Well, my mother became diabetic a little while ago and decided to adhere to a strict diet of healthy foods. One of the things she bought which, unlike Tofu, was actually tasty and caught my eye: Almond Butter by Kettle brand. Kettle also makes the crunchy Kettle Chips our family buys.
Anyways, here’s what it says on the label: Kettle - Roaster Fresh (R)- Creamy * Lightly Salted - Almond Butter net wt 11 oz.
And the back states: 1 oz serving: Total Fat= 17g, Saturated 2g, Polyunsaturated= 4g and Monounsaturated= 11g !! Wow! 6 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein, too.
Man, do I think we just hit a jackpot here! When you open the jar, you see a thin layer of pure almond oil floating on top of the almond goo. Yum! I already put a teaspoon into my protein shakes and it tastes pretty good. Not to forget mentioning- my PB &J sandwiches are totally Almond sandwiches now!
Almond butter is amazing. It seriously tastes like candy. I’ve only seen it at Trader Joe’s and it’s like 5 or 6 bucks a jar which kinda sucks for us poor college kids.
[quote]Mikazuki wrote:
Don’t even start with the cashew butter. :)[/quote]
I saw this in my local shop the other day but didnt pick any up. I think that I will have to give it a go now. It was all natural Cashew butter as well.
i’ve tried the kettle brand but i think my favorite is the almond butter from trader joes.
Trader Joes Raw Unsalted Almond Butter- sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetttttt, thats how i like my food, nothing added not even salt.
it’s about 4x cheaper than the kettle brand too as the jar is 2x the size and 1/2 of the price. The cheapest i found the kettle brand is about 10$, where as at trader joes the almond butter is roughly on par with the price of the peanut butters.
They do also carry cashew butter and cashew+macadamia butter mix.
The health food store I frequent has plain, dry roasted almonds in one of those old-fashioned type of peanut butter grinders. Beside the roasted almonds in the grinder, there’s a grinder full of dry roasted peanuts!
So you place a container under the output spout and turn it on, and it grinds the butter for you and spits it out into your container. You know that the nut butter is 100% nut butter, no sugar, preservatives added. Words can’t describe how delicious this fresh nut butter tastes. I eat it by the spoonful with a tall glass of water or iced tea. The flavor is outstanding. Does anyone else have access to this, maybe at your local health food store?
And you know those peanut butter balls we used to make as kids, where we mixed nonfat dry milk powder into peanut butter, chopped fruits and other condiments? I make those with the fresh nut butters and vanilla protein powder.
A great combination is to combine in a bowl protein powder with unsweetened shredded coconut, splenda, cinnamon, cocoa powder and mix well, then add the nut butter and a touch of vanilla extract until a slighly dry dough-like consistency. Form into balls and refrigerate until firm. You can add anything that you want, from raw flax seeds slightly chopped in the food processor, chopped dates, chopped up dried cherries, glutamine powder, raw sesame seeds, raw pumpkin seeds chopped in a food processor, rum extract and raisins, etc… Tastes like candy but much healthier because you know they’re made of whole foods.
[quote]chinadoll wrote:
Does anyone else have access to this, maybe at your local health food store?
[/quote]
I went to check out one of my local health food stores today and they have one of the grinders. And to make things even better, they will grind any nuts that you buy in the store into butter. So you can have any combination of nut butter that you want. And it is all nuttin but nuts!
[quote]chinadoll wrote:
A great combination is to combine in a bowl protein powder with unsweetened shredded coconut, splenda, cinnamon, cocoa powder and mix well, then add the nut butter and a touch of vanilla extract until a slighly dry dough-like consistency. Form into balls and refrigerate until firm. You can add anything that you want, from raw flax seeds slightly chopped in the food processor, chopped dates, chopped up dried cherries, glutamine powder, raw sesame seeds, raw pumpkin seeds chopped in a food processor, rum extract and raisins, etc… Tastes like candy but much healthier because you know they’re made of whole foods.[/quote]
Great tip! I’m gonna try that. I like combining it with whey and flax seeds already, but I’m going to try these balls.
