What is "nut butter"

n. A spread made from some type of seed or nut, similar to peanut butter.

n. ground nuts blended with a little butter

A nut butter is a spreadable foodstuff made by grinding nuts into a paste. The result has a high fat content and can be spread like true butter, but is otherwise unrelated. Nut butters include:

• Almond butter
• Cashew butter
• Hazelnut butter
• Macadamia nut butter
• Peanut butter
• Pecan butter
• Pistachio butter
• Walnut butter

The almond, cashew, macadamia, peanut, pecan, pistachio and walnut are not true nuts in a botanical sense. However, because they are considered nuts in a culinary sense, their crushed spreads are called nut butters. Similar spreads can also be made from seeds not considered nuts in a culinary sense:

• Pumpkin seed butter
• Sesame seed butter (usually called tahini)
• Soybean butter – generally called "soynut butter" and made from soynuts (roasted soybeans)
• Sunflower seed butter

Nut and seed butters have a high content of protein, fiber, and essential fatty acids, and can be used to replace butter or margarine on bread or toast.

The following table gives some approximate nutritional properties of some nut and seed butters. Many of these contain additional oils or other ingredients that may alter the nut butter's nutritional content.

Butter

Calories
(1 tbsp.)

Protein
(g)

Fat
(g)

Calcium
(mg)

Zinc
(mg)

Almond butter

101

2.4

9.5

43

0.5

Cashew butter

93

2.8

8

7

0.8

Hazelnut butter

94

2

9.5

N/A

N/A

Peanut butter – natural

94

3.8

8

7

0.4

Peanut butter – reduced fat

95

4

6

N/A

0.4

Sunflower butter

80

3

7

N/A

N/A

Soy butter (sweetened)

85

4

5.5

50

N/A

Soy butter (unsweetened)

80

4

6.5

30

N/A

Soy-peanut butter (added sweetener)

50

2

1.2

40

N/A

Tahini

89

2.6

8

64

0.7