Soaking Nuts and Seeds Makes Them Better

High in vitamins, minerals, protein and healthy fats, nuts and seeds are little powerhouses of nutrition. However, nuts and seeds also contain phytic acid and large amounts of enzyme inhibitors which protect them from sprouting until they have the rain and sun they need to grow. And unfortunately, these natural chemicals are quite hard on the stomach.

So, if you’ve ever had tummy trouble after eating nuts and seeds, don’t give up on them yet!

In nature, a seed or nut normally gets enough moisture from rain to wash off the acids and enzyme inhibitors so it can germinate and produce a plant. By soaking nuts and seeds before you eat them, you imitate nature by neutralizing these toxic growth inhibitors, releasing the natural enzymes and vitality within them.

These enzymes, in turn, increase the vitamin content of your nuts and seeds, especially the B vitamins. Soaking also makes them much easier to digest and enables their many nutrients to be more easily absorbed by your body.

You can soak many different types of nuts and seeds, and then set them out to sprout for a few days. Like bean sprouts, they will germinate  into tiny, nutritious seedlings. This is a modern preparation method that many raw and traditional foodies use. (See note below table.)

By fully sprouting the nut or seed, it transforms from a unit of storage into a growing green plantlet. This enhances its nutrition, but it also greatly changes its taste and texture, and makes it highly perishable, so you always have to use up sprouted nuts and seeds within a few days.

In contrast, soaking and then drying nuts and seeds is a long-lost, traditional method of preparation and preservation used worldwide for thousands of years. For example coastal Aztecs (and Central American people today) would soak pumpkin or squash seeds in sea water and then sun-dry them.

Using sea salt in your soak water helps de-activate the enzyme inhibitors and makes your nuts and seeds extra tasty. Gently drying them at a low temperature locks in the nutrition and enzymes for months of future use, and preserves the buttery flavor and crispy texture we love so much about eating nuts and seeds.

How to Traditionally Prepare Nuts and Seeds

To soak and dry your nuts and seeds properly in today’s modern kitchen, you will need a good dehydrator. You will set the dehydrator between to about 115 degrees so the healthy, vitamin-producing enzymes in your soaked nuts remain intact. Heating them above 115 degrees (which is too low for an oven) will destroy the enzymes and some of the vitamins. (Where to find a good dehydrator)

The basic method is to dissolve sea salt in filtered or spring water, pour it over nuts or seeds, using enough of the brine to cover them. Leave them in a warm location for the specified time, then rinse and drain them in a colander and spread them out on your dehydrator sheets.

Dehydrate them at 110 degrees F for 12-24 hours (sometimes longer if you soaked them longer), until they are thoroughly dry and crisp. Make sure they are completely dry. (It’s very hard to over-dry them.) If not, they could mold in storage, and won’t have that crunchy, yummy texture you expect from nuts and seeds.

I like to several pounds of nuts and seeds in a big batch to save time and energy when using my dehydrator. That way, I always have properly prepared nuts and seeds on hand for snacks, salads and recipes. I store my dry, crispy nuts in large mason jars in the fridge to keep them fresh for many months.

The following info (much of it sourced from Nourishing Traditions) will help you sort it out.

Notes: If you want to fully sprout your nuts raw-foodie style, you can use these soak times as a guideline. After soaking, rinse and drain your nuts/seeds, then and leave them out in a covered bowl or tray to sprout, rinsing them with purified or spring water once a day.

Pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, macadamias and pasteurized almonds will NOT sprout, but they still contain phytates and enzyme inhibitors that should be removed.

Only make as many fresh sprouted nuts or seeds as you can eat in 2-3 days. Store them in a jar in the refrigerator.

If all of this just seems like too much work, but you still want to enjoy the health benefits of traditionally prepared nuts and seeds without the stomach upset, you can find them online—pre-soaked and gently dehydrated for your immediate munching enjoyment! (Where to find traditionally prepared nuts and seeds online)

*  Truly raw almonds are no longer available commercially in the U.S., though people who live in California can still buy them from the farmer’s market. Since 2007, all U.S. almonds must be “pasteurized,” meaning fumigated with chemicals—or steamed, if organic. To get truly raw almonds with all their enzymes and vitamins intact, you must live in California, get them imported from Spain, or order them online. (Where to find raw almonds online)

**  Cashews will become slimy and develop a nasty taste if allowed to soak too long or dry out too slowly. Pistachios will also fall apart into mush if soaked too long. This is because cashews and pistachios are not truly raw, but get heated after harvest to extract them from the inedible fruit and skins in which they grow. If you do soak them, dry cashews and pistachios thoroughly in a 200 to 250 degree oven—the enzymes have already been destroyed during initial processing.

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Tagged as: Weston A. Price