yummmmm....coconut Butter
I love coconut butter, or coconut mana, although, I don't use it like many people do... I don't use it as a butter, but rather put a spoonful of it in my breakfast smoothie, my husband puts a spoonful in his oatmeal, and I put a spoonful of it into our daily yogurt...
I love it in yogurt.. You can pour it on the top and leave it to harden, so it's kind of like that hard shell topping people eat on icecream..yummmm.....I also like to put a spoonful in the yogurt and stir it around and let it sit for a minute or two.. It creates a super creamy yogurt with a great coconut taste..
I'd been buying Nutiva coconut mana for a couple of years, but the price just kept going up and up and up.. It's now about $8.92 a jar, which is about $2 more than it was when I first started buying it.. I've also purchased a couple of jars of the Coconut Butters available. I can't tell the difference between Coconut Mana and Coconut Butter, other than the price. It has the same ingredients and it taste identical.
It's simple to make and really saves money, plus I like it better.. My handmade coconut butter, or mana, doesn't separate the way the product I buy does... When I get a new jar from my online supplier, I have to warm it and then stir it, and stir it, and stir it some more... It takes quite a bit to get it really stirred up, and to be honest, it's a messy job..
I'm not sure if it's because this type of product is made in huge quantities and by time it's shipped out, it's sat long enough that it separates naturally, or what, but my homemade product doesn't do this.. Maybe because we start using it right after I make it and continue to use it daily until it's gone.. At any rate, I like that the homemade stuff doesn't require constant restirring..
All you need is a food processor and a bag of unsweetened coconut. I use Bob's Red Mill brand that I buy from Amazon in packs of four.. I've used both flaked and shredded and either one works.. I prefer the shredded, only because it turns into mana, or butter, faster.
I'm not a big food processor person, but I bought one just for this project.
I purchased an inexpensive Hamilton Beach Food Processor in September of 2013 for $27. It's still working great and has more than paid for itself in the savings alone.
All you do is pour a bag into the food processor and turn it on..
It turns from this,
To this in 10 minutes or less.
Just keep processing until it's smooth, like creamed butter.
You may need to stop half way through and clean off the sides with a Spatula, but I've found with the shredded coconut, I don't even have to do that.
I saved quite a few of the jars from the Mana product I used to use, so I just scoop the fresh Mana into one, twist on the cap and it's good to go. No need to refrigerate (in fact, don't refrigerate, it'll become super hard).. A jar last us 2-3 weeks and I've never had a jar go bad..
I get my coconut at a subscription price from Amazon. Right now it's priced at $10.22 for four bags, so a jar of this is costing me about $2.55 and 10 minutes of my time. The price of Coconut Mana and Coconut Butter sold online varies from $7.50 - $19.00 a jar right now, plus shipping, so that's quite a savings. Plus making your own means it's fresh, I know what's in it and I don't have to deal with the seperation process...
I've been making my own for over almost 2 years now.
It's just so easy!!
There are a lot of benefits to Coconut.. Just do a search and you'll have all kinds of info up.
I recently discovered the Wellness Mama blog.
She has a list of 101 uses for Coconut Oil that's really interesting.
She also has a wealth of information about healthy living in general...
I'm impressed!
