Sunbutter — the name alone just sounds friendly, doesn’t it? Actually, Sunbutter is a registered trademark, so I think that I have to call my version sunflower seed butter or something that isn’t Sunbutter.

I initially thought that I might be able to find the unsweetened version at Trader Joe’s, where lots of people on the interwebs said that the regular, sweetened type could be found, but my local Trader Joe’s only had the sugar-filled version, and I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $10+ (with shipping) per jar from the Sunbutter website. So, I picked up some roasted sunflower seeds — at around $2.99 for a pound, I think it was — and set out to make my own.

I am now a total sunflower seed butter convert. Not only was it easy to make, and much more economical to make myself, but it tastes totally yummy. If you haven’t tried sunflower seeds or sunflower seed butter before, then it’s difficult to describe the flavor. It’s kind of like peanut butter, but not really. As B said when I had him taste test my first batch, “it’s really a different kind of flavor, isn’t it?” Yes, it is, and it’s delicious with some of that sugar free jam, slathered on a banana, or just eaten with a spoon.

In addition, sunflower seed butter is rich in Vitamin E and Thiamine (B1) and is a great source of protein. It’s a great alternative to peanut butter, too!

Food canning is one of those things that seems intimidating at first, but trust me when I say that it’s not difficult at all. If anything, you’re going to find yourself obsessed with making jam, jelly, and pretty much whatever other tasty foods you can find and stuff into a canning jar. Okay, maybe that’s just me, but canning really is easy and fun once you get the hang of it, and that shouldn’t take long at all.

So, what will you need to get started? If you’re making sugar free jam, then you’ll want to pick up some no or low sugar pectin. I didn’t even realize that this existed until I spotted some when I was buying canning jars, but Ball makes a product called No Sugar Needed Pectin, which allows your jam to gel just as jams made with sugar. After I ran out of that, I purchased Pomona’s Universal Pectin, a great product that can be used in jams made with or without sugar. The Pomona’s pectin is also concentrated, so it’s very economical because you add much less product per batch. It’s also possible to make jam without pectin. Blueberry and cherry jams turn out quite well without pectin. Remember, though, that you’ll have to cook them longer to get a jam-like consistency.

For those of you out there who are urban dwellers like I am, you may have a bit more trouble finding canning supplies. I found a small selection of canning jars and lids, pectin, and a few canning tools at both Kmart and Ace Hardware. Be prepared for the cashier to give you an odd look and ask what in the world you’re buying, and watch as her expression turns to a mix of confusion and fascination as you explain that, yes, you can make your own jam at home. And please tell me that young people these days do know what home canning jars are and that this incident was a rare exception, or I will feel very disillusioned. If you aren’t prepared to go on a canning supply safari, then you’ll find plenty of places online, like Canning Pantry, that sell everything you could possibly need.

Here are the basic tools that you’ll need to can jams and jellies:

- canning jars (I like the half pint size for this type of canning)
- a water bath canner (I just use my stock pot)
- a jar lifter
- a pair of kitchen tongs
- a wide mouth jar funnel
- a ladle or large glass measuring cup
- oven mitts
- tea towels

Ball is the authority in home canning, and their site has a wealth of information about any type of canning you can imagine. They have guides for preserving different types of fruits and vegetables, how to videos, and links to sites with even more information about canning. I’ll have a brief run through of the water bath canning process below, but Ball’s site does a much better and more thorough job of explaining everything than I do.

The great thing about making jam at home is that you can customize it to your taste. Use more or less sweetener depending on which fruit you’re using and how sweet or tart you like your jam. Cook longer for a thicker jam, shorter for a thinner consistency. It’s all very flexible. The recipe posted below is simply a framework to get you started. And, if you’re making jam with regular sugar, just replace the sweetener 1:1 with sugar and use regular pectin.

I’ve been wanting to make a non-peanut nut butter for a while now. Cashew butter is still on my list of to-dos, but this time around I went with almond butter. It was so easy to make that I could kick myself for not having tried it sooner. All you need is a food processor, a few ingredients, a little bit of time, and you’ve got a yummy, healthy butter to spread on everything from toast to chicken.

Almonds are actually one of the most nutritious nuts around. They can help lower LDL cholesterol, reduce your risk of heart disease, and they contain healthy nutrients like manganese, magnesium, vitamin e, tryptophan, and more. So, while I still love peanut butter, I think that almond butter will be making more regular appearances in my diet.