Also Known As

Cashew crushed paste, kaju butter, Cashew spread

Description

Cashew Butter is a delicious and creamy paste made by crushing cashewnuts. It is thick, creamish in color, having a mild yellowish tinge. Butter from cashewnut may be made at home or purchased and may include oil as one of the ingredient. It may be made from raw or roasted cashews and may contain salt. Because of the thick and rich taste of cashews, which tend to have a buttery flavor, it translates into a creamy spread when the nuts are made into ground "butter".

How To Select

Cashew Butter is generally packaged in jars of different sizes. Only selected grocery shops or those keeping organic foods show its availability. It can also be purchased on line , for eg; Biona cashew butter;Carley's organic cashew butter. It can be prepared at household level by grounding raw or roasted cashew nuts into a paste and mixing little cooking oil like safflower oil and salt to taste. Since home made cashew butter is an unprocessed food, the oil and solids sometimes separate in the jar but can easily be stirred together before use.

Culinary Use

· As cashew butter has a "rich" flavor, it is a popular sandwich spread, and can be used instead of the peanut butter.
· It is also used as a key ingredient to make soups, sauces, and dips, which gives the prominent cashew flavor. This imparts thickness due to its creamy nature.
· Cashewnut barfi or Kajupak is one of the yummy sweets for all you cashew lovers and can be made using pure ghee, milk and sugar.
· You can also spread it on pies and cookies.
· It can also be spread on crackers or fresh fruit or on salads as a dressing.
· Some people find it as a snack in itself and indulge in eating plain cashew butter to boost up the proteins.
· Some Indian and Thai recipes use the butter in place of peanut butter as an addition to curries.
· Cashew butter cakes, frostings, fudge, cupcakes satisfy any sweet tooth.
· It can also be used to make cashew butter chicken.

How To Store

Usually, unless the butter comes from raw cashews, it does not require refrigeration when the jar is still sealed. Once the jar is opened, it should be refrigerated. Since the oils and butter tend to separate on keeping , it needs to be stirred when first opened. Because nuts are high in fats, nut butters can go rancid easily. If you have freshly ground nut butter, keep it refrigerated . Try to use it within a few months.

Health Benefits

· Cashew butter is a a delicious spread that is good for you. It contains healthy mono-unsaturated fats, magnesium, and copper which help prevent heart disease.
· Due to high calcium levels,it promote strong bones specially in growing children and menopausal women.
· It is considered to be energy dense and can be used for malnourished patients.
· It can reduce the risk of getting colon cancer.
· Cashew Butter is particularly known for iron, all the "B" vitamins and zinc.
· It is high in protein, micronutrients and unsaturated fats, low in saturated fats.
· It does not contain cholesterol nor trans fatty acids as it is from vegetable source.