Nut butter
A nut butter is a spreadable foodstuff made by grinding nuts into a paste. The result has a high fat content and can be spread like true butter, but is otherwise unrelated. Nut butters include:
- Acorn butter
- Almond butter
- Cashew butter
- Hazelnut butter
- Macadamia nut butter
- Peanut butter
- Pecan butter
- Pistachio butter
- Walnut butter
Peanut butter | |
Type | Spread |
---|---|
Main ingredients | Nuts |
The almond, cashew, macadamia, peanut, pecan, pistachio and walnut are not true nuts in a botanical sense. However, because they are considered nuts in a culinary sense, their crushed spreads are called nut butters. Similar spreads can also be made from seeds not considered nuts in a culinary sense:
- Pumpkin seed butter
- Sesame seed butter (usually called tahini)
- Soybean butter – made from soynuts (roasted soybeans)[1]
- Sunflower seed butter
- Hummus or chickpea spread
Nut and seed butters have a high content of protein, fiber, and essential fatty acids, and can be used to replace butter or margarine on bread or toast.
The grinding of nuts into a paste has a long history. Almond paste or marzipan was highly prized by the caliphs of Baghdad. "The Kitab al-Tabikh or Book of Recipes was a collection of recipes from the court of ninth-century Baghdad. The most esteemed sweet was lauziinaq, an almond paste much like marzipan."[2] Hazelnut butter was mixed with chocolate to overcome shortages during the Napoleonic wars and WWII, which led to the invention of Gianduja (chocolate) (e.g. Nutella). [3]
Nutritional properties
The following table gives some approximate nutritional properties (for a reference serving of 1 tablespoon or approximately 15 grams) of some nut and seed butters. Many of these contain additional oils or other ingredients that may alter the nut butter's nutritional content.[4]
Butter | Food energy kJ (kcal) | Protein (g) | Fat (g) | Calcium (mg) | Zinc (mg) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Almond butter | 420 (101) | 2.4 | 9.5 | 43 | 0.5 |
Cashew butter | 390 (93) | 2.8 | 8 | 7 | 0.8 |
Hazelnut butter | 390 (94) | 2 | 9.5 | N/A | N/A |
Peanut butter – natural | 390 (94) | 3.8 | 8 | 7 | 0.4 |
Peanut butter – reduced fat | 400 (95) | 4 | 6 | N/A | 0.4 |
Sunflower butter | 330 (80) | 3 | 7 | N/A | N/A |
Soy butter (sweetened) | 360 (85) | 4 | 5.5 | 50 | N/A |
Soy butter (unsweetened) | 330 (80) | 4 | 6.5 | 30 | N/A |
Soy-peanut butter (added sweetener) | 210 (50) | 2 | 1.2 | 40 | N/A |
Tahini | 370 (89) | 2.6 | 8 | 64 | 0.7 |
See also
References
- Shurtleff, W.; Aoyagi, A.. 2012. "History of Soynuts and Soynut Butter... (1068–2012)." Lafayette, California: Soyinfo Center. 590 pp. (1,336 references, 114 photos and illustrations. Free online).
- https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200604/cooking.with.the.caliphs.htm
- https://hazelnuthill.com/history-of-gianduja-chocolate-hazelnut-spread/
- Reed Mangels (November–December 2001). "Guide to Nuts and Nut Butters". Vegetarian Journal. Retrieved 2006-08-07.