Now, I don’t want you to get too personal, let’s stick to the nuts we buy in a shop 😉
I have to be honest, I don’t remember whom to give credit for this chart. I found it a few years ago on the internet and just copied it. I hope the author will foregive me!
I use this chart regularly, it is a great help. Although I do soak most nuts just overnight, seeds and grains I always check.
What are activated nuts? Basically, they are nuts that have been soaked.
Nuts are great, they are healthy and versatile. You can add them to any dish or have them as a snack, you can spice them or eat them plain.
There is a little trick to them though, and that is phytic acid. Phytic acid is an enzyme inhibitor, which means, it is to prevent nuts and seeds from sprouting under unfavourable conditions. There has to be enough moisture and light, for instance. It is a clever system, nature doesn’t want to let seeds go to waste 🙂 Once these conditions are there, as in, the nuts have fallen on the ground and find the soil nice and moist and the weather is right, or, you put your nuts in a bowl with filtered water on your kitchen bench, the phytic acid is deactivated and therefore the sprouting process can begin. You don’t have to see a tail appearing, give it 4-12 hours (depending per nut, see chart) and inside the nuts (or seeds) the enzymes are being released and sprouting begins.
Now why activate your nuts? 1) Because phytic acid interferes with the absorption of certain minerals. So you may be eating your healthy nuts, at the same time you don’t get the most out of them, and they will also interfere with other foods in your stomach. Of course, if you eat some nuts once a week, it won’t matter much, but if they are part of your diet every day, then it will matter.
2) Because when sprouted, all enzymes are released and they are outrageously good for us.
How do you go about it? Well, there are a few ways: you can soak your nuts (raw! No point soaking roasted nuts, as no sprouting will happen) and eat them straight away, all moist. Eat them like that or use them in dishes, make nut mylk, or blend with a bit of water into a nut cream (like Cashew Cream). You can also soak them straight away when you’ve bought them, and dehydrate them at 46C max., until they are crisp. I dehydrate them for about 24 hours, roughly. Keep them in a jar so you have them at hand when you need them.
If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can use your oven, but you want to make sure you don’t go over the 46C mark, as you want to keep enzymes alive. Some ovens go as low as 50C. You could check if that really is so, and if too hot, leave the oven door open slightly. However, it will take a long time, and personally I wouldn’t walk out of the door with the oven door open, just a feeling 😉
This is what I do with walnuts, pecans, almonds and hazelnuts. Dehydrated nuts are incredible yummy and crisp, and personally, I find them a lot nicer to my stomach.
