can cashew butter spoil?

All fats can go rancid if kept out of refrigeration. While its not technically spoilage, the unsaturated fats in the butter will pick up ambient flavors roaming the air. Since cashews are comprised mainly of unsaturated fats, they tend to go rancid quickly. Keep it airtight and chilled to prevent this.

Le Bec Fin's detailed answer is spot on!

My shortcut on nut butters thought is always a quick smell/taste test. You can tell when nuts are rancid, so if it smells and tastes fine...use it!

Hi jake, all nuts and seeds can 'go bad' which, in the case of foods that contain a lot of oil ,like nuts, means 'go rancid.' AFAIK, rancid nuts are not going to hurt you; they just don't taste great. I keep cold all nuts and nut butters: nuts in the freezer; nut butters in the frig. If you have never tasted 'rancid' , ask someone to show or give you some rancid product.- to smell and taste. (Instead of the term 'rancid', many people will say that the food just tastes/smells "off." If your nut butter has been stored in a cold dark place, it may not have gone rancid; heat and sunshine are what promote rancidity. (Oh, it also happens to flours and grains that have oil in their kernels.)
For inspiration, do a 'Search' at the top of the Recipes page- for 'cashew butter' and alot of fun 52 recipes will come up. Aside from eating all the ways you eat peanut butter, you can add it to brownie batter or cookie dough, or rice krispie 'dough.' And those ideas are just the beginning!

Maybe. Stilltasry.com advises 1 no at room temperature & 4-6 mo refrigerated for opened cashew. usage ideas: hummus (use sedans butter instead is tahini ), nut loaf, cookies, a variant of Thai peanut sauce, a variant if African peNut stew.