Nutty walnut butter for
Once tasted, creamy spread is met with surprise, enthusiasm
Story by Linda DuBois • Photos by Fred Greaves
Every single morning, 6-year-old Cade Etchepare wants the same thing for breakfast: a bagel with walnut butter. He changes his routine only by rotating among the butter’s three f lavor options: original, maple and salted caramel. His twin sister, Lena, prefers more variety. She likes walnut butter with bagels, too, but also with oatmeal, yogurt, fruit—and just about anything else that’s edible. The kids always have plenty on hand because their dad, Leon, not only sells walnut butter, he makes it and grows the walnuts, too.
Adding value A fourth-generation farmer in Maxwell who also grows almonds, Leon Etchepare started the Wellnut Farms walnut butter company in 2014 with friend and fellow walnut farmer Kevin Amator, who runs a hulling and shelling operation. When the pair noticed tree-nut prices were falling, they decided to pursue selling a product made with the nuts to stabilize some income, Etchepare explained. At f irst, they considered almond butter, but the California Walnut Board, which had begun to develop
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March/April 2022
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