Can Cashew Butter Overthrow Peanut or Almond Butter as the New Favorite Nut Butter?

Nutrition

As part of our 2019 Perfect Predictions, we asked our health and wellness trend-spotters and followers to share what they thought would be the hottest trends in food, beauty, and movement in the coming year. The polls went out and results came in: Cashew butter will be the better butter this year. Or, at the very least, it will rise in popularity and be a more consistent contender for the coveted spot of best nut butter!

Cashew Butter — The Next Best Butter

Did you know that during the Cold War, cashew butter was actually rationed out in the U.S. as part of civil defense survival kits? It’s not like it’s a new craze or anything, but it’s only recently that cashew butter has really made a comeback. So, what is it exactly that’s so awesome about the stuff?

For starters, many will argue that it’s the most delicious of all nut butters. It’s rich, creamy, naturally sweet, and it sure tastes incredible on toast, apples, in smoothie bowls, or straight out of the jar. It pairs well with others and offers a delicate nuttiness to just about anything, whether you’re cooking up something savory or sweet.

Now that we’ve established that it’s mighty tasty, let’s talk about all of the amazing health benefits of cashew butter.

raw cashews

3 Delicious Health Benefits of Cashew Butter

Nutrient-Dense

Our bodies get energy from the food and liquids we consume, and we need vital nutrients to keep us going. Cashew butter happens to be packed with good nutrients, like protein, calcium, iron, vitamin E, riboflavin, and healthy fats that your body loves such as oleic acid. While it has ever-so-slightly less protein than peanut butter, it’s also far less likely to contain all of the additives and preservatives that peanut butter often does. Additionally, it’s high in things like selenium which is a powerful antioxidant that helps prevent cellular damage from free radicals. Hello, anti-aging, illness, and disease fighting properties! Cashews are also known to help prevent painful gallstones.

Helps Regulate Blood-Sugar Levels

Another thing cashew butter is known for is its ability to help control blood-sugar levels in the body, which is awesome news. For one, maintaining safe and healthy blood-sugar levels helps to reduce weight. It also helps with even more critical things, like decreasing the body’s insulin resistance and burning excess sugar, which means that it can really help to thwart diabetes.

Good for Your Heart

Finally, like other nut butters, cashew butter is loaded with healthy fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These fats can help fight the development of harmful cholesterol levels. So, eating cashew butter is great for cardiac health and thereby helps reduce the risk of heart problems and heart disease when you include it in your diet.

How To Make Cashew Butter:

If you’re in the market for cashew butter, choosing raw over roasted is best if you want to get the most nutrients out of your servings, but raw cashew butter can be pricey. So, why not make your own?

- If you have a really high-speed blender, like a Vitamix, you’ll have the easiest time, but a food processor works also. It just takes a little more time and you’ll need to give your machine a break every few minutes.

- To start, pick yourself up some organic raw cashews at the market (or raw cashew pieces if you can find them).

- Depending on how much butter you’re making, add them gradually by the cup to your blender or food processor. If you’re using a Vitamix, begin on Variable 1, then slowly increase the speed to Variable 10.

- Use the tamper to smoosh the ingredients into the blades. Once the butter is ready, the motor will start to make a low pitched sound.

- Stop your machine, store your cashew butter in an airtight container, and place it in the fridge. If you’re using a food processor, add your nuts and start blending for a couple of minutes at a time. (Give your processor little mini rests in between so you don’t overheat your machine.)

- Do this for about ten minutes, or until your butter reaches a creamy consistency and then, voilà!

Once again, store your cashew butter in an airtight container and refrigerate. Oh yeah, and eat plenty of it by the spoonful, too.

Final Thoughts on Cashew Butter

We’ll end on this – we’ve never met a nut butter we didn’t love! But, there’s just something about the sweet, creamy goodness of cashew butter that really makes us swoon. And the fact that it happens to be full of nutrients and oodles of heart-healthiness is just the cashew butter “icing” on our apple slices.

Does this mean that cashew butter is the new favorite nut butter? That’s debatable when there are other great nut butters to choose from, but it’s certainly a contender with high honors!