Superfood Almond Butter with Medicinal Mushrooms and Herbs

I love putting nut butter on everything – sourdough bread, fruit, roasted carrots, smoothie bowls (of which I eat 2-3 a day) – you name it. To make my meals and snacks even more nutritious, I made this almond butter, loaded with medicinal mushrooms and beneficial herbs. Medicinal mushrooms are an incredible superfood, because of the cumulative health benefits they offer from long-term use. Each type offers its own plethora of special benefits, but they are all widely known for positively affecting the immune system.

When shopping for medicinal mushroom supplements (which I used in my nut butter), you want to make sure you’re getting the right ones. Most come in capsule (powder) form, but you can also find tinctures with liquid extracts. As with any food substance, you will want to read the label to make sure there are no sneaky ingredients in there. Another thing to look for is which part of the mushroom is being used. The most beneficial part is the spore-producing fruiting body (the part that is above ground). Many supplement companies, as a cheaper option, use the mycelium (the underground, vegetative, web-like structure of a mushroom), which does not contain the same beneficial nutrients as the fruiting body. The mycelium in mycelium-based supplements is usually grown on brown rice, which also ends up in your supplement.

The medicinal mushrooms and herbs I used to make my almond butter are from the Gaia Herbs Mental Clarity capsules and HealthForce Nutritionals Vitamineral Earth. The brain-supporting blend of mushrooms in the Mental Clarity capsules contain the fruiting body extracts of lion’s mane and cordyceps mushrooms. Along with tons of other benefits, lion’s mane mushroom has been shown to increase nerve growth factor production (1). These nerve growth factors (NGFs) support the maintenance of your neurons, which are essential for brain function. The Vitamineral Earth supplement I used contains an insane variety of beneficial whole-food powders, some of my favorites being shilajit, probiotics and milk thistle.

This almond butter requires a food processor and takes a bit of patience. I have a 12 cup Cuisine Art food processor, and it took my almonds about 20 minutes to turn to a butter. When processing your almonds, you’ll want to make sure your food processor doesn’t overheat by giving it a few seconds to cool down every couple minutes. I also had to continuously scrape the sides of my food processor to make sure all of my almonds were being incorporated.

You can play with the flavor and benefits of your almond butter by adding different supplements, herbal powders and spices!

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