Almond butter

[Wasp]

I have never tried almond butter before tonight. I expected it to taste similar to peanut butter, but the stuff I bought (all natural, no salt) has a wicked bitter after taste it and even smells kinda weird. Of course i had to test feed the hubby. Not knowing what i was giving him, he spit it out ....lol...he said it had a plastic after taste. It did come in a plastic jar, but I don't find it has a plastic taste, I find it has a bitter after taste. Is this normal? Maybe it's one of those foods that are an acquired taste?

[OakLeaf]

I love almond butter. It's just too expensive for me to buy very often! What brand did you get?

[goldfinch]

I love almond butter too, I get it at the local co-op. I don't much like peanut butter. Could be a bad batch, could be that you just don't like it.

[OakLeaf]

One thing that occurred to me - just like whole nuts, nut butters made from roasted nuts have a very different flavor from butters made from raw nuts. Are you used to eating toasted almonds and bought raw butter, or vice versa?

[goldfinch]

Oak, good catch. I prefer the taste of roasted than to raw, but I like both. Some think raw is better for you, but I don't know. I only have had the stuff that you grind right there at the co-op so it is very fresh, if that makes a difference.

[Catrin]

I've found that I dislike the after taste of almond butter made from roasted/salted, or just roasted almonds. The butter made from raw, unsalted nuts are far more to my taste - they have a different taste and no after-taste. To me the roasted almond butter has a strong after-taste. I don't use nut-butter often these days (it is too easy to eat too many calories this way), but my choice when I do is raw almond butter.

[GLC1968]

Another possibility (particularly if you say it smelled bad and tasted bitter) is that it may have gone rancid. That's a real possibility if it only contains almonds and was not in the fridge.

I just tried to eat some that had been in our cabinet for longer than I had thought and it was awful...and I love almond butter!

[emily_in_nc]

Yes, my first thought when reading the original post was that it had gone bad. Nuts can definitely go rancid. If it smells bad, it's probably bad.

I *heart* almond butter. Unfortunately it's way too expensive to buy in Belize -- only available at the one health-food store and way outta my budget.

[Wasp]

One thing that occurred to me - just like whole nuts, nut butters made from roasted nuts have a very different flavor from butters made from raw nuts. Are you used to eating toasted almonds and bought raw butter, or vice versa?

The brand is MaraNatha. I just checked the jar, it's the roasted type. Checked the best before date....Oct 02/13
Even though I stirred it quite a bit prior to using, it is quite runny which I though was odd. I think I got a bad batch, cause I'm not a really picky eater and I don't like it. I would take it back, but I bought it from Costco and cant be bothered with the line ups to return it, I just won't buy it again.

[OakLeaf]

I don't think I've ever had Maranatha's almond butter, but FWIW I'm not particularly impressed with their peanut butter. Trying to remember what brand I got the last time, but it's been a while.

Any almond butter I've had doesn't have the consistency of peanut butter. It just makes it easier to stir - all nut butters should be stored in the refrigerator, so a "thinner" consistency just means it's more spreadable.

[emily_in_nc]

Maranatha's almond butter is the only one I've seen here in Belize for a huge price. I do think almond butter tends to be thinner than peanut butter. The date seems like it should be okay, but as I said before, the smell test usually works for me.

We bought some extra virgin coconut oil here that smelled "off" even though it was still in date (but not by much). When we bought another bottle with a later date and compared the two, it was obvious that the first had gone bad. I had done some googling in the meantime, and apparently coconut oil only very rarely goes rancid, but we certainly got a bad one. The fresh one was sweet and yummy -- a completely different product from the one that tasted and smelled strange. We threw it out.

[GLC1968]

I buy Maranatha from Cosco all the time. The container I mentioned above that had gone bad was that brand, actually...but it had been open for awhile.

Even though the date was good, I bet it was still spoiled. I'd suggest you try one more time but maybe buy a packet of Justin's from Whole Foods so that you could try it without committing to a whole second jar. Justin's makes little single serve packets in plain and other flavors (like maple almond butter!). They are expensive to buy all the time, but they are a great way to try it without a big jar commitment.

[e3rdpower]

If you have a high powered blender or good food processor, making your own nut butter is way less expensive. Buy your favorite nuts in bulk and blend! I'll add some coconut oil just to get it going a little more quickly.

[Crankin]

I have noticed that a lot of nut butters have an after taste. I am allergic to peanuts, and I use soy nut butter. There is only one brand that doesn't taste like garbage, in my mind! It's a small, local company. When I went to buy some a couple of weeks ago, there was none at the natural foods store. The manager said the company had been sold to a larger nut butter company, but she would send the shop all of the left over jars she had. Thankfully, I got a jar and hope the new owners don't change the formulation.
I haven't found an almond butter I like, so far.

[WindingRoad]

It's odd you brought this up as I've been not liking the almond butter I bought at trader joes until I put it in the food processor to finally get it mixed properly. Before that it was much like u said, stinky and bitter. It tastes awesome now as an almond butter and honey sandwich. Mine was hard like concrete in the bottom there was no way to mix that up with a butter knife!

[OakLeaf]

One thing I do with any nut butter, is when I bring it home, I turn the jar upside down and leave it on the counter OUT of the fridge for a couple of days. That really makes mixing easier, especially when the jar's been on the store shelves for a while. Once you put it in the fridge, it's going to be really hard to mix.

You could always get one of those gadgets that has a mixing hook incorporated into a jar lid. But single-use tools always seem wasteful to me.

[NbyNW]

I like Kettle brand almond butter. It's great on a sandwich with raspberry jam.

[MMEZ]

We usually make our own almond butter. It's supper easy to make and tastes awesome! I'd venture to say you got some bad nuts! I hope this doesn't spoil you from trying again and hopefully you will have a better experience next time.