Soaking or Sprouting Nuts and Seeds Tarilee

Nuts and seeds are beautiful, nutrient-rich foods yet, unless they are carefully prepared they can be difficult to digest, especially when they are roasted or baked. Nuts and seeds that are soaked and sprouted are much easier to digest, even, to some degree, if they are still cooked afterwards. All nuts are essentially seeds, (that is, they can germinate into a plant), so we will refer to them as seeds for this discussion.

When seeds are soaked, the germination process that initiates life is begun. Some plants, whose seeds make ‘yummy’ eating for animals, have evolved with a digestion-inhibiting coating that is designed to increase their chances of survival into a plant. However, once the seed comes in contact with water, the digestion-inhibiting coating is deactivated. The process of life and growth has begun. The proteins and starches begin the transformation into a living plant and thus have become more digestible.

Only raw, unpasteurized seeds and nuts will sprout when soaked. Because of changing mass-production industry standards, almonds, more than most nuts, have become difficult to find in a truly raw form. They are being pasteurized and or irradiated before shipping. The good news is that there are specialty raw food retailers who can insure you access to truly raw, sproutable almonds. Following are a few simple steps to successfully sprouting your raw nuts and seeds.

1-Rinse
2-Soak in a glass or stainless steel bowl. (from 4 to 8 hours depending on the size of seed)
3-Drain and rinse
4-Cover. Leave bowl at room temperature and rinse twice a day.
5- The minimum growth you’re looking for is the ‘tail’ just peeking out from the end of the seed and the maximum growth is a ‘tail’ that is up to a ¼ as long as the seed.
5-Rinse and refrigerate for up to five days. They will grow a bit more once in fridge but will slow down a lot.) To maintain freshness, continue rinsing once a day.

In their sprouted form, they are great in salads, pestos, spreads, dressings and smoothies or living muesli. Some people like to season them and dehydrate them till they are crispy, sometimes even in the form of granola bars or crackers! They make great snacks and salad toppings too!


Instructions for Sprouting Quinoa or buckwheat Tarilee

1-Rinse and rub grain to remove anti-digestive coating.
2-Soak overnight or for 8-12 hours in glass, ceramic or stainless steel bowl
3-Drain and rinse well in a sieve with appropriate sized holes
4-Cover and leave at room temperature until the tails are the desired length (a quarter to half of the length of seed.)
5-Rinse by filling grain bowl with water and stirring. Then pour sprouts into sieve and further rinse them with running water. 5-Refrigerate for up to five days. To sustain freshness, rinse once a day. They will grow a bit more once in fridge but will slow down a lot.
6 If you wish to eat it raw, it is versatile in it’s simple sprout form. Use in salads, smoothies, breakfast mixes, raw crackers and cookies etc.
7 Cook if desired- Sprouted quinoa takes just a few minutes. It is cooked once it’ becomes clear except for the little white ‘doughnut’ around it. -.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tarilee,