1438 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



reasons why nut butters are quite com- 

 monly marketed in jars, etc., containing 

 small amounts which may be utilized In a 

 short time. The nut butters are recom- 

 mended by vegetarians as a substitute for 

 butter in culinary processes and for use 

 at the table. By persons who are not 

 vegetarians they are commonly used for 

 making sandwiches and in other ways for 

 their agreeable flavor and for the pleasing 

 variety which they give the diet. 



Nut butter may be easily made at home. 

 The nuts may be pounded in a mortar, 

 but a mill for grinding them is much 

 more convenient and may be readily pro- 

 cured, as there are a number of sorts on 

 the market. The process of making nut 

 butters has been frequently described in 

 .iournals and cookery books. Either the 

 raw or the roasted peanut may be used 

 for making peanut butter, but the roast- 

 ed nut is the more satisfactory. The 

 kernels should be freed from chaff and 

 reduced to a paste in the grindin,g mill. 

 Freshly roasted nuts are necessary, as 

 those which have stood for a day or so 

 after roasting lose in crispness, do not 

 grind well, and tend to clog the mill. Any 

 sort of nut may be used, but experience 

 has shown that it is more difficult to 

 make butters from the almond or Brazil 

 nut than from the peanut. Blanching 

 these nuts requires considerably more 

 time and labor than is needed to free 

 the peanut from the skin which covers 

 the kernel, and they are also more diffi- 

 cult to grind. Nut butters will keep well 

 if sealed in glass or earthenware jars. 

 Tin cans also -may be used, but are not 

 quite as desirable. As might be expected, 

 nut butters do not differ materially in 

 composition from the nuts from which 

 they are ground. 



The nut butters just mentioned are en- 

 tirely different from cocoanut butter or 

 from cocoa butter, which are expressed 

 and purified fats. Cocoanut butter, which 

 is sold under a variety of trade names. 

 Is made, it is said, by extracting and re- 

 fining the fat from the sliced and dried 

 cocoanut or copra. Its natural color is 

 white, and it is solid at ordinary temper- 

 atures, resembling refined beef fat in ap- 



pearance. It is used as a substitute for 

 butter and in various culinary ways. 

 Chocolate and cocoa, as is well known, are 

 both products of the cocoa bean, the form- 

 er being much richer in fat than the lat- 

 ter. The fat which is extracted in the 

 manufacture of cocoa is called cocoa but- 

 ter and is used as a culinary fat and for 

 other purposes. It is an entirely differ- 

 ent product from the cocoanut butter 

 mentioned above. 



The liquid in the cocoanut, often called 

 cocoanut milk, is not at all the same as 

 the nut milks often referred to in books 

 devoted to nut cookery, which may be 

 made by mixing nut butter of any given 

 sort with water. 



By pouring a pint of boiling water on 

 a freshly grated cocoanut, allowing it to 

 stand until cold and then straining it, a 

 milky liquid is obtained which is also 

 sometimes called cocoanut milk or cream 

 and is used in cooking and other ways 

 in regions where cocoanuts are grown. 

 On standing, the fatty portion rises to the 

 top as cream rises on milk. Cocoanut 

 cream may be served with fruits and used 

 in other ways. These cocoanut products 

 and similar articles made from other nuts 

 are used to some extent by the strict 

 vegetarians who do not care to use cows' 

 milk. 



A similar nut milk or emulsion of nut 

 fat made from Java almonds (a species 

 of Canarium) is used in Java, apparently 

 with considerable success, as an infant 

 food. 



Nut Pastes and Nut Preserves 



Pastes which are used by confectioners 

 for candy making and in other ways are 

 made from nuts with the addition of 

 sugar. Sometimes water and starch are 

 added, but such admixtures are inferior 

 to the nut and sugar pastes. The most 

 common material of this sort is the al- 

 mond paste which is manufactured in 

 large quantities in the United States and 

 is also imported. It is used tor making 

 cakes, candies, etc., the highly ornament- 

 ed cakes called "marzipan," so popular 

 with the Germans, being one of the very 

 well known almond paste confections. 



Macaroons are also well-known cakes 



