Effects of oil content on the sensory, textural, and physical properties of pecan butter (Carya illinoinensis).

There has been considerable demand for butters and spreads made from a variety of culinary nuts. Pecans generally have too much oil (∼70%) to make a product with proper consistency and stability. In this study, some of the oil was removed to overcome this problem. It was found that pecan butter with 55-60% oil was most acceptable to consumers and with the level of firmness, yield stress, and spreadability most similar to commercial nut butters. The oil was relatively simple to remove from unroasted nuts, thus manufacturers could easily produce more acceptable pecan butter for the market.