Method and device for making nut butter and nut milk
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for producing nut milk and nut butter are inefficient, time-consuming, and result in significant nut pulp waste, requiring a soaking step and additional oils, while existing devices fail to fully butter nuts without leaving chunks.
Innovation Solution
A small appliance with a mixing container and cutting device featuring vertically positioned blades and a screen to efficiently produce nut butter and nut milk in two steps, eliminating the need for soaking and minimizing waste, with the ability to butter nuts completely without added oils.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If nuts are soaked overnight to soften them for better emulsification, then the nuts will blend more easily and extract nutrients better, but the process becomes time-consuming and nutrients are lost in the soaking water
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state of nuts from dry to frozen, which fundamentally alters their mechanical properties. Frozen nuts become brittle and shatter easily under blade impact, achieving the softening/emulsification effect without requiring time-based soaking processes. This parameter change (temperature state) directly resolves the contradiction by enabling easy blending while eliminating time loss.
2Ease of manufacture
If nuts are soaked and drained to soften them, then blending becomes easier, but significant nut pulp is wasted in the soaking and draining water
Solution Approach 1:
Freezing nuts changes their physical structure to be brittle and shatterable, allowing complete emulsification directly in the blending container. This eliminates the need for separate soaking and draining steps, ensuring all nut pulp remains in the system and is incorporated into the final nut milk product, thus resolving the substance loss contradiction.
3Device complexity
If traditional blenders are used to make nut butter, then the process is simple, but chunks of unbuttered nut pieces remain and the process takes extended time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies freezing to change the physical state of nuts, making them brittle and conducive to complete pulverization. When frozen nuts are blended, they shatter into fine particles that emulsify completely, eliminating chunks and achieving smooth nut butter efficiently. This maintains device simplicity while dramatically improving productivity.
4Ease of manufacture
If added oils are used to help with the buttering process, then nuts butter more easily, but the purity and health benefits of the nut butter are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses freezing to alter the physical properties of nuts, making them naturally easier to emulsify without any added substances. The frozen state allows blades to shatter nuts into fine particles that mix readily with water, achieving smooth buttering while maintaining 100% purity with no oil additives, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and substance purity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The appliance effectively turns nuts into nut butter and nut milk with minimal waste, reducing the time and effort required, and ensuring all nut pulp is incorporated into the final product, maintaining nutrient and flavor integrity.
Implementation Method 1
a cutting device having one or more blades positioned a predetermined radial distance from the inner walls of the mixing container
Data Source
AI summary
A device for producing nut butter and/or nut milk from nuts. The device includes a base having a motor, an outer container positioned above the base, a mixing container positioned within the outer container, and a cutting device positioned within the mixing container and configured to be driven by the motor during operation. The mixing container has inner sidewalls and at least one screen, the inner sidewalls being substantially vertical and the at least one screen having a plurality of holes particularly sized to allow emulsified nut milk to freely pass therethrough. The cutting device has a central hub and at least two blades, the at least two blades vertically offset and each having a blade tip, with each blade tip positioned a certain radial distance from the inner sidewalls of the mixing container. A method for producing nut butter and/or nut milk is further described.