Making your own sunflowerseed butter
Making your own sunflower seed butter
In a long ago and dark past (…) I had no idea you could make “peanut butter” from virtually all nuts. And that it is – in essence – rather easy to do too. I found out somewhere in 2010 during a Daring Cooks challenge where I learned how to make almond butter. I do wonder what’s with the ‘butter’ in the name? It’s nothing to do with butter as far as I know. Different process, completely different texture, different taste, so why the butter? Anyone know?
Even worse, here in the Netherlands we do not have peanut butter. We call it peanut cheese… (if you would translate it literally) That’s even weirder!
Anyway, I find it completely illogical but it could be me. The good people of the whole30 decided that peanuts are bad for you. Or maybe not so much bad for you but they could be the cause of certain allergic reactions in some people. You see, a peanut is not a nut at all. It is a legume and as such can be the cause of irritation in your bodily systems.. 🙂 And because the whole30 is meant to eliminate all possible allergens peanuts are off limits and with that also sateh sauce.
I did, however, see a rather good looking recipe in the book Well Fed 2 by Melissa Joulwan. It’s a book filled with good looking paleo recipes who are also mostly whole30 approved.
So what did I need for the recipe? Sunflower seed butter… Not something we have here in the supermarket so a little search on the internet brought me a couple of goodlooking recipes one of which from Sonia, the healthy foodie. I know her recipes are always right so I followed it along and voila; sunflower seed butter. It does take a bit of time to make but it is super simple. The taste is a tiny bit more bitter than you are used to in peanutbutter. I will be trying to make a sort of peanutsauce with it soon. (that is called sunshine sauce… Gotta love the name!) For now the recipe for sunflowerseed butter.
Sunflower seed butter
Ingredients
- 300-400 gram peeled sunflower seeds
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C.
- Spread the sunflowerseeds out on a baking tray so you have one layer. Roast in the oven until they are lightly brown. Don't let them become too dark or it will be bitter. And it goes quickly so stay close to the oven.
- Let it cool a bit before transferring to your food processor. Blend the seeds together. It will first become like sand, than wet sand and after a while longer it will all clump together and sort of stay fixed in your food processor. That is normal. Keep breaking up the clump in between and repeat the process until - at some point - it will let go and transform into a smooth butter.
- If you want to know what it looks like check out the step by step process on Sonia's site here
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
I have not made butter from sunflower seeds – cashews, almonds yes but I need to try this! Loving it!
I’ve always been confused about how loosely the word “butter” is used too. But I understand why/how people use it they way they do — I think — so I ignore it. But it is weird. What’s not weird is this sunflower seed butter. Looks pretty good. And no way would I call it sunflower seed “cheese!”
Haha… I agree.. That just sounds horribly wrong doesn’t it?