Gourmet 'truly raw' organic almond butter from Sicily now available at NaturalNews Store

(NaturalNews) Thanks to efforts by the USDA and the Almond Board of California, it is illegal for commercial almond producers in the United States to sell raw almonds. The almonds now have to be fumigated with chemicals or pasteurized (cooked) to meet "food safety requirements" that really have nothing to do with food safety but everything to do with killing your food. See my related CounterThink Cartoon at: http://counterthink.com/The_Killing...

Because of this unfortunate situation, health-conscious consumers in the USA who love almonds and almond products (such as almond butter) have been forced to purchase almonds from other countries. You see, almond growers in Italy can sell raw almonds to the USA without any problem. That's perfectly legal. Only U.S.-based producers are required to kill their almonds with heat or chemicals. (Just another brilliant move in Washington to destroy the livelihoods of U.S. farmers, isn't it?)

In any case, it now turns out that the best truly raw almond butters come from Sicily, Italy, where the "tuono" and "correnta" varieties are known for their robust aromas and flavors. They are the gourmet almonds of the world, and they're used quite liberally in the Mediterranean Diet.

I love almond butter. It's a delicious and highly nutritious natural nut butter that I use on everything from raw sandwiches to mouth-watering desserts. Now, through a special arrangement we've once again managed to put together for you, we've acquired a few thousand jars of raw, organic almond butter from Sicily, made from some of the finest almonds in the world. And as you've come to expect, we've managed to make this available directly to you at a ridiculously good price.

You see, since the USDA required that all California almonds be fumigated or pasteurized, the price of raw almonds has skyrocketed. A 16 oz. jar of truly raw almond butter can now set you back $25 at retail. Crazy, huh?

We're trying to bring that price back down to Earth with the fantastic pricing we're able to achieve due to our large reach and low overhead. While supplies lies, we've got 16 oz. glass jars of organic, raw almond butter from Sicily for just $13.95! (That's a savings of nearly 40% over the usual retail price of $22.95.)

Click here to take advantage of this special now.

This is for the good stuff! This is truly raw, truly organic, gourmet Italian almond butter made from Sicilian almonds. Raw almond butter doesn't get any better than this! (Taste it yourself and you'll see!)

The price, though, does get better: When you purchase a 3-pack of this raw almond butter, the price per jar drops to just $12.56 per jar, or a 45% discount off the usual retail price.

Click here for the 3-pack special of this raw almond butter.

As with all our store specials, this is only good while supplies last. (We received a single shipment of a few thousand fresh jars, and when they're gone, they're gone...)

While you can probably find a better price on pasteurized, non-organic almond butter, I'm confident you won't find a better price on raw, organic, non-fumigated almonds that are truly raw and nutritionally intact. This is "premium" almond butter at a non-premium price.

And unless the Almond Board of California reverses its decision requiring the fumigation of California almonds, you'll probably never see a price this low again on truly raw almond nut butter.

Historical information about almonds

Here's some interesting information about almonds, provided by our supplier of this remarkable raw almond butter:

Almonds are mentioned as far back in history as the Bible. The Bible’s “Book of Number” tells the story of Aaron’s rod that blossomed and bore almonds, giving the almond the symbolism of divine approval. Through history , almonds have maintained religious, ethnic and social significance.

They were a prized ingredient in breads reserved to Egypt’s pharaohs. Their exact ancestry in unknown, but almonds are thought to have originated in China and Central Asia. Explorers ate almonds while travelling the “Silk Road” between Asia and the Mediterranean. Before long, almonds trees flourished in the Mediterranean, especially in Spain and Italy.

Almonds were central to many cultural traditions around the world. In classical times Romans presented gifts of sugared almonds to important dignitaries as well as personal friends. At weddings they also tossed almonds to the bride and groom as a symbol of fertility. Today, Italians and Americans give guest at weddings a bag of sugared almonds, representing children, happiness, romance, good health and fortune.

In Sweden, cinnamon-flavored rice pudding with an almond hidden inside is a Christmas custom. Find it, and good fortune is yours for a year.

