A nut butter is a spreadable foodstuff made by crushing nut

Nut (fruit)

A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...

s. The result has a high fat content and can be spread like true butter

Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...

, but is otherwise unrelated. Nut butters include:

• Almond butter
  Almond butter
  Almond butter is a food paste made from almonds. Almonds are high in monounsaturated fats, which is a healthier form of fat than saturated fat. Almond butter is an excellent source of Vitamin E and magnesium and a good source of fiber. Almond butter also contains protein, potassium, calcium,...
  
  
• Cashew
  Cashew
  The cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.-Etymology:The...
  
   butter
• Hazelnut
  Hazelnut
  A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice...
  
   butter
• Macadamia
  Macadamia
  Macadamia is a genus of nine species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, with a disjunct distribution native to eastern Australia , New Caledonia and Sulawesi in Indonesia ....
  
   nut butter
• Peanut butter
  Peanut butter
  Peanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts, popular in North America, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. It is mainly used as a sandwich spread, sometimes in combination as in the peanut butter and jelly...
  
  
• Pecan
  Pecan
  The pecan , Carya illinoinensis, is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana east to western Kentucky, southwestern Ohio, North Carolina, South...
  
   butter
• Pistachio
  Pistachio
  The pistachio, Pistacia vera in the Anacardiaceae family, is a small tree originally from Persia , which now can also be found in regions of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sicily and possibly Afghanistan , as well as in the United States,...
  
   butter
• Walnut
  Walnut
  Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
  
   butter

The almond, cashew, macadamia, peanut or pistachio are not true nuts in a botanical sense. However, because they are considered nuts in a culinary sense, their crushed spreads are called nut butters. Similar spreads can also be made from seeds not considered nuts in a culinary sense:

• Pumpkin seed butter
• Sesame seed butter (usually called tahini
  Tahini
  Tahini or sesame paste , is a paste of ground sesame seeds used in cooking. North African, Greek and West Asian tahini is made of hulled, lightly roasted seeds. East Asian sesame paste is made of unhulled seeds. The Arabic word tahin simply means flour.Tahini is a major component of hummus and...
  
  )
• Soybean
  Soybean
  The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
  
   butter
• Sunflower seed butter
  Sunflower Seed Butter
  Sunflower butter, also known as sunflower seed butter, is a food paste made from the oil of sunflower seeds. Leading brands in the United States include Sunbutter and Trader Joe's sunflower seed butter.-History:U.S...
  
  

Nut and seed butters are rich in protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

, fiber

Dietary fiber

Dietary fiber, dietary fibre, or sometimes roughage is the indigestible portion of plant foods having two main components:* soluble fiber that is readily fermented in the colon into gases and physiologically active byproducts, and* insoluble fiber that is metabolically inert, absorbing water as it...

, and essential fatty acid

Essential fatty acid

Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are fatty acids that humans and other animals must ingest because the body requires them for good health but cannot synthesize them...

s and can be used to replace butter

Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...

 or margarine

Margarine

Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...

 on bread

Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...

 or toast

Toast

Toast is bread that has been browned by exposure to radiant heat. This browning reaction is known as the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread and makes it firmer, so it holds toppings more securely...

.

The following table gives some of the nutrition

Nutrition

Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....

al properties of a selection of nut and seed butters:

Butter	Calories (1 tbsp.)	Protein (g)	Fat (g)	Calcium (mg)	Zinc (mg)
Almond butter	101	2.4	9.5	43	0.5
Cashew butter	93	2.8	8	7	0.8
Hazelnut butter	94	2	9.5	N/A	N/A
Peanut butter - natural	94	3.8	8	7	0.4
Peanut butter - reduced fat	95	4	6	N/A	0.4
Sunflower butter	80	3	7	N/A	N/A
Soy butter (sweetened)	85	4	5.5	50	N/A
Soy butter (unsweetened)	80	4	6.5	30	N/A
Soy-peanut butter (added sweetener)	50	2	1.2	40	N/A
Tahini Tahini Tahini or sesame paste , is a paste of ground sesame seeds used in cooking. North African, Greek and West Asian tahini is made of hulled, lightly roasted seeds. East Asian sesame paste is made of unhulled seeds. The Arabic word tahin simply means flour.Tahini is a major component of hummus and...	89	2.6	8	64	0.7