Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Before starting, verify that your food processor permits dry seed grinding and making seed butter. Have suitable small-seed dehydrator supports and clean soaking, sprouting and storage containers ready. Do not use the standard Ninja BN800-series containers for this dry-grinding method.
- Measure four cups of raw hulled sunflower seeds before soaking. Put in a large clean container with the measured soaking salt and enough filtered water to cover generously, leaving room for swelling. Soak for twelve to twenty-four hours, then drain, rinse thoroughly and drain again.
- Place the rinsed seeds in a clean sprouting jar with a breathable cover or suitable sprouting lid. Keep moist with excess water drained. Rinse and drain once or twice daily until tiny shoots appear, about one to three days.
- Spread sprouted seeds in a single layer on suitable dehydrator trays. Dry at 100°F to 115°F until fully crisp, about twenty-four hours as an estimate. Check cooled seeds from different tray areas; continue until crunchy and dry through the center. Cool before processing.
- Put completely dried, cooled seeds in the appropriate food processor, within its batch limits. Process into a fine meal, using the machine’s permitted cycles.
- Continue until the meal releases oil, gathers into a ball, and becomes a smooth spread. The ball can gather and break apart repeatedly. Allow ten minutes or more processing, with cooling pauses as needed. Stop with power off before scraping, and follow motor running limits.
- Only if needed, gradually add the first tablespoon of pourable virgin coconut oil. Use some or all of the second tablespoon only if needed, keeping within the one-to-two-tablespoon total at 1×. At 2×, the total range is two to four tablespoons; at 3×, three to six tablespoons. Do not add water.
- When the butter is smooth and creamy enough to spread, add optional finishing salt to taste. Measure the actual finished amount; about thirty-two tablespoon portions is a yield estimate.
- Transfer to a clean covered jar, label the date and refrigerate promptly. Use a clean, dry utensil. Plan about one to two weeks for freshness, discarding butter with off or rancid smell/flavor or visible spoilage.
Notes
Full GAPS: Use after prepared sunflower seeds and the other ingredients are introduced and tolerated, with diarrhea and abdominal pain settled. Not early Intro or No-Plant GAPS. No dairy, eggs, peanuts or almonds as written; optional oil adds coconut.
Soaking salt: The measured tablespoon goes in soaking water that is drained and rinsed away. Optional finishing salt is a separate amount to taste.
Sprouting and drying: Soak twelve to twenty-four hours, sprout one to three days until tiny shoots, then dry at 100°F to 115°F until crisp, about twenty-four hours as an estimate. Wet seeds make a different paste; keep complete drying for this butter.
Optional oil: The one-to-two-tablespoon virgin coconut oil range is conditional, not a requirement to use all of it. It can add coconut flavor. At 2×, use only if needed within two to four tablespoons; at 3×, three to six tablespoons.
Equipment: The initial step grinds dry seeds. Use a processor whose manufacturer permits that work. The Ninja BN800-series guide prohibits dry processing/grinding with its standard cup, pitcher and chopping-bowl configurations. Do not assign this recipe’s dry step to the regular BN801 containers.
Yield and clock: Estimated yield is about thirty-two tablespoon portions, roughly two cups; measure actual recovery. The sixty-hour-fifteen-minute total is a planning estimate using twelve hours soaking, one day sprouting, about one day drying and fifteen minutes active preparation. Actual ranges, rinsing and motor pauses change the time. No fixed time guarantees dryness or smoothness.
Storage: Covered jar in the refrigerator; about one to two weeks is a freshness estimate. Label the date, use clean dry utensils and discard off/rancid or spoiled butter.