I tried almond butter and sesame butter, both taste great. And only sea salt is added. I like to put it in salads too.
Only thing (but that’s also with nuts) is that it’s easy to eat more.
Almonds are very high in Omega-6 but extremely low in Omega-3.
I thought Omega-6 can increase the incidence of inflamation while Omega-3 decreases the incidence of inflamation.
I consume walnuts instead of almonds for this reason.
I do eat peanut butter but brand I buy (Smart Balance Omega chunky PB) replaces the PB oil with palm oil (same sat. fat as natural PB) and flax seed oil.
[quote]Marmadogg wrote:
Almonds are very high in Omega-6 but extremely low in Omega-3.
I thought Omega-6 can increase the incidence of inflamation while Omega-3 decreases the incidence of inflamation.
I consume walnuts instead of almonds for this reason.
I do eat peanut butter but brand I buy (Smart Balance Omega chunky PB) replaces the PB oil with palm oil (same sat. fat as natural PB) and flax seed oil.
[quote]Marmadogg wrote:
Almonds are very high in Omega-6 but extremely low in Omega-3.
I thought Omega-6 can increase the incidence of inflamation while Omega-3 decreases the incidence of inflamation.
I consume walnuts instead of almonds for this reason.
I do eat peanut butter but brand I buy (Smart Balance Omega chunky PB) replaces the PB oil with palm oil (same sat. fat as natural PB) and flax seed oil.
Yes, that’s right. If you look at omega 3 walnuts are better.
But it’s all about balance between omega 3 and 6. Most people get too much 6 in comparison to omega 3. But if you get your omega 3 from other sources also (like fish oil, fat fish, oils), it’s no problem to eat a fat source which is higher in omega 6 like almond butter.
[quote]helga wrote:
I went to check out one of my local health food stores today and they have one of the grinders. And to make things even better, they will grind any nuts that you buy in the store into butter. So you can have any combination of nut butter that you want. And it is all nuttin but nuts![/quote]
[quote]consumer wrote:
Marmadogg wrote:
Almonds are very high in Omega-6 but extremely low in Omega-3.
I thought Omega-6 can increase the incidence of inflamation while Omega-3 decreases the incidence of inflamation.
I consume walnuts instead of almonds for this reason.
I do eat peanut butter but brand I buy (Smart Balance Omega chunky PB) replaces the PB oil with palm oil (same sat. fat as natural PB) and flax seed oil.
you have it the other way around my friend. Peanuts are extremely high in Omega-6’s but low in omega-3’s.
Almonds have a good amount of both.
For a good resource on what kind of fatty acids are in what particular type of food. Check out IUPA’s lipid Lexicon(google it).[/quote]
Re-read my post…I am not advocating eating peanuts but I am advocating eating PB whose peanut oil is removed and replaced by Palm Oil (Omega-9 & sat. fat) and flax seed oil (Omega-3).
Reading comprehension is important because you are wrong.
[quote]MR1 wrote:
Marmadogg wrote:
Almonds are very high in Omega-6 but extremely low in Omega-3.
I thought Omega-6 can increase the incidence of inflamation while Omega-3 decreases the incidence of inflamation.
I consume walnuts instead of almonds for this reason.
I do eat peanut butter but brand I buy (Smart Balance Omega chunky PB) replaces the PB oil with palm oil (same sat. fat as natural PB) and flax seed oil.
Yes, that’s right. If you look at omega 3 walnuts are better.
But it’s all about balance between omega 3 and 6. Most people get too much 6 in comparison to omega 3. But if you get your omega 3 from other sources also (like fish oil, fat fish, oils), it’s no problem to eat a fat source which is higher in omega 6 like almond butter.[/quote]
I do not believe you need to add omega-6 to your diet as you will get enough from chicken & beef consumption.
I absolutely am addicted to Almond Butter. I can’t keep it in the house anymore because I will just stand in my kitchen with a spoon and consume until its gone.
Sheesh. How does simply grinding up the nuts make it taste so delicious?
I won’t even let myself try Cashew butter. And God help me if there’s a “macadamia butter” floating around somewhere.
lol. Too bad its expensive as hell.