soaking my nuts

[human vegetable]

I hope the thread title got a few laughs. In "Becoming Raw", Brenda Davis suggests soaking nuts in water for several hours to improve nutrient availability. As this is a book about raw food, she obviously refers to raw (and possibly unshelled?) nuts.

I usually get my nuts from the supermarket - mostly the cheap stuff from the baking goods aisle (hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds). All of these are shelled and probably also heat-treated to prolong shelf life. Any idea whether soaking them still makes any sense?

[slodki]

yeah.
just because they are heated does not mean that they are less nutritional then "raw" nuts.
because nuts are hard to digest soaking them works to break down some of the structure of the nut prior to digestion.

[human vegetable]

slodki, thanks for your reply.

I'm not a "raw foodie", and reading Brenda's book has successfully destroyed any notion of a raw vegan diet being superior to a "conventional" vegan diet featuring only some raw products. Not sure whether that was intended, but she gives so many well-founded caveats against pure raw foodism that this conclusion is kind of inevitable after reading the book. I will give a short review after things have settled.

One of the things Brenda takes note of is that cooking legumes long enough is much more effective than soaking them for making nutrients more bioavailable. So I wonder whether soaking my supermarket nuts is even necessary if they have been heat-treated before - kind of like beating a dead horse?

[slodki]

heating a nut doesn't change the structure much. look at the difference between a raw egg and heated one. uncooked eggplant vs. raw. plus nuts are sometimes not roasted but rather flash pasteurized. i would soak them if your ultimate goal was to boost vitamin absorption!

[human vegetable]

Thanks slodki, I'll do as you recommended. I'm curious whether I'll notice any improvement of taste or texture along with the hoped-for improvement in nutrient quality.

[jparis]

I'm curious whether I'll notice any improvement of taste or texture

Regarding texture, I find almonds soaked overnight taste the same but are softer and more palatable.

[vegimator]

I just soaked a big bag of nuts and will be roasting them soon for homemade trail mix. Mmm, improved digestibility.

[pedalhead]

Almonds are delish when soaked for a few hours- it's the only way to get the kids to eat them.