question about using coffee grinder to grind nuts

I have a manual coffee grinder which I use to grind coffee beans. Would it cause any problems if I tried grinding chopped almonds in it? I am trying to avoid buying another kitchen tool.

The tricky part here is cleaning the grinder after running some strong tasting coffee, nuts, chiles or spice.
This link suggests using some rice to lightly scrub the surfaces and absorb the oils. I've also heard that some bread can work for this purpose, too.

ETA: I missed that you're using a manual grinder. The rice probably wouldn't work here.

Hi,

I used my electric coffee grinder for nuts, spices, dried beans (once for a pie) and rice. It has never seen coffee. To clean it, I will grind rice and wipe it down.

I cannot see why your manual coffee grinder could not be used similarly.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I used my electric coffee grinder for nuts, spices, dried beans (once for a pie) and rice. It has never seen coffee. To clean it, I will grind rice and wipe it down.

I cannot see why your manual coffee grinder could not be used similarly.

Regards,

Thanks a lot for your advice. I'll try grinding rice to clean the thing.

I dispensed with all of this when I found out you could put a ball jar on the blender base: I now use my blender for grinding spices and nuts, using a jar that has a slight nick, so I can't use it for canning. Keep in mind that you can go quickly from ground nuts to nut butter.

Mhays wrote:I dispensed with all of this when I found out you could put a ball jar on the blender base: I now use my blender for grinding spices and nuts, using a jar that has a slight nick, so I can't use it for canning. Keep in mind that you can go quickly from ground nuts to nut butter.

I will give this a shot. My grinder is dead due to a few too many drops to the floor.

I guess you are holding the motor above when screwing the jar on and off?

Could this work with a stick blender? I'm thinking the safety guard might inhibit grinding. It could go into the same canning jar. If it does not work, then we can revert to the blender.

Thanks for a good idea.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Could this work with a stick blender?

I saw a nice Cuisinart stick blender the other day that came with a grinder "jar" attachment for just this purpose. It also came with a whisk attachment. I'm thinking about dumping my KA stick blender and getting this one instead (more for the whisk than the grinder, though).

I have a very old Osterizer, so it's possible that more modern blenders don't work this way - here's the method.

I have a cheap Braun stick blender that has a little food chopper I very occasionally use, along with the whisk - the whisk I quite like.

Mhays wrote:I have a very old Osterizer, so it's possible that more modern blenders don't work this way - here's the method.

I have a vintage Osterizer with two speeds: slow and fast, which is all I really want anyway. I bought at a rummage sale for next nothing some Mason type jars with Osterizer embossed. I think they were intended for precisely this method.

Thanks, I may just skip buying a coffee/spice grinder.

Regards,

Mhays wrote:I have a very old Osterizer, so it's possible that more modern blenders don't work this way - here's the method.

Holy moly, learn something every day!

Manually grinding the nuts with a manual coffee grinder did not work out at all. I ended up using my blender. Grinding the almonds with the blender produced both almond flour and almond butter. It was not optimal, but it was the best I could do with what I had in my kitchen.

I've found that if you pulse with the blender like you would with a food processor and do very small batches you get less "butter." I've heard that freezing the nuts also helps.

Mhays wrote:I've found that if you pulse with the blender like you would with a food processor and do very small batches you get less "butter." I've heard that freezing the nuts also helps.

I did pulse in small batches, but it did not look like the nuts were being ground uniformly. I think you really need to have a smaller glass container (like the canning jars you were recommending). The almond butter was still good on toast.

I have not have good luck in "grinding" nuts using any electric device even though I have many. Most make the nuts too fine or turn into butter or create an uneven mix, some in big chunk others too fine. Also the transcontamination of flavors is a problem even if you wash things. I prefer to either hand chop or use a non electric nut chopper which works very good for smallish pieces of nuts. If a rougher texture is wanted, hand chopping is the best. The one I have is below. Its cheap and does not take up too much room in the kitchen.

http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Nut-C ... B000WGY8L4

I did pulse in small batches, but it did not look like the nuts were being ground uniformly

This depends on how finely ground you want them, but one recommendation that worked from a baking book I have was the following:

Grind all the nuts in one batch in a food processor or blender until mostly finely chopped
Sift chopped nuts through a mesh strainer into a bowl
Regrind nuts left in strainer in processor/blender
Repeat straining and grinding leftovers several times until most of nuts have passed through the strainer

This gives you a fairly uniform grind, but I think would work better in a food processor.

I don't like grinding nuts in a coffee grinder or processor - the mixture ends up being too fine. You can try adding a spoon or so of sugar before pulsing - this helps somewhat. I bought myself a nut grinder a few years ago for about $7 and like it.

I use bread all the time to clean out my coffee grinder - works great!