Cultivating almonds it’s a tradition that comes from afar. The earliest varieties of almonds were found in China carried by traders down the ancient silk road to Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East. Nestled between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Pacific Coast Ranges is California’s fertile Central Valley, home to one of the oldest and most beautiful flowering fruit trees. Unlike other flowering fruit trees that bear edible fruit, this tree’s “pearl” is the delicious nut found inside the fruit, the almond.

Botanically, the sweet almond is considered a stone fruit, closely related to the cherry, plum, apricot, and peach. The almond's botanical name comes from the Greeks who called them "amygdalon."

Almonds are a surprisingly source of calcium: Although we would have to consume 330 calories' worth of almonds to get a significant quantity of this bone-supporting mineral, almonds are higher in calcium than all other nuts. Almonds are also a significant source of magnesium, and they supply a healthy amount of vitamin E.

These sweet, versatile nuts have the highest dietary fiber content of any nut or seed; like all nuts, almonds are a good source of protein and they are cholesterol free. Vitamin E, considered a powerful antioxidant, is plentiful in almonds. They're also high in magnesium, containing even more than spinach. They’re abundant in phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, and trace amounts of the B vitamins thiamine and riboflavin.

Click here to see all the NaturalNews Store specials.

(And enjoy your raw almond butter!)

Raw Organic Virgin Coconut Oil has a hundred uses for health and home

(NaturalNews) People who really know about health know about virgin coconut oil. It's the oil of choice for health-conscious people, and it's used in everything from smoothies (delicious!) to personal care products. You can use coconut oil both inside and outside your body.

It's even useful for cooking because coconut oil has a much higher temperature tolerance than even extra virgin olive oil. Its fat molecules stay intact, in other words, at higher stovetop temperatures, so that makes it safer for use as a cooking oil. It's also widely used in raw foods recipe as a stabilizer and source of delicious plant-based fats with their own unique nutritional properties.

Virgin coconut oil is 44.6% lauric acid, 16.8% myristic acid, and 8.2% palmitic acid, and it's composed mostly of medium-chain-fatty-acids (MCFA). MCFAs are widely regarded as extremely useful for providing sustainable energy due to their molecular structure. Many bodybuilders and athletes rely on MCFAs as a key part of their high-performance diets.

I've been an advocate of organic virgin coconut oil for years, recommending all the top companies such as Nutiva (www.Nutiva.com) and Vivapura (www.VivaPura.net). They provide outstanding coconut oil products that I use myself on a regular basis.

Now, we've teamed up with The Raw Food World to acquire a large shipment of 100% raw, organic, Kosher, centrifuge virgin coconut oil from the Philippines that's available in the NaturalNews Store starting today. This is the really good stuff that's processed with a centrifuge, not by cooking, so the coconut oil is both raw and molecularly intact.

We're also making it available at a terrific discount to NaturalNews readers. See below for specials that offer as much as 45% off what you'd normally pay for this kind of premium-grade coconut oil.

Here are the details (and below, I describe the process of how this oil is harvested, extracted and packaged):

Raw organic Kosher centrifuge-extracted virgin coconut oil

This is a special shipment of high-grade certified organic virgin coconut oil. It's a premium grade coconut oil that rivals anything available in the industry today.

A 16 oz. container of this oil normally sells for $17.95. Through this NaturalNews Store special discount, it's now available to NaturalNews readers for just $10.95 for a 16 oz. container. That's a savings of 39% over the regular price.

When you purchase three 16 oz. containers of this coconut oil, the price drops to just $9.98 each. That is nearly a 45% discount off the usual retail price, and it comes out to just over 62 cents per ounce. (These 16 oz. containers are GLASS.)

Click here to take advantage of this coconut oil special.

Looking for an even better deal? We also have it available in a one-gallon container. The normal retail price for one gallon of this premium coconut oil is $74.95, but we've been able to make it available to NaturalNews readers for just $49.95, a savings of 32% off the normal price.

