My whole family likes to snack on nuts. Thankfully they are good for us (read about why this is true below), and this recipe from Nourishing Traditions is an easy way to make them even more nutritious.
Crispy Nuts
Mix together in a glass bowl:
- 4 cups pecans, almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, walnuts or even pumpkin seeds (I do pecans, almonds & peanuts most often) – NOTE: you can also use cashews, but only soak those for 6 hours.
- 1 T. sea salt
- Enough water to cover
Stir and leave on the counter overnight, at least 7 hours. Drain well in a colander and spread onto a buttered cookie sheet (4 cups are just right for one cookie sheet). Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake at 150* for 24 hours, depending on how crispy you like them. I keep them in the freezer (freezer baggie) and they are good for months. These are great to have on hand for a quick healthy snack, for school lunches, or for recipes.
NOTE: Unfortunately my oven only goes down to 170*, so I was told in this case the phytic acid is still broken down, but any enzymes will be cooked off (so in that case, I may as well bake them at a bit higher temp for less time in the oven to save energy). If you have an oven that goes down to 150* or a dehydrator, that’s much better, but soaked nuts are still MUCH preferred to unsoaked. As a matter of fact, if I eat regular nuts now (I ate them by mistake recently), I get a terrible stomach ache.
photo by macinateWhy are these healthier than just eating a handful of any old nuts?
Nuts contain phytic acid, which binds with minerals (calcium, magnesium, iron, etc.) and prevents them from being absorbed by our bodies. The same is true for all grains, here’s more information on soaking, sprouting or fermenting whole grains to make them more nutritious. Nuts also contain something called enzyme inhibitors – read more about that at Kimi’s post.
An example of a great snack would be nuts and cheese – you would be getting healthy fats, good protein, and all the calcium in the cheese can be absorbed and used by your body. (Note: raw cheese would be even better – then the healthy enzymes and all the nutrients in the cheese are still intact!)
NOTE: my sister in law loves eating raw almonds for the high vitamin E content. I did some checking to see if this recipe would destroy the vitamin E. Looks like vitamin E is fairly heat stable! It is destroyed with higher heat (frying, deep frying, etc.), but can withstand lower levels of heat well.
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More on the benefits of soaking nuts & seeds
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This recent article explains the various health benefits of eating nuts
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Lynn 02.24.08 at 8:08 pm
Kelly – your blog is truly a gem. Whenever I pop in I can read something interesting and be inspired to post. Speaking of nuts – almonds are arguably Nature’s perfect food. I might argue that milk is, but almonds rank right up there. My favorite breakfast for the past few years has been coffee/cocoa/cream & maple syrup sipped with a dozen raw soaked (3 days) whole almonds. This is nearly to sprouting and neutralizes the inhibitors you speak of above. As a person eats more nutrient-dense foods, quantity ceases to be necessary, I’ve found. Besides, my hips don’t need any more for breakfast – I spend too much time at the computer terminal to eat much more.
Lynn
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Kelly 02.25.08 at 4:18 am
Lynn,
I have the same issue of sitting way too much at this computer. I’ve been keeping an eye on the scales since I began working on this blog last fall, and I also TRY to watch my portions…OK, and also my sweets consumption! But like you said, nuts are a great, quick, healthy snack when I don’t want to sit down to a full meal.
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Amy 04.04.08 at 11:41 am
Hi there, my oven won’t go below 170, BUT it has a “keep warm” function that I used to make these….just a thought
Keep up the great work – what I great site!
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Kelly 04.04.08 at 12:39 pm
Thanks Amy, and I wish MY oven had a “keep warm” feature!
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Sonia 05.30.08 at 7:55 am
I used almonds and walnut and they were delicious! This even helped eliminate the bitter flavor that walnuts tend to have. Has anyone made a sweetened version?
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 05.31.08 at 4:55 am
Look what I just found!!
(You’ll have to cut and paste.)
http://cooking.glassbrian.com/2008/01/18/maple-pecans/
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M 09.26.08 at 7:08 am
I am a big fan as well…unfortunately my little guy is allergic to peanuts and walnuts. A very healthy snack indeed though!
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 09.26.08 at 8:42 am
Hello M,
We all LOVE the pecans the best, the kids included. You could try those instead.
Kelly
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Joy 06.12.09 at 9:28 pm
Could you use a dehydrator instead of an oven?
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Kelly 06.14.09 at 1:29 am
Hi Joy,
YES! A dehydrator is even better because you can adjust your temp so that the enzymes aren’t destroyed when drying them! (Under 150* I believe.)
Kelly
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Nancy 07.02.09 at 5:08 am
What about cashews? Do they have to be soaked too?
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Kelly 07.02.09 at 7:41 am
Hi Nancy!
Yes, but with cashews they are only soaked for 6 hours or they’ll get slimy. (Per Nourishing Traditions.)
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Kirstin 09.22.09 at 8:48 pm
Kelly — I’ve been looking hard for clarity on whether one must use raw nuts in crispy nuts recipes. Nourishing Traditions doesn’t provide the answer. Raw nuts are more expensive — and raw organic nuts are even worse on price. But if one buys organic nuts that have already been “processed” (i.e. heated) in some way…will the phytic acid still be largely eliminated by soaking? I end up grinding crispy nuts and using in baking a lot anyway….so I’m often going to lose the enzymes anyway….your thoughts or research on this???? Kirstin
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KitchenKop 09.22.09 at 9:14 pm
Kirstin,
You’ve caught me smack in the middle of trying to figure out all this about nuts, too. I want to make my own nut butters, but didn’t have good luck with peanuts, so I planned to try almonds. Now I can’t figure out what to buy or where to buy them, and Kimi’s recent post (http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/09/q-a-should-we-soak-almond-flour.html) only confused me more! When I have a chance to do more research on this and figure it all out, I’ll do a post on it then. I’m buried right now so it may be a while! In the meantime, if you figure anything else out, let me know, OK?
Kelly
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Sally 02.13.10 at 10:18 am
I haven’t tried Crispy Nuts yet for a couple reasons. I’ve been confused on what kind of nuts (raw, organic, unpasteurized…?) to buy and the expense of buying them if they are all of these things. Also my oven won’t go below 170, but that seems to be okay, other than the loss of enzymes. The biggest problem then is what to buy and where to buy it. Organic Pastures sells unpasteurized almonds on-line, but are other nuts unpasteurized? It appears it’s legal to label nuts “raw” when they are pasteurized. Still searching for answers, too…
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KitchenKop 02.13.10 at 10:33 am
Sally,
I know what you mean, this whole thing is confusing for sure. Since my oven only goes down to 170* I don’t worry about whether the nuts are raw or pasteurized, but someday when I get a dehydrator, I’ll look into this more. (And then figure out which nuts are *really* raw and which aren’t – that whole thing makes me crazy. I’m sure the ones at Organic Past. are really raw, but I’m guessing they’re super pricey especially when shipping across the U.S. is figured in, so I’ll track down a local source.)
I rarely spend the money on organic nuts, either, so basically I just buy the nuts in bulk at my local health food store and soak those.
Kelly
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