If you want to make raw almond butter, you'll want to begin with raw almonds and start blending those nuts without prepping them in any other way first. You can skip to the part about making almond butter.If you want to make activated nut almond butter, activate your nuts first!
Activating the almonds
To activate the almonds, soak them in filtered or spring water overnight or for several hours. You can add around a teaspoon of salt to each cup of water used in the soaking process. You want to make sure that all of the almonds are completely covered in water.
Cover the container with either a lid or a cloth to keep out insects and dust. Allow to soak overnight, or at least 7-8 hours.
Strain out the almonds (you can use a stainless steel colander or something similar) and rinse them.
Spread the almonds out over a baking sheet or a dehydrator tray. It is very important to completely dehydrate the almonds because any leftover humidity may result in the formation of mold. If you use your oven to dry the almonds, use the lowest temperature setting and use a fan setting if you have one available.
Making the almond butter
Add the almonds to the jar or bowl of your food processor or a powerful blender. Ideally, the container should be stainless steel or glass because the mixture will heat up as the almonds are processed. Begin to blend or process the almonds at a low to medium speed.
As the almonds are processed, they will turn into a coarse powder and then will begin to form a thick paste. At first, the nuts may be thrown onto the walls of the container if you try to blend too quickly. This makes it very difficult to have the blades continue to run and process the mixture. You'll need to stop every few seconds and push the mixture back down with a spatula.
Continue blending and occasionally stopping to push down the almond butter to the bottom of the mixer until you've reached the desired consistency. As the almonds release their oils, you'll end up with a thinner almond butter. As it gets thinner, you'll be able to blend the mixture at higher speeds.
Immediately pour the finished almond butter into a glass jar for storing.