At Big Spoon Roasters, every jar of nut butter tells a story—a story of thoughtfully sourced ingredients, impeccable craftsmanship and a commitment to sustainability. In a recent conversation with the California Walnut Board, Mark Overbay, co-founder and president of Big Spoon Roasters, shared insights into walnuts’ rich flavor profile and versatility.
How do you approach product development when creating new items?
I start with an idea and then get to work: sketching out a target flavor and texture profile, sourcing ingredients, varying roast levels and finally experimenting—over and over again—in the R&D kitchen until we fall in love with the result.
What role do walnuts play in setting your products apart from other nut butters in the market?
I’ve always loved the balance of sweetness and earthiness of walnuts. The hint of bitterness from tannins gives walnuts a completely unique flavor, which we’ve used in a number of nut butters over the years. Milling (grinding) walnuts emphasizes the tannins and their bitterness, so working with them in nut butters requires a delicate touch when it comes to roasting and blending. In our Carrot Cake Almond & Walnut Butter, the walnuts provide such a perfect earthy, tannic counterpoint to the traditionally sweet Mission almonds we use. This is also one of my favorite things about using walnuts in carrot cake (not the nut butter). Along with the spice, sweetness and richness, you also have this balance of earthiness that reminds me of walking through the woods as leaves are falling.
Speaking of Carrot Cake Almond & Walnut Butter, what was the inspiration behind creating it?
We draw recipe inspiration from every facet of life, from a single ingredient we want to showcase and favorite foods of our childhood, to culinary traditions we admire and memories of travel. Carrot cake was my favorite dessert as a child, and I would ask for it to be my birthday cake for many years. It turns out that traditional carrot cake spices work wonderfully in the medium of nut butter, particularly when roasted almonds and walnuts are involved.
Tell us about your walnut sourcing process. How important is supporting local or sustainable farming to your brand?
We are a very small-batch maker of handcrafted foods. That is to say, we buy very small quantities of walnuts at a time—we always use California English-variety walnuts. Sustainability is one of our core values, so all our ingredients must be farmed sustainably, whether they carry certifications or not. Quality, of course, also must be the very best we can find.
What sustainability practices do you incorporate into your business, both in sourcing walnuts and in overall production?
We ask sourcing questions like: How are the walnuts grown? What inputs go into the soil? Tell us about your irrigation, if any. How do you manage pests? How do you manage mold? In terms of our production, we achieve less than 0.1% waste in our production process every day. For packaging, we use glass jars, uncoated paper labels printed with non-toxic inks and metal lids. These materials are recyclable, and the glass jars and lids are reusable. We also have plastic-free inner packaging in our shipping boxes, so when people order our products, our jars are protected by plant-fiber materials.
How do you ensure quality and consistency in the walnuts used?
We receive a pre-ship sample that must be approved, and then we taste every incoming lot upon arrival to ensure it meets quality specs. We also require COAs for every lot to ensure proper testing for mold and/or other potential hazards has been conducted. We store all our nuts in humidity- and climate-controlled rooms to maximize freshness, roast only as much as we need at a time and taste every batch of finished product before releasing it into inventory.
Are there any trends that have influenced your product lineup?
No, not trends, but we are passionate about the connections between food, nutrition and health. All our ingredient and recipe choices reflect our goal of making food that is good for both people and the planet.
How have consumer preferences influenced product development?
We won a 2022 sofi Best New Product Award for our Limited Batch Fig Walnut Macaroon Almond Butter, which was a popular seasonal nut butter, and people still ask about it. We’ve also experimented with enrobing walnuts in vegan white chocolate as part of a seasonal Limited Batch nut butter recipe, and people who tried it loved it. Carrot Cake Almond & Walnut Butter is a perfect example of how customer feedback informs our product offerings. This recipe was a seasonal, limited batch available for only three months. However, due to overwhelmingly positive, consistent requests from our customers to bring it back and make it part of our permanent lineup, we did. It’s been a bestseller ever since!
Any interesting feedback?
“Carrot cake in a jar” is the most common compliment we receive about this nut butter, and we never get tired of it. People are often shocked at how little sugar there is in the recipe, and that no refined sugar is used at all. We use just a touch of organic maple syrup, and the rest of the sweetness comes from the nuts themselves. More than a few regular e-commerce customers buy this nut butter by the case, so consider that the best feedback possible!
Are there any exciting new walnut-based products or initiatives on the horizon?
We are in a state of constant creation and innovation. We develop and release six to eight new nut butter recipes every year, and that is not slowing down any time soon. While we don’t share plans about future nut butters, we can tell you that walnuts will always have an important role at Big Spoon Roasters.
