Soaking walnuts before making walnut butter?

[Jackie1995]

I used the search engine and only found one reference to "walnut butter" and it was not a recipe.

So, I want to make walnut butter. I have a bag of already shelled walnuts, halves and pieces. Do I need to soak these first?

To make the walnut butter, after they soak or if they don't have to soak, then what? Vitamix? Food processor? How long? Add anything else to it?

How long will my homemade walnut butter last in the refrigerator?

OK, that exhausts my walnut butter questions!

Thanks everyone for your help!

Jackie

[rawpriestess]

do NOT soak your walnuts.

Vita mix will work to make a truly smooth walnut butter,

your food processor may work, but your butter won't be as creamy.

Just mix it until it is the consistancy you like.

Walnuts have massive amounts of oil, so you will see the oil separating very quickly while or just after you blend.

The walnut butter will last quite a while, but the most important thing is that you need to have your fridge COLD.

Walnut butter is also VERY bitter.

[Jackie1995]

Ah ha! Bitter you say. Hmmm.

I really love raw walnuts, I always keep an ounce in a baggie in my pocketbook in case I get caught out and get hungry. I sort of imagined the walnut butter would be as "sweet" as it tastes chewed up.

Have you found any workarounds for this?

How about a mix of say, almond and walnut together? Or walnut and peanuts together?

I never considered the "bitter" issue. Hey, learn something new everyday!

Thanks so much for your input, Rawpriestess! Much appreciated!

Jackie

[CAdreamer]

I like walnuts raw, also, and use walnuts or pecans in a spread you might like.

dates
walnuts
coconut oil

process until very smooth

[Jackie1995]

Aha! That sounds so inviting!

I may have to purchase the dates and coconut oil for my experiment, since I don't stock dried fruits in the house and have not tried coconut oil yet.

I figure walnut spread is worth trying, even if it needs other items to make it less bitter. Thanks so much for your recipe!

Jackie

[luvnraw]

How about a mix of say, almond and walnut together? Or walnut and peanuts together?Jackie

one of the raw food product sites that I saw sells walnut/sunflower seed butter and those are the only ingredients....maybe thats a good mix? Let us know what you do and how it turns out!

[Jackie1995]

OMIGOSH! Sunflower seeds! Brilliant!!!

This experiment will have to wait for after the weekend, as I'm juice fasting until Monday. But what a GREAT idea!

Thanks so much, luvnraw.

I'll have to make two small batches, because the date/coconut oil/walnuts also is a "must try" experiment for me.

Thanks, guys!
Have fun!

Jackie

[rawpriestess]

Walnuts taste excellent with dates,

almonds with raisins

sunflower seeds (like almonds, hazelnuts and cashews) need to be soaked.

The only challenge I've ever found with sunflower seeds, is they turn very quickly once soaked, what I mean by turning, is they go bad, and not just rancid, that I could handle, they actually turn like humm, smell and taste bad, like decaying matter.

Hazelnuts when soaked get very sweet, I once soaked some hazelnuts for 3 days, (now this is the ONLY way I do it) and they tasted soooo sweet, no need for any sweeteners, just make sure if you are soaking anything for longer than say 12 hours, that you are rinsing it frequently, I rinse about 4 or 5 times a day,

once when I wake up, once at each meal, or meal time, and once before going to bed, this seems to keep the water fresh enough to soak, and not ferment the seeds, although no matter how fresh the water is, after about 3 days, you HAVE to use your nuts or put them in the fridge (in water), if you just put them in the frige, without water, they will mold.

[luvnraw]

Let us know how it turns out! Good luck with your juice fast too!