Making almond butter?

[Yammy]

I just got a green star juicer and am attempting to make almond butter. I soaked my nuts overnight, and the almond "butter" is coming out dry and horrible! Anyone have any tips/advice on making smooth butter?

[RawFoodieMom]

Are you using the blank plate?

[Yammy]

I am...I just gave up and put the mess in the food processor. Now it's a date nut torte! Disappointed though about the green-star thing. I had such high hopes.

[RawFoodieMom]

I am...I just gave up and put the mess in the food processor. Now it's a date nut torte! Disappointed though about the green-star thing. I had such high hopes.

Hmmm... that's really strange. I was hoping to get a juicer like that, with that being one of the reasons, to make almond butter. I didn't think you were supposed to soak almonds before making butter, but I wouldn't think that would make it come out really dry?? :confused:

Hopefully someone with a green star or similar juicer will chime in...

[Janey]

It came with a short DVD about how to use it, and juliano soaked the nuts too, but his came out better than mine. Still didn't look like the kind you buy! Maybe I will try again...the whole learning curve thing.

[Crisyn]

What I find works best for me is to soak the nuts overnight and then dehydrate them completely (usually I leave them in there for a day), and then process them. I don't know why that works, but it does.
I have never used the Green Star, but I have had success with the Champion juicer. But I almost always use my Vitamix - I put in around one cup of the soaked-dehydrated nuts, and about 1 Tbsp of coconut oil, and process at a low speed for a few minutes.
I get a consistency that is pretty close to what I get in a jar.

[Janey]

Haha. Sorry, I'm showing my mom how to use rawfoodtalk, so I'm signed in under her!
OOPS,

YAMMY

[Yammy]

Thanks for the tip. So now I need a vita mix! ahh.

[RawFoodieMom]

What I find works best for me is to soak the nuts overnight and then dehydrate them completely (usually I leave them in there for a day), and then process them. I don't know why that works, but it does.
I have never used the Green Star, but I have had success with the Champion juicer. But I almost always use my Vitamix - I put in around one cup of the soaked-dehydrated nuts, and about 1 Tbsp of coconut oil, and process at a low speed for a few minutes.
I get a consistency that is pretty close to what I get in a jar.

Thanks for the tip, Crisyn... I'd been using my food processor. I've done it twice. The first time it worked really great. The second time, I could not get it to process the almonds properly. I ended up adding too much oil and it came out really really weird, LOL.

Do you have the dry canister for the VitaMix or did you just use the regular one? I only have the regular one, so that's why I've been a little apprehensive about trying it...

Debra

[Crisyn]

Yammy - you can probably do it in the Green Star too, unless you are just needing an extra nudge to buy the Vitamix - in which case, yes, you absolutely have to have a Vitamix to make nut butter :D

Debra - I only have the wet blade, and it works just fine. Sometimes I have to stop the blade and push the nuts around a little, but most of the time it works fine all on its own.
I am glad I didn't pay extra for the dry blade, as I haven't found anything that I couldn't make yet.

[RawFoodieMom]

Debra - I only have the wet blade, and it works just fine. Sometimes I have to stop the blade and push the nuts around a little, but most of the time it works fine all on its own.
I am glad I didn't pay extra for the dry blade, as I haven't found anything that I couldn't make yet.

Oh that is good news, thank you. :)

You mentioned it works best to soak and then dehydrate for a day... Have you tried just putting the almonds in without soaking/dehydrating? Did it not work as well?

If not, I guess I better get some almonds soaking... I used up my soaked almonds for almond milk today... :D

[Crisyn]

Yup, I have tried using unsoaked almonds, and soaked almonds for 1 hour, and soaked almonds overnight without dehydrating, and using no oil, and using more oil, etc, etc, etc. The soaked overnight/dehydrated almonds just seem to work for me. I don't know what the physical explanation is for it, because it seems counter-intuitive to me, but it does work. I have to give credit to Sheryl at Raw Pleasure for giving me the idea....
http://www.raw-pleasure.com.au/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,71/topic,556.0

Let us know how your nut butter turns out!

[RawFoodieMom]

Crisyn, wow you've tried everything, eh? Thanks for sharing your wise, almond butter experience. :)

I forgot to soak almonds last night. :rolleyes: I'll be sure to soak some tonight and then dehydrate so Tuesday morning I should be rolling in almond butter! :D

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. :)

Debra

[Yammy]

Yammy - you can probably do it in the Green Star too, unless you are just needing an extra nudge to buy the Vitamix - in which case, yes, you absolutely have to have a Vitamix to make nut butter :D

Haha Crisyn!! I think I am getting a vita-mix for my b-day! 2 more months! In the meantime I will soak and then dehydrate my nuts. I've never done that before for almond butter. Fingers crossed!