Formulate the next great walnut butter by contacting DMikolajcik@walnuts.org.
I start with an idea and then get to work: sketching out a target flavor and texture profile, sourcing ingredients, varying roast levels and finally experimenting—over and over again—in the R&D kitchen until we fall in love with the result.
What role do walnuts play in setting your products apart from other nut butters in the market?
I’ve always loved the balance of sweetness and earthiness of walnuts. The hint of bitterness from tannins gives walnuts a completely unique flavor, which we’ve used in a number of nut butters over the years. Milling (grinding) walnuts emphasizes the tannins and their bitterness, so working with them in nut butters requires a delicate touch when it comes to roasting and blending. In our Carrot Cake Almond & Walnut Butter, the walnuts provide such a perfect earthy, tannic counterpoint to the traditionally sweet Mission almonds we use. This is also one of my favorite things about using walnuts in carrot cake (not the nut butter). Along with the spice, sweetness and richness, you also have this balance of earthiness that reminds me of walking through the woods as leaves are falling.
Speaking of Carrot Cake Almond & Walnut Butter, what was the inspiration behind creating it?
We draw recipe inspiration from every facet of life, from a single ingredient we want to showcase and favorite foods of our childhood, to culinary traditions we admire and memories of travel. Carrot cake was my favorite dessert as a child, and I would ask for it to be my birthday cake for many years. It turns out that traditional carrot cake spices work wonderfully in the medium of nut butter, particularly when roasted almonds and walnuts are involved.
Tell us about your walnut sourcing process. How important is supporting local or sustainable farming to your brand?
We are a very small-batch maker of handcrafted foods. That is to say, we buy very small quantities of walnuts at a time—we always use California English-variety walnuts. Sustainability is one of our core values, so all our ingredients must be farmed sustainably, whether they carry certifications or not. Quality, of course, also must be the very best we can find.
What sustainability practices do you incorporate into your business, both in sourcing walnuts and in overall production?
We ask sourcing questions like: How are the walnuts grown? What inputs go into the soil? Tell us about your irrigation, if any. How do you manage pests? How do you manage mold? In terms of our production, we achieve less than 0.1% waste in our production process every day. For packaging, we use glass jars, uncoated paper labels printed with non-toxic inks and metal lids. These materials are recyclable, and the glass jars and lids are reusable. We also have plastic-free inner packaging in our shipping boxes, so when people order our products, our jars are protected by plant-fiber materials.
How do you ensure quality and consistency in the walnuts used?
We receive a pre-ship sample that must be approved, and then we taste every incoming lot upon arrival to ensure it meets quality specs. We also require COAs for every lot to ensure proper testing for mold and/or other potential hazards has been conducted. We store all our nuts in humidity- and climate-controlled rooms to maximize freshness, roast only as much as we need at a time and taste every batch of finished product before releasing it into inventory.
Are there any trends that have influenced your product lineup?
No, not trends, but we are passionate about the connections between food, nutrition and health. All our ingredient and recipe choices reflect our goal of making food that is good for both people and the planet.
How have consumer preferences influenced product development?
We won a 2022 sofi Best New Product Award for our Limited Batch Fig Walnut Macaroon Almond Butter, which was a popular seasonal nut butter, and people still ask about it. We’ve also experimented with enrobing walnuts in vegan white chocolate as part of a seasonal Limited Batch nut butter recipe, and people who tried it loved it. Carrot Cake Almond & Walnut Butter is a perfect example of how customer feedback informs our product offerings. This recipe was a seasonal, limited batch available for only three months. However, due to overwhelmingly positive, consistent requests from our customers to bring it back and make it part of our permanent lineup, we did. It’s been a bestseller ever since!
Any interesting feedback?
“Carrot cake in a jar” is the most common compliment we receive about this nut butter, and we never get tired of it. People are often shocked at how little sugar there is in the recipe, and that no refined sugar is used at all. We use just a touch of organic maple syrup, and the rest of the sweetness comes from the nuts themselves. More than a few regular e-commerce customers buy this nut butter by the case, so consider that the best feedback possible!
Are there any exciting new walnut-based products or initiatives on the horizon?
We are in a state of constant creation and innovation. We develop and release six to eight new nut butter recipes every year, and that is not slowing down any time soon. While we don’t share plans about future nut butters, we can tell you that walnuts will always have an important role at Big Spoon Roasters.
Formulate the next great walnut butter by contacting DMikolajcik@walnuts.org.
