Thursday, July 15, 2010

A produc review post: Nut Butters & Coconut Butter!

Knowing about my love for nut butters, the nice people from Artisana were super nice and sent me a few samples of their products to try and review on the blog. I haven't done much product review on this blog but I have been sent some cool products to try and being that I truly enjoyed these products I think it is more than fair that I share here with you all.
I would never recommend something I don't like or wouldn't eat myself, so for the next few posts regarding product reviews you can be assured that everything I am posting about are good eats!
From the Artisana folks I received some nut butters and coconut butter. Some of the nut butters were made with raw nuts and some with roasted nuts (their new line I am guessing).
They were all excellent products, high quality, full of deliciousness! all ingredients are organic and pure, and I love that!
From the nut butters my favorite by far is the almond butter and after trying both raw and roasted varieties I have to say that I LOVE ROASTED ALMOND BUTTER, the raw is not my thing, but I know for a lot of people that is the way to go, so it is a matter of preference.
Here are some pics and some of my thoughts on these delicious nut butters (sorry about the pics by the way, the jars were smallish and my camera is a simple point and shoot so no good lens here...):










These two above are Tahini and Cashew butter, both made with roasted seeds and nuts.
I really enjoyed these and if you like cashews you might also enjoy the cashew butter!
And if you like hummus as much as I do you will definitely love the tahini, I certainly did! I love hummus and make it frequently at home so this was a real treat. This tahini was smooth and delicious, adding nothing but perfection for my hummus concoctions. It is also very good as a sauce for falafels, I tried a little mixed with yogurt and lemon juice and it was reeeally good!










These next two are Macadamia and Walnut butters, both made with raw nuts. I have to say that these two surpassed my expectations, especially the macadamia butter. I don't actually like macadamia nuts, but in nut butter form I thought it became something different. It was smooth and sweet, and I enjoyed that especially added on top of warm oatmeal, it was nice.
The walnut butter was also yummy, but then I really like walnuts. I would be curious to try a roasted walnut butter, I think that would be even better, but for now the raw version was pretty good!













Next on my review comes Coconut Butter and for this friends there is only one word to describe: amazing! Coconut Butter is simply coconut "meat" (the white part of the young coconut) that is ground to a paste. That is it, nothing more, pure organic coconut. The flavor is subtle and there is a sweetness that I loved about this product. It is smooth and luscious, I truly liked coconut butter and went to spread the word to all my friends - I even got a very good friend and one of my teachers to try it and they both liked it too.
When it is cold the coconut butter is harder and when the weather warmed up it got all softened in consistency. Some people attribute a feeling of "tasting like frosting" to coconut butter, but since I don't like frosting this is not appealing to me and I just go with creamy and delicious, so I will leave it up to you to try and decide what do you think coconut butter feels like.
But definitely try coconut butter, it is delicious added to pancakes, on top of warm oatmeal, on top of crackers, omg, it is delicious just out of a spoon. My favorite is by far to eat this on top of oats, it melts and infuses the oats with coconut flavor, plus it sweetens it at the same time.
Oh my, I am so glad coconut is back into the healthy foods world!
One thing about this is I wish it was a bit more affordable, after I finished my jar I found out that coconut butter is really more of a treat to me right now, but it is a seriously worth indulgence I'll tell you.













The name on this one tells it all: Cacao Bliss! Oh lord, this IS bliss!
Get that amazingly delicious coconut butter and mix in cocoa... words cannot describe, it could only be good, and it is, not just good but amazingly delicious!!
Matheus and I could not stop eating this one, and the jar was so tiny... we polished it off in no time, baby spoons in hand and attack, the one who gets more is the luckiest!
Cacao bliss is really good, if you like coconut and chocolate together then you will also find true bliss in a jar of this. (it is amazing on top of oats!)










Like a lot of people I saved the best for last: Almond Butter!!
My very, very, very favorite nut butter of all times! Since I discovered almond butter I haven't spent a day without it, I just crave almond butter, and with almonds being so healthy (vitamin E, fiber, healthy fats!) it is an indulgence and a healthy benefit at the same time.
These two little artisana jars were one made with raw almonds (left side) and one made with roasted almonds (right side).
I have to say that in my universe there is no nut butter better than Roasted Almond Butter and that became even more true for me after trying both of these. The roasted almond butter is definitely my favorite, it is creamy and nutty, pure perfection in a jar! Nuts in its utmost smooth form, pure deliciousness for my taste buds. And I LOVED the artisana roasted almond butter!!
Talk about creamy and delicious, this was it!! I think from all the nut butters I have tried this is one of my very favorite for sure.
The raw almond butter was good too, but it had that raw almond taste which I don't actually care for, but I know a lot of people who like and even prefer to the roasted version, so it really comes down to personal preference. And if you ask me you know what my recommendation would be.

So that is it, my nut butter review post. Thanks Artisana folks for making it possible for me to try such amazing products. I just loved every single item I tried and already bought a few big jars of deliciousness after trying the sample sizes. There was no way after sampling it that I could live without such amazing products in my kitchen. Plus Matheus thanks you guys too as he seriously thinks that whoever created cacao bliss should be considered a genious of the coconut world, we both really enjoyed that coconut butter, oh so good!
The quality on these nut butters in imperative, pure, organic ingredients. I can safely tell all my friends to try it and I am sure they are all going to love it too!

So, any different nut butters out there I should try? I am always open for suggestions, especially on the almond butter world!!
Hope you all enjoy this post!
Ana

6 comments:

Love is spoken here said...

Oi, o meu nome eh Katarine. Eu venho acompanhando o seu blog a algum tempo. Sempre que eu quero fazer algum prato especial eh com a sua ajuda que eu o preparo :) Obrigada pelas receitas. Eu moro no Tennessee. E vc? Qual o seu email? Eu gostaria de te adicionar no meu blog. Beijos

Akemi said...

Seria óimo se encontrássemos essas manteigas de nozes variadas por estas bandas, fiquei com água na boca lendo seu post! Bjs

Michelle said...

wow, love the varieties of nut butters! And thanks for the explanation of coconut butter, I didn't know what it was but it sounds amazing!!! I need to find this stuff!

Anonymous said...

I'm so jealous! I've been trying to get them to send me samples for a while now!

~Alyssa

Faith @ LovelyAsCharged said...

I love the lettuce cup idea. It seems so versatile - I bet a taco salad would be amazing in there too!

Sarah said...

The cocoa butter looks amazing - and right up my ally! :-)