Proper Nut Soaking Preparation

Did you know that nuts, seeds and beans have a natural coating on them called phytic acid? This creates a slip n slide of sorts in your digestive tract when eaten and prohibits the body from absorbing nutrition. When you soak these properly it removes that acid and encourages the body to properly utilize the nutrients from the food you’re eating. Most people can tolerate beans (without stomach upset or gas) when they are properly prepared and soaked (you could even take it a step further and sprout them)!

How to soak them

You want to add another acid to remove this coating. Some ideas would be real salt, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar etc.

Soaking Times

Although different nuts absorb and soak at different times, a good rule of thumb is to soak everything for a good 24 hours. I try to make it simple and all encasing. When I soak nuts, I’m usually doing multiple kinds of nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts) by large, bulk sized bags at a time. However, I would only suggest doing this if you intend to eat the nuts immediately or have the ability to also dehydrate (or dry) that same amount of nuts after proper soaking.

Nuts	Soaking Times	Estimated Dehydrating Time
Almonds	12 hours	15 hours
Brazil Nuts	12 hours	18 hours
Cashews	6 hours	15 hours
Hazelnuts	8 hours	12 hours
Macadamia Nuts	4 hours	12 hours
Pecans	8 hours	12 hours
Pine Nuts	8 hours	12 hours
Walnuts	8 hours	12 hours
*Seeds	4-8 hours	8 hours