Raw almond butter doesn't get as creamy?

[jwoodin84]

So I've been using my Blendtec to make almond butter. I've made a few batches with raw almonds (one time soaked and dehydrated), and I noticed that these don't get creamy as easily as the one time I did it with roasted almonds. I can't really figure out why this would be the case, so I'm just wondering if anyone else has observed this and possibly knows why.

Jeffrey

[spicyfull]

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=51056&referrerid=4614

[skier2]

The problem is that, although you break the nuts down into little pieces, you have likely not gone far enough, by actually destroying the cell wall of each cell and releasing the oils contained therein. To make raw almond butter, the nuts must be ground for a very very long time.

[jwoodin84]

Do you do this skier? What are you using to grind the almonds?

[katacykls]

I made almond walnut butter today and it turned out great.
First I ground the nuts in our masticating juicer and kept refeading the pulp into the juicer so that the nut meal was really well broken up. I re-fed the juicer about 10 times. After that I poured the nut meal into our Food processor and ran it on and off before the fp overheated. I did this while reviewing my notes. You need to be patient with it..and the butter will come through. Now our butters are lined up in the top shelf of our fridge ready for use. Yes! Finally.
I've been wanting to make smooth, creamy butter and I finally did-I just needed to commit to it and be patient.

[raweater]

You can make walnut butter instead, it will turn to craemy butter in less than a minute in a food processor. Also making nut butters in a vitamix/blendtec will cook it far beyond raw temperatures.

Also don't forget that even almonds labeled as raw must be pasteurized by law in the united states, "raw" no longer means anything for almonds.

[jwoodin84]

Right, I'm now working on 10 lbs of raw almonds from Spain. I'm still wondering, though, if anyone knows that it is about roasting nuts that makes them get creamy faster. I tried roasting the almonds once a while ago, and it only took less than a minute in the blendtec and it was totally creamy. Just curious what it is about roasting that allows that to happen.

[Springtime]

I think this is what happens:

Whn you roast the nuts/seeds you break down the cell walls, or at least soften them, so the oil comes out much quicker when you blend them

Raw nuts/seeds have intact cell walls, thus need much more blending to break out the oils and make it creamy.

[jwoodin84]

It seems like that could used to argue that nuts are more easily digestible/nutritous when roasted...though I guess there are enzymes that are killed during roasting? Is there any solid research on this kind of thing?

[raweater]

Roasting them not only kills the enzymes, but destroys the vitamins, damages the fat and protein, and creates carcinogens.

[jwoodin84]

Yeah, I was reading about some of that right after I posted. Seems like raw is definitely the way to go. Off topic now, but, Raweater - could you give me some tips on how to maintain/gain bodyweight? Are you vegan? I recently switched back to a vegan diet and much higher raw and I've lost a few pounds, when if anything I want to gaining weight. I'm a young guy with a fast metabolism and I think maybe I'm not eating enough fat and/or carbs.

Thanks,

Jeffrey

[raweater]

ferral-cat in another thread had asked me this, here is the response I had given him, it should help:

Before going raw I had worked out and had gained weight to about 170 lbs but had stopped working out, once I went raw I fell to 135 lbs in months even though I was eating very dense foods and stayed there for 2 years until I found the fairly obvious solution: start working out again. You said yourself you want to be more muscular, this is simply impossible without doing weight lifting, so if you want to gain weight you must start weight lifting otherwise I've found gaining weight on a raw diet is impossible, and even if you did without working out it could only be fat.

Since I started working out on raw food I've regained about 40 lbs in less than a year and constantly get comments on how muscular I am (I'm also only about 5'7 so I'm quite big considering my weight and size). I've also just recently got accepted at a firefighter school and had to pass their physical tests which are quite intense.

What I'd recommend as a workout is to do some bench press, squats, some arm exercises with dumbbells and some cardio like running or swimming (although cardio isn't important to gain weight, during my firefighter tests that was my weak point so I'm working hard on my cardio since and it's healthy to keep your cardio in shape and helps keep body fat down). For the weight exercises select a weight that you can only lift 4-6 times before failure, that is the best range for gaining weight.

You also need to eat more, but this comes automatically as a result of working out, due to the energy you're spending you'll find yourself having to eat much more food to satisfy your hunger, I normally eat 3000-4000 calories a day. A the beginning I even noted about how much I was eating to ensure I was getting enough calories (I simply estimated about 800 calories per cup of nuts or seeds and about 80 calories per cup of fruit and vegetables so it's easy to estimate).

Try to eat a lot of walnuts, they have as much protein as beef and about 800 calories per cup. Put walnuts in smoothies, make milkshakes with them, make pie crusts by putting 2 cups walnuts and 1/2 cup dates in the food processor and press into a pie pan and add the pie fillings you want.

I also take no protein powders or supplements whatsoever.

So the key is that I've found in my 4 years or so raw are:
-Do weightlifting, you probably won't gain weight on a raw diet until you do
-Make sure you're eating enough calories and protein with dense foods like nuts and seeds

As a side effect, working out has been proven to be more effective than antidepressants for depression, so that will help you too, especially as you see yourself gain weight and get more muscular.

I know you can do it, but you need to start working out, absolutely nothing worked for me until I did and now I'm one of if not the most muscular among my friends even those on a SAD diet.