And here's the best deal of all: When you purchase three one-gallon containers of this premium coconut oil, the price drops to just $44.96 per gallon. That's a 40% savings over the retail price, and it brings the price per ounce down to just 35 cents!

Compare this price anywhere, and you'll see what a tremendous deal this really is. We've put together yet another screaming good deal for our NaturalNews with this coconut oil offer.

(These one gallon containers are PLASTIC. We're working on a way to use glass gallon container in the near future, but breakage is a huge problem during shipping, so right now they're packaged in plastic. If you want glass containers, choose the 16 oz. containers instead.)

How coconut oil is harvested and extracted

Ever wonder how premium coconut oil is actually made? Here's where ours comes from:

First, whole coconuts are collected fresh off the tree, then shelled to remove the outer shell (the brown skin).

The white coconut meat is removed and ground at low temperatures into granules. These granules are then dried at 104 - 113 degrees Fahrenheit for 2.5 hours.

Once dried, the coconut granules are loaded into a customized cold-process expeller that squeezes out the oil. This is also done at 113 degrees or lower in order to preserve the raw nutrients.

The oil that comes out is then loaded into a centrifuge machine that spins it at high speed to remove any moisture or particulate matter. (The solid coconut matter that comes out is used to make coconut flour, which can be substituted for wheat in baking recipes.)

The resulting oil is called "Virgin Coconut Oil." It is then poured into the final containers, labeled and shipped.

Note that there is no cooking, pasteurization, fumigation, hydrogenation or other artificial process involved. This is all about harvesting the coconut meat, drying it, then pressing out the oils to be captured, filtered and packaged. It is probably the most natural process you can find for consuming coconut oil other than picking and eating the coconut yourself.

Coconut oil has a surprisingly long shelf life -- up to several years on the shelf due to its ability to naturally resist oxidation. When stored in the refrigerator, it is naturally a solid. When warmed in ambient room temperature, it becomes a liquid.

Using virgin coconut oil

Here are several ideas for using coconut oil. If you're right now cooking in a pan with something like olive oil, try replacing that with coconut oil. Coconut oil resists creating high-heat carcinogens, meaning you can cook with it at higher temperatures without poisoning your food as often happens with corn oil, soybean oil or other cheap, low-end vegetable oils.

Secondly, you can add coconut oil to just about any smoothie to give it a fatty "ice cream" flavor and texture. Try blending frozen fruit with palm sugar and coconut oil! It makes a delicious, ice cream textured dessert that will just blow your mind with its nutritional potency, too. (Your kids can eat this all day long, guilt free!)

If you're into raw foods recipes, you'll find yourself using coconut oil for all kinds of things. Especially desserts, where coconut oil is often part of the icing that goes on the raw cake or pie. It's super delicious! (And also guilt free...)

You can use coconut oil in practically any recipe that calls for vegetable oil or shortening. Shortening, by the way, is just hydrogenated vegetable oil. I hope you never eat that because it's terrible for your health. Replace it with coconut oil for the sake of your health...

Coconut oil can also be used as a partial replacement for butter. It doesn't quite have the butter taste, but it's close, and the healthy fats in it resemble butter in many recipes. (Try replacing half the butter in a recipe with coconut oil.)

Finally, you can use this coconut oil to make your own skin care products. Melt a small amount of bees wax in a pan with coconut oil, add some medicinal herbs or tinctures, and you've made your own skin salve! Coconut oil is a wonderful base for all sorts of personal care products. I've even seen it packaged as a personal lubricant (no kidding!). It's great for skin, hair, face and your entire body, head to toe.

The key is getting the good quality coconut oil that hasn't been cooked. That's why you'll really like what we've acquired for you here: It's a premium-grade coconut oil that's perfect for smoothies, cooking, baking and personal care needs.

Get some while our supplies last. As with most of our specials, this is a one-time shipment that will probably be sold out within a few days.

Click here to get some of this coconut oil for yourself today.

You'll really enjoy this oil. I'm stocking up on some for my own kitchen!