitive to temperature and when they sit on a grocery shelf too long, or are exposed to inoptimal sunlight, they start to turn. In fact, rancid nuts are one of the primary factors in pathogenic mycobes (fungal overgrowth) in humans along with coffee, cacao and grains. We don’t want to consume a jar of nut butter that has been sitting around too long…and making your own sprouted nut butters fresh is a great way to ensure that never happens!
I recently told a client that spices were the most superpowered ingredients in the kitchen. They looked at me like I was crazy, but I’ll say it again to you because it’s true: SPICES ARE THE MOST SUPER POWERED INGREDIENTS IN YOUR KITCHEN. Spices are predominantly pungent in flavor, and as such their job is to amplify and elevate digestion. This means that they help us to digest any and all foods, help keep the digestive system warm and active, and help us to assimilate everything better (particularly when it’s prepared to be assimilated ie: sprouted nuts!) This means that whether your enjoying a mug of spiced tea with a meal, sprinkling a pinch of turmeric on your eggs, adding cinnamon to your porridge, or even cumin to your burger, all of these tiny magic pinches are helping you to digest that thing BETTER.
Nut butter, in all of it’s creamy delicious glory, is extremely challenging to digest. It’s sticky, heavy, dense and, especially when consumed on auto-pilot is ama (digestive toxin) waiting to happen. BUT, when we add a healthy dose of spices to our nut butter, we make this all the more digestible and friendly. In fact, every jar of nut butter would do well with a few teaspoons of spices swirled in!
Truth: NO. You can’t you’ll burn that little machine up so fast it will make your head spin.
I don’t recommend trying this one at home unless you have a high-speed, very powerful blender or a big bad-ass food processor. This is the one that I have and it’s a BOSS at making nut butter and so many other things!
If you don’t have one of these machines, then you could absolutely make yourself a chai spice mix and stir it into your next jar of nut butter, it won’t be quite the same, you get an A+ for effort. And, you can add a new food processor to your Christmas list for next year!
Is the nut butter I was dreaming of when I bought that sparkly, tantalizing jar a few weeks ago. Creamy, smooth, perfectly spiced, just sweet enough, and lovely on porridge bowls, spread on toast, and spread into dates when I need a morning snack. I just know you’ll love it as much as I do!
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