Are we nuts? Activated Nuts? Yes indeed! Nuts contain something called enzyme inhibitors, which prevent them from sprouting prematurely. Unfortunately for us, these enzyme inhibitors prevent us from getting all the wonderful nutritious benefits from the nuts, and tend to strain our digestive systems. And, as most of you already know, there is quite enough strain on our digestive systems already.
In an attempt to neutralise these inhibitors, and help encourage the production of beneficial enzymes, which in turn makes the nuts easier to digest and nutrients more absorbable, we put them through the process of soaking and drying, i.e. activating them.
Other than being much lighter on the digestion (which you will definitely notice if you have ever felt slight digestive distress after consuming raw nuts), we have also found that activating our nuts improves the flavour greatly! Try it out!
Activated Nuts
Ingredients
- 4 cups nuts
- 1 tablespoon Himalayan salt
- Warm water
Instructions
- Put the nuts and salt in a big bowl and cover with warm water. Make sure that you add a bit more water as the nuts will swell out and you might end up with the top level no longer covered in the water.
- Cover with a cloth and leave to soak (not refrigerated) for 7 hours for almonds & macadamia nuts, for 12 hours for walnuts & pecan nuts and for 6 hours for cashew nuts (no longer as they might get slimy).
- After soaked, drain the nuts in a colander and rinse with clean water.
- In your dehydrator: Dry at temperature no higher than 65C for 12-24 hrs.
- In your oven: Dry at temperature no higher than 65C for 12-24 hrs. Be sure to use the fan setting and put a fork or tablespoon in the oven door for the moisture to escape and prevent nuts from baking.