Soaking nuts

by | Apr 27, 2012 | Nutrition, Recipe | 0 comments

I’ve talked before about the health benefits of nuts. They are the best – the best! – for snacks or an additional ingredient in salads and baking.

Did you know you can maximise their benefit by soaking nuts before eating? Doing so will break down enzyme inhibitors found in raw nuts that can make digestion difficult. Soaking allows the nuts to sprout – activating digestive enzymes found therein – making all those lovely nutrients more easily digested.

Soaking – also called activating – nuts is a great habit to practice, particularly if you find nuts hard to digest, leaving you bloated or gassy.

Pre-soaked nuts can be bought in health food shops, but they’re also dang easy to make at home. A good batch will keep you going for weeks, so get to it: quick sticks!

How to soak your own:

Take a bowl of nuts – almonds, walnuts, Brazils, etc – and cover with enough filtered water to completely immerse.

Add a good pinch of salt and soak overnight.

Drain the water off completely and pour the nuts out onto a clean tea towel to soak up extra fluid.

Put your oven on the lowest possible temperature – under 100?C if not lower – and spread the nuts out on a baking tray. Pop them in the oven and keep them there for between 6-12 hours (it will vary depending on your oven’s temperature – this make take a few batches to refine). If you have a dehydrator, you can use that.

The nuts will be ready when they feel and taste completely dry (you’ll probably have to sample a few along the way).

Once they’ve cooled to room temperature, store in an airtight container and grab a handful, for snacks or recipes, as needed.