Tigernut butter is relatively new to the mainstream market and thus remains a mystery to the average consumer. Unlike classic peanut butter, not much light has been shed on the process behind making tigernut butter.
This comprehensive guide will answer all your burning questions about how tigernut butter is made, whether you’re merely curious or are planning to make it at home.
What are the Key Ingredients and Tools Required for Making Tiger Nut Butter?
Tigernut butter can be made at home using a few basic ingredients and common kitchen tools. You’ll need tigernuts (raw or roasted) or pre-ground tigernut flour as the base. You’ll also need some kind of oil – tigernut oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil are popular options. Optional ingredients like salt, sweetener, spices, extracts, and other flavoring agents can be added at will.
Tools needed will include a high-speed blender or food processor with a lid, a rubber spatula, standard measuring cups and spoons, and a storage container for the finished product.
How Do You Prepare Tiger Nuts Before Making Butter?
Tigernuts are typically dried for long-term storage and need to be prepared before turning them into delicious tigernut butter. The steps involved usually start with soaking the tigernuts in warm or hot water for a period of 6-12 hours to soften the hard, crunchy shells.
Once they’ve become softer, they can be used raw for a mild taste or roasted in a hot oven to intensify their flavor before being ground up. If they get roasted, the tigernuts should be allowed to cool for safe handling before moving on to make tigernut butter.
What is the Process for Grinding Tiger Nuts into Butter?
Tigernuts can be ground into tigernut butter in a matter of minutes once the aforementioned preparations have been made. Using a high-speed blender or food processor, the tigernuts should be pulsed until they become a grainy paste. At that point, additional ingredients like oil and any binders should be added, continuing to pulse the blender on high and pausing to scrape the sides down to ensure an even blend.
Once the tigernut butter starts to emulsify, run the blender or food processor on full speed at the highest setting for 1-2 minutes and add the remaining flavoring agents until the tigernut spread reaches the desired consistency. If it’s too thick, add more oil or liquid ingredients and blend again to combine. If it’s too loose, add more ground tigernuts or tigernut flour and blend until they are fully incorporated.
Can You Add Flavors or Additional Ingredients to Tiger Nut Butter?
Tigernut butter can be eaten in its simplest form of just ground tigernuts and oil to appreciate the natural flavor of the tigernut, but it can also be customized using additional ingredients to suit any mood, preference, or dish.
Even using minimally-processed, all-natural ingredients can make a big difference in the way tigernut butter tastes. Adding honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, date caramel, or coconut sugar can enhance the sweetness of the tigernuts to the consumer’s preferred level. Salt is a common addition to tigernut butter in small amounts to intensify the flavors, but more can be added to bring out the spread’s savory side.
Spices from around the world – from cinnamon to turmeric to chili flakes to za’atar – can be added to create nearly any combination of flavors imaginable. Non-spice or herb ingredients, like cacao nibs, cocoa powder, sprinkles, etcetera, can be added to further tailor the flavor to your tastes.
What are the Challenges and Tips for Achieving the Right Texture?
Though making tigernut butter is a relatively easy process, it’s not without challenges. There is one major obstacle that is common in the spread’s production: achieving the right texture. Tigernut butter should be smooth and creamy, not too dry, and not too runny.
This can be achieved by using a high-speed blender or food processor, or by crushing the tigernuts into a fine powder by hand with a mortar and pestle. It’s also important to control the moisture level in the snack spread by controlling the amount of liquid – typically oil of some kind – that goes into the recipe. By pulsing a powerful blender to ensure that the mixture is being evenly distributed and slowly incorporating the oil a little at a time, the perfect texture can be achieved.
How Should Tiger Nut Butter be Stored and What is its Shelf Life?
Any kind of tigernut butter, whether made fresh or store bought, should be stored in an airtight container (like a jar with a lid) to preserve its freshness and prolong the shelf life of the spread. The ingredients in the tigernut butter determine how long and at what temperature it should be stored.
Tigernut butter made from only tigernuts and oil can be stored at room temperature for up to two weeks or in the refrigerator for up to one month. The addition of ingredients that need to be refrigerated for food safety reasons, such as dairy products like butter, cream, yogurt, or milk, should be refrigerated and stored for no longer than two weeks. Tigernut butter can also be frozen to extend the shelf life for up to three months, but it will need to be thawed prior to using. Once it’s been thawed, it can’t be frozen again, and it becomes subject to the standard timeframes listed previously.
Final Thoughts on the Making of Tigernut Butter
Making tigernut butter, whether at home or in a commercial setting, is a fairly simple and straightforward process. In its simplest form, tigernut butter is made with only ground tigernuts and tigernut oil, but the addition of salt, sweeteners, spices, herbs, and other ingredients can transform tigernut butter from a basic spread into a flavor powerhouse for use in any number of dishes.
From sweet to savory to spicy and beyond, there are endless possibilities for making and customizing tigernut butter to your personal preferences or for use in specific culinary creations.
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