In the Kitchen - Sprouting Nuts

"Nuts and Berries".. Forever known to be the food of many civilizations and the forager's paradise. Filled with healthy fats, proteins, and many essential vitamins and minerals, there are a variety of nuts on the market to choose from.
Did you know that the commercially roasted variety are not as healthy for you as they could be? Roasted nuts in oven temperatures of over 170 degrees will cause the good heart healthy fats in nuts to break down, in some cases drastically reducing the good Omega 3 fats and can release free radicals that can actually cause tiny injuries in your arterial walls, leading to more plaque and cardiac disease. Most commercially roasted nuts are done in high temperature environments.
There are also enzyme inhibitors in raw nuts. These inhibitors are what prevents the nut (a seed) from germinating on the shelf (the wrong conditions). These enzyme inhibitors also inhibit the natural enzymes in your gut from doing the job they are intended to do.. which is digest and utilize the nutrients in your food. These enzyme inhibitors combined with tannins found in most nuts are what can cause some people to have gastrointestinal issues when eating nuts.
But there is a way to have your nuts and eat them too! I love to snack on nuts and use them in baking. If you visit a "health food" store like Whole Foods you will find a premium nut for sale there called "Sprouted nut". I was intrigued by this new food so I did some research for myself and began sprouting my own raw nuts. Here is a picture of some nuts sprouting on my counter.

I start with whole (or at least large pieces) of raw nuts. I love cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds to name the ones I have sprouted thus far. When I get the nuts home I place them in a jar and rinse them several times with cool water. Once rinsed, I leave them in cool salted water for many hours, soaking them. Rinse them every 8 hours or so and replace the water in which they soak. Once they have soaked for an adequate amount of time, you can roast them in a very low temperature oven or dehydrate them to remove the moisture.
What will this accomplish, you ask? You will be surprised at how very dirty and brown your water becomes as you rinse and soak your nuts. This is due to the tannins getting leached out while the nut is soaking. This also allows the nut seed to think it is about to germinate and releases the enzyme inhibitors. Now instead of inhibitors, the nuts are filled with healthy living enzymes and they become smoother, cleaner, milder flavored, and much better for your health and digestion. By refraining from heating them above 170 degrees, you also preserve the good heart-healthy fats and all nutrients in the nuts.
You may notice after soaking them for 6 + hours that some of them become "swollen" at their pointy little ends or even begin to look as if they have grown a little appendage. This is normal and even desirable, as it means the germination process is begun and the little nut has once again become a "live" nutritious food.
Everyone who has come to my home recently has tried my sprouted nuts and LOVED the mild smooth clean flavor that they have. It is easy to sprout nuts and much better for you to do it! That may be why they sell for over $15 per pound at the health stores.
One final note on sprouting nuts is when sprouting cashews. Cashews should not soak more than 6 hours... other nuts can soak for much longer and it seems the longer you soak them the better they taste. The other nuts I have soaked have been soaked around 12- 18 hours before roasting or dehydrating. Just make sure they are completely dry and crunchy before storage so that they keep well. They keep longest in the freezer but also can be kept in the refrigerator for freshness. I keep mine right on the counter in glass jars for easy access to healthy snacking because they don't stay around for too long!