Nutty Rant

What the hell is wrong with the manufacturers of natural nut butter?  Today I bought a 250g jar of hazelnut butter.  It was $7. The entire jar is small enough to fit in my tea mug with room to spare for tea.  That isn't my issue. I was willing to pay the price.  I was also aware that the the nut oil would have separated from the rest of the product.  I expect that with a natural nut butter.  

What pissed me off about this product, and what angers me about natural nut butters in general, is the amount of product you lose, and the amount of time you waste cleaning up, when you attempt to stir the separated oil back into the rest of the butter.

Why on earth don't they leave enough headspace in the jar to actually stir the stuff?  I've had the same problem with every natural nut butter I've tried. As soon as I put a utensil in the jar the oil oozes over the edge and down the sides of the jar.  I pay too much for the stuff to waste it!  Not to mention how much I detest cleaning up the oily mess. They've figured out how to make an awesome product, why can't they figure out that they have to leave room in the jar to stir it?

I think it's an evil scheme to get us to buy more nut butter.  Because you can't effectively mix the oil back in, by the time you get to the bottom of the jar you're left with a dry, unspreadable and generally unappetizing paste.  Then you have to go out and buy more nut butter.  Gargh!

Today I was so frustrated by the whole friggin issue that I was on the verge of running screaming into the street.  Fortunately I was saved from this particular embarassment by the recipe that called for the hazelnut butter in the first place. 

Last week I borrowed Victoria Laine's recipe book "Health by Chocolate"  from the library.  They may not get it back.  Honestly, given the amount of drooling I've been doing while browsing through the book they may not want it back!

I've been on a bit of a chocolate-making kick lately, so when I saw this book I knew it would follow me home.  It's full of recipes for beverages, bars and bon-bons all featuring quality, dark chocolate and other healthful ingredients. 

Today I made the "Nutty-ella Chocolate Spread" - hence the need for hazelnut butter.  Good stuff.  In fact, it's so good that a bit of spread on crispbread and a cup of tea and I no longer feel the need to hunt down the nearest maker of natural nut butter and stick their jar where the sun don't shine.  Thank goodness for chocolate!