Sunflower Seed Butter

Making one’s own nut butter is intensely satisfying. Really. It’s simple, it lasts a long time, it will most likely be cheaper than buying quality commercial nut butter and it’s really very tasty. Make it out of most anything: almonds, pistachios, peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts, pepitas, pecans and among others, my favorite “nut” butter: sunflower seed. I made some of this sweet stuff today and thought I’d share and hope that if you, friendly reader, don’t do it already perhaps you’ll try it yourself sometime.

A few basics for making nut butter first. Roast the nuts or seeds first, just lightly. An exception to this is the pistachio which gets blanched. Make sure anything you use is de-skinned before grinding. Use a food processor for grinding. Or use a blender if that’s what you’ve got. A little salt or sweetener can be added if desired. I always add a little salt, but I rarely use sweetener. If you do sugar will work, but I recommend a mild honey or light agave nectar. Oil generally needs to be added towards the end of grinding to achieve a creamy texture. The amount of oil depends on how oily the nut or seed your using is, naturally. Also, the oil content will vary with the age of the thing, try not to use stale or rancid ingredients. Use a mild oil, the flavor of whatever oil you use will definitely shine through in the nut butter. For example olive oil is a bit intense for my tastes in nut butter; I generally use safflower or canola oil. Pick through your batch before roasting to remove any shell pieces that got left behind. Also remove any unappetizing individuals from the bunch, bad seeds won’t blend in; on the contrary there’s a good chance they’ll ruin the batch.

The amounts I use vary and I don’t generally measure, but I’ve done so this time to give a general idea. Next time though, I’m sure the amounts will all be a little different as they depend on several factors. I immediately ate a spoonful of mine on a slice of mixed sourdough bread that I made yesterday. Mixed sourdough bread? Yep, made with wheat and rye starters. Yum city.

Sunflower Seed Butter

3 cups shelled sunflower seeds

3 Tbs safflower or another mild oil, or as needed

a pinch of salt, to taste

Pick through seeds to remove shell pieces and bad seeds. Lay seeds out on a parchment paper lined sheet pan and roast at 400 degrees until lightly browned, anywhere from 8 – 12 minutes. Check often and stir them around once or twice.

Once they’re out of the oven wait until they’re cool enough to handle comfortably then process. Pick up the parchment paper by two opposing corners and bring the corners upwards and together. Carry the cradled seeds to the food processor and pour in the bowl.

Begin to process by pulsing. Once they begin to break up considerably leave on for 20 seconds or so. You want them to be at a very fine grind before adding the oil. Once they are fine enough they’ll start falling off the sides of the bowl in thin little sheets. Add the salt and pulse a couple times. Turn the machine on and add oil one tablespoon at a time through the hole on top with about 10 seconds of processing between each addition. When it starts to come together it will ball up and roll around the bowl. Once this happens open it up and try it. Does it need more salt? Could it use some honey? If you want it to be smoother try processing it for 10 more seconds and try it again. If it still isn’t smooth enough, add a little more oil. Keep adding oil until it meets your desired smoothness. Make sure you let it run a little before you add more oil each time, though.

Put the stuff in a jar and keep it refrigerated for about a month or so. Nuts and seeds are fragile things and will still go rancid under refrigeration it’ll just happen more slowly. Eat on your favorite bread as I do or in whatever tickles your fancy.