Nobody wants to eat rancid almond butter, but how do you know when it’s gone off? We’ll tell you all about the taste and texture of ancient almond butter, plus some storage tips to avoid it.
Let’s take a look…
What Does Rancid Almond Butter Taste Like?
You may never expect to see the day when your nut butter goes bad, but it can happen. The oils in the nuts make the butters sensitive to temperature, air and other factors that can reduce their shelf life.
Spoiled almond butter is not a pleasant taste. It’s strangely paint-like and may remind you of turpentine. It’ll be odd-tasting for sure, not sweet like when it’s fresh.
Rancid Almond Butter Texture
Almond butter is like peanut butter in texture, smooth and creamy, but with some graininess, particularly if it’s homemade. The trouble with rotten almond butter is that you can’t tell from the texture as it pretty much stays the same.
If the oil separates, it’s not necessarily bad—this occurs in fresh, natural nut and seed butters as they sit and can happen as quickly as overnight.
Your best bet for detecting far-gone almond butter is to take a whiff. If it’s at all sour, weird or like something inedible, don’t eat it.
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How Long Is Almond Butter Good for After Opening?
How long almond butter stays good after it’s opened partially depends on whether it’s store-bought or made by hand. The store-bought kinds may have preservatives to stave off spoiling whereas homemade nut butters don’t.
It’s a good idea to put your almond butter in the refrigerator to keep it going the longest. In the fridge, it can last for many months to a year plus. It can last a few months outside the fridge, but be careful of getting outside stuff inside the jar which could make it spoil faster.
Like we mentioned, you should be able to tell if it’s no longer good.
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What Happens If You Don’t Refrigerate Almond Butter?
Here’s the thing about almond butter. It doesn’t need to be refrigerated. Some manufacturers will even encourage you to leave it out on the shelf so it stays nice and spreadable.
But letting it sit out might make it go bad faster, especially when exposed to moist, clammy climates. It can still last for months at room temperature, but be cautious if you make your own.
Almond Butter Recipe Tips
Homemade almond butter may not have preservatives to keep it fresh longer, but now that you know how to properly store it, there’s no need for them, anyway. You’ll see a couple of common approaches to making your own nut butter in these videos with easy-to-follow recipes.
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All you really need for almond butter is…a package of almonds. In this video, they’re roasted before being ground up in the food processor.
You don’t need to roast the almonds if you’d prefer to skip that step. This video will show you how to make raw almond butter with sprouted almonds and a touch of coconut oil.
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Wrap Up
We hope you never actually meet a jar of rancid almond butter, but if you do, you’ll know right away as it will smell (and taste) sour, strange and reminiscent of paint (yuck). Store the good stuff in the fridge to make it last longer, and do make your own almond butter with raw or roasted nuts. This way, you can add yummy cacao to make vegan almond butter Nutella.
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Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
