This post is directly due to Anonymous Coward's thread on peanut butter. I noted on his thread, if done with peanuts, why not cashews.

I started with a bag of raw cashew nuts we got at the market.



The ms fried them up as she normally does for beer snacks. The trick here is to not fry too much. They look darker when taken out of the oil. Don't overcook.



Cooked cashews loaded up in chopper. Added 1 soupspoon of this.



Basic cooking oil found in any kitchen.



OK, nuts and oil ready to process.



I pulsed the chopper several times and then let it run for a couple of minutes. The result was a coarse meally 'butter'. Not exactly what I was looking for. I added another soupspoon of oil and a few more cashews.



The result was this. A touch too much oil but passable I think. At least this first try could be adjusted.



This is what I got from approx. 1 cup of cashews... now to taste.



For me the ultimate taste test is to dab some on saltines.



These are the ingredients of my favorit "quick snack". Anytime I need a munchie I often get out a pack of crackers and a jar of peanut butter.

All in all it proved a viable project. Cashews do indeed make a very nice butter. Something that would be way to expensive to make in the U.S.

What would I do different? I would add slightly more than a soupspoon of oil rather than the two soupspoons I used. This batch isn't quite the right texture but experimentation will do it. I also will add a "pinch" of salt to perk up the taste for me. For those on a salt free diet this makes a good solution since it is very nice even without the salt.

Thanks to Anonymous Coward for the idea.

E. G.