Tuesday, June 11, 2013

From Scratch Coconut Butter in 5 Minutes


We LOVE coconut in all forms.  Its fantastic shredded, fresh and even as coconut oil.  But let's face it, coconut anything isn't cheap, especially if its coconut butter.  I mean $4 for a small package of coconut butter is pretty outrageous.  No offense coconut manufacturers, honest.  I know coconuts only grow in tropical places and there aren't a heck of a lot of those in the mainland US.  So I understand that some of that cost comes from shipping and the rest is due to demand.

But still $4 for half a pound of coconut butter is pretty obscene.  I mean I buy butter when its $2 or less for an entire pound.  Last time I bought it was around easter time and it was less than $1 a pound with a coupon, I even think I posted about it because the price was so good.  Unlike most people I also have the space to store crazy amounts of butter in my upright freezer.  Since I'm allergic to soy protein and soy flour, we also tend to avoid margarine like the plague.  While it doesn't carry any of those specific ingredients, artificial, processed foods sometimes make me feel kinda sluggish after eating them.

Enough of my butter rant.  Enter my fascination that you can make your own coconut butter.  I've held off making it for quite a while now for a couple of reasons.  First, curse Whole Foods who always seems to be out of Sambazon and unsweetened coconut.  Odd, right?  Second, could it really be that easy and taste as great if I made it myself?

I can now tell you that it is!  All you need is a food processor or a high powered blender and some unsweetened coconut.  That's literally all you need.  Just process the coconut until it reaches the creamy consistency you want, it'll take about 5-7 minutes depending on how much coconut you have.


I started with about a cup and half of shredded coconut, which cost $1.30, and I ended up with about 5 ounces of coconut butter.  To me, that's a great deal!  If you store it in the fridge it keeps indefinitely and if you store it at room temp it will keep for about 3 months.

So do y'all know what we'll be having from now on?  That's right, homemade coconut butter!  I dare you to pick up some unsweetened coconut and try it out.  :)

2 comments:

  1. This sounds like a great idea! I've bought coconut oil at Trader Joe's before, but I've never tried coconut butter!

    Nice to "meet" you from Twitter. I'm going to BlogHer13, too, and I live practically next door to you in Mount Prospect!

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    1. It's great to "meet" you too Ginny! I love the Mt Prospect Farmers market, so much better than the one here in Arlington Heights.

      Think of this coconut butter as more like a nut butter. We're currently trying out a vegan before dinner (not really diet, but change) thing and its fantastic with my morning breakfast of quinoa, amaranth, millet and fresh fruit.

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