Have you met? Nifty Nut Butters
Alexandra Birchmore explains the appeal of her very nifty nut butters…
How did Nifty Nut Butters come about?
When I moved to Stroud in 2013 I got into the habit of going to the Farmers’ Market every Saturday – I really loved the genuine and alternative atmosphere as well as all the amazing products. At the time I was experimenting making my own nut butters with more unusual nuts and flavour combos and without all the additives you see on the supermarket shelves. I really wanted to be a part of the market so started a business to see how my creations would go down with the public.
How should people use the products?
One of the most common questions I get is “so what, do you just put it on toast?” and while yes they are wonderful on toast, they are also so much more versatile than that. Our sweeter flavours can be used in porridge, on ice cream and desserts and make a wondering filling or topping for baking. We also do savoury flavours like smoked almond and Thai peanut which can be used as a kind of flavour paste to add punch to any meals – think soups, curries, sandwiches etc. We recently launched our pure range (almond, pistachio and hazelnut) which has been stone milled for the smoothest possible finish. You can use these in lieu of dairy for a large number of recipes as well as just simply for a filling breakfast on toast.
Where do you source your ingredients?
Nut farms are fairly rare in the UK so as an alternative we source from a wide variety of locations. Our almonds for instance are from Spain, hazelnuts are from Italy, our pistachios are Turkish, and our macadamias are Australian.
Why should people choose your nut butters?
Our nut butters are very different from those you’d find in the supermarket shelves. We don’t add unnecessary oil or additives and where most other brands will simply use a massive high powered blender to purée the nuts we use a special process which makes use of stone milling. This is a similar technique to conching in chocolate making where the nuts are left under a slow turning granite grinder for hours on end. The result is a silky smooth finish unmatched by any other brand.
What flavours do you do?
We update our range fairly regularly but at the moment we have:
Almond Velvet (100% almond)
Peanut Velvet (100% peanut)
Pistachio (100% pistachio)
Hazelnut (100% Hazelnut)
Chocolate Brazil (Brazil nuts, coconut & chocolate)
Marvellous Macadamia (macadamia, coconut & vanilla)
Salted Caramel Peanut (peanut and salted caramel)
Smoked Almond (100% almonds smoked on the stove top)
Thai Spiced Peanut (Thai spices with peanut butter)
Cajun Cashew (cajun spiced cashew butter)
What’s next in the pipeline?
After two and half years of the business slowly taking over all my spare time I recently quit my job and went full time with Nifty Nut Butters. As well as continuing on with Stroud market and other fairs we’re now looking to push for more of an independent shop presence, as well as online.