Many raw vegan recipes say to soak nuts before using them. What are the advantages? How do you soak nuts and seeds?
There are several reasons for soaking nuts or seeds, ranging from flavor to increased nutritional value. Sometimes it is simply to prepare the food to be soft enough that it will blend more smoothly. Many raw vegan recipes use blended up nuts in ways that other recipes do not, either to make raw nut milk or to simulate baked goods, like cookies and pies.
Even if you're not on a raw vegan diet, one terrific reason to soak nuts is that many nuts, especially walnuts and almonds, have a much more appealing taste after they are soaked and rinsed. As you will see if you try it yourself, after as little as 20 minutes, the soak water is brown. After a couple of hours, much of the dust, residue, and tannins from the skins are released into the water and the nut emerges with a smoother, more palatable flavor.
You'll notice that soaked walnuts do not have that astringent, mouth-puckering taste to them. This is because when soaking walnuts, the tannins are rinsed away, leaving behind a softer, more buttery nut. The soak water from nuts and seeds should always be discarded and never used as water in a recipe.
Other reputed benefits of soaking your nuts and seeds include increased enzyme activity, greater absorption of the food's nutrients by the body, and increased digestibility. When soaked, nuts and seeds will begin the sprouting process, which bumps up their nutrient profile considerably. Nuts should only be soaked after they are removed from their shells. You'll notice that nuts without skins such as macadamias, cashews, or Brazil nuts don't have as much of the murky water residue, but soaking is still recommended for ease in blending and for nutritional purposes.
Soaking Instructions
Convinced you should be soaking your nuts and seeds? Great! Now you need to know how to soak your nuts before using them.
Soak your nuts and seeds anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 or 3 hours, or even overnight in the refrigerator. In general, harder nuts will take longer to soften. If your recipe calls for soaked nuts or seeds and you are low on time, try to squeeze in 20 minutes minimum, or just do a really good job rinsing them. Otherwise, plan ahead a bit and soak them overnight in your refrigerator in a glass container with an airtight lid. Soaking nuts in plastic is generally not recommended as plastic can leach into the water and into your food.
Many raw foodists will keep a variety of nuts and seeds soaking in their refrigerators at all times to have handy. If you do this, you'll want to change the soak water every couple of days so that the food doesn't spoil.
Why does soaking help? The phytates and enzyme inhibitors that make nuts and seeds so tricky to digest can be easily neutralized by soaking in salt water and low temperature dehydrating. The combination of minerals and heat works to break down irritating compounds, while preserving the beneficial fats and proteins.
Soaking nuts and seeds can activate enzymes, making them more easily digestible. It also helps neutralize enzyme inhibitors and reduces phytic acid content.
It is true that nuts contain phytic acid, or phytates, which can bind with minerals, making them unavailable to the body. But while soaking nuts in salted water may reduce phytic acid levels, the amount of phytates in nuts is too small to cause a mineral deficiency in either children or adults.
"Soaked almonds and walnuts are healthier than having them raw, because the process of soaking makes them more digestible and more easily absorbed in the body. So, all the nutrients and vitamins that they have, almost doubled up in the bio availability of those vitamins, when they are consumed soaked.
*Soaking your nuts reduces the chances of indigestion as the inhibitors like phytic acid and tannins are removed. *Additionally, soaking nuts helps us “appreciate the taste of nuts much better,” Garima mentioned. She suggested consuming up to 6-10 pieces of nuts every day.
For example, flax seeds turn into a mucilaginous goo in water, and brazil nuts don't always soak well due to their high fat content. Peanuts can also be soaked, however I didn't include them as they should be consumed sparingly due to inflammatory and allergenic potential.
By soaking the seed, it enables the new growth from the inside to push through the hard shell and grow. The seeds that could benefit from a good soaking include: corn, pumpkin, beans, chard, beets, and peas. The seeds you shouldn't soak include: carrots, lettuce, radish, celery, turnips, and spinach.
However, the expert said that soaked nuts are excellent sources of protein, fibre, vitamins, unsaturated fatty acids, and minerals. They can help to build immunity, prevent diseases, and strengthen the body.
Soak your nuts and seeds anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 or 3 hours, or even overnight in the refrigerator. In general, harder nuts will take longer to soften. If your recipe calls for soaked nuts or seeds and you are low on time, try to squeeze in 20 minutes minimum, or just do a really good job rinsing them.
Just make sure to rinse all nuts very well after they've been soaking, since the water they were bathing in is filled with the enzyme inhibitors that you wanted to get rid of in the first place.
Walnuts should be soaked because doing so makes them easier for the body to digest than eating them raw. The phytic acid found in nuts, which is reduced by soaking walnuts, contributes to increased absorption as well. Raw walnut digestion may be more difficult for those with weak gut.
The skin of almonds is difficult to digest, and therefore Ayurveda recommends soaking the almonds and peeling the skin to improve the digestibility of almonds. When you eat almonds without soaking and peeling off the skin, it will aggravate Pitta in the blood.
And although nuts are a healthy choice by themselves, they'll quickly become detrimental to any diet when paired with sugary or salty toppings or mixes.
Eating whole nuts is the best way to include nuts in your diet, especially if you eat them instead of other snacks like crisps or biscuits. Just make sure they are unsalted and don't have coatings, which can add sugar, fat and sometimes salt.
Pine nuts, sunflower seeds, watermelon seeds and pumpkin seeds are all seeds that need to be soaked. Their soaking method mimics how we soak nuts: For every 4 cups of raw seeds, cover with room temperature, filtered water by two inches, and 2 teaspoons sea salt. Stir well to dissolve the salt.
Almost all seeds can be pre-soaked, but it is large seeds, seeds with thick coats and wrinkled seeds that will benefit most. Small seeds benefit less and are difficult to handle when wet. Examples of seeds that benefit from soaking include peas, beets, cucumber, corn, squash, pumpkin and beans.
Soaking nuts and seeds break the protein down so that it can be assimilated better by your body. Soaking certain grains also helps break down very tough gluten. We recommend 6 to 8 hours of soaking for grains and legumes. It could also be 12 hours in warm water with a little salt.
While soaking almonds may provide some health benefits, it's not necessary or required before you eat them. Whether or not you choose to soak almonds is up to your preferences, health needs, and goals. Ultimately, it's better to eat the almonds rather than to worry too much about whether they were soaked or not.
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