My article and video on soaking raw nuts caused a bit of a stir with readers. Nothing new for this blog, as challenging the status quo is something that happens regularly in these parts!
In that video, I demonstrate how to properly soak raw nuts in brine water and then dry them in a warm oven set at 150 °F/66 °C.
This practice deactivates anti-nutrients and ensures maximum digestibility and nutrient absorption and is in accordance with the wise preparation methods of Traditional Cultures like the Aztecs.
Numerous comments on the post itself, my YouTube Channel, email, and Facebook have insisted that drying nuts at 150 °F/66 °C is far too high and that the food enzymes are destroyed.
So, what’s the truth?  Are nuts dried in a warm oven set at 150 °F/66 °C still raw or not?
The confusion seems to rest with the difference between wet heat and dry heat. When a liquid food like milk is heated, you will find that you burn your finger at a temperature of 118 °F/48 °C.
If the milk is heated only to 117 °F/47 °C, you will not burn yourself and this is nature’s magical way of letting us know that the food still has all of its enzymes intact. Hence, low temp or vat pasteurized milk heated to 145 °F/63 °C is still just as dead as regularly pasteurized milk heated to 160+ °F, despite rumors to the contrary. This is true even if it is non-homogenized, aka “cream top” milk.
Food enzymes and probiotics withstand dry heat much better than wet heat. According to food scientist Dr. Mary Enig, she writes in this article:
All enzymes are deactivated at a wet-heat temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit, and a dry-heat temperature of about 150 degrees [66 °C].
It is one of those happy designs of nature that foods and liquids at 117 degrees [47 °C] can be touched without pain, but liquids over 118 degrees [48 °C] will burn. Thus we have a built-in mechanism for determining whether or not the food we are eating still contains its enzyme content.
I hope this information clears up the confusion about drying raw nuts in the oven and whether or not the food enzymes are still intact. It is especially important to harness the convenience of drying large batches of raw food in the oven as not everyone has access to or can afford a large dehydrator.
If you are still unconvinced, dry out a batch of soaked nuts in a 150 °F/66 °C oven and then eat a handful straight out of the oven. You will be delighted to see that the nuts are not hot and that you do not burn your hand or mouth, an indication that the food enzymes are indeed preserved.
By the way, stainless steel dehydrators are much safer to use than plastic ones if you choose to go that route.
What about the temperature when you put the wet nuts in the oven? If they are wet when they go in a 150 degree oven, won’t the temperature exceed 118 for a short period until they dry out? (Stated in your article that all enzymes are deactivated at a wet heat temp. of 118.)
Thanks, I enjoy your website!
Stick your hand in there while they are still damp and you will see that they never get hot to the touch. I stick my hand in there and turn the nuts over and never feel any discomfort.
Thanks, Sarah!
Interesting!!
Thanks for the article!
This is simply an illustration of heat transfer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer
This makes perfect sense! Thanks so much for the great info, Sarah!
Also to remember, heat doesn’t just kill some enzymes, it also activates other ones… 🙂
My oven only goes down to 170. I do have a dehydrator tho.
My oven also only goes down to 170 on bake. It took me three years to figure out that if I put it on “warm” I can go down to 140.
check your manual. you may be able to set it lower after an adjustment.
I’m a long time reader of this blog. Big fan. Lately I’m finding more and more superstitious thinking that is taking away from all the good info you put out.
I trust Mary Eng as a source, so I’m assuming the temperatures given are accurate. But anyone knows that some people are more sensitive to heat than other. My friend an I always laugh about how she tries to pick up a hot item and feels as though it’s burning while I can hold it indefinitely with no problem. Of course 117 isn’t ok while 118 is too hot to handle. For whom?
This just takes away from your credibility. Sarah, I hope you get back on track. As that Dragnet guy used to say, just the facts ma’am.
I’m with Jo. Water gets to be uncomfortable to the point of thinking it is pain at about 100, 110 is painful, I’m sure 117 is very painful and I’m sure if you stay in contact with it for more then a moment or two it is going to do damage to your skin. To say, or even quote someone as an authority, that 117 won’t hurt but 118 will burn seems to, as Jo says, takes away from your crediblity.
What I want to know is how do “they” and by extention you, know? What tests can be done to prove enzymes are still viable at what stages? who would do this? and a solid object in a heated environment takes a while before the internal temp gets up that high (think cooking a piece of meat) so are the enzymes on the outside dead while the enzymes in the center still good? and if so is that ‘enough’?
oh so many questions.
and by asking the questions we learn.
Amazing! God designed us in an amazing way to have that built in gauge. Great info Sarah.
Yeah, it’s amazing if you don’t test it.
Indeed, God is amazing! Jesus is His name!!!
There is no God and Jesus is as fictional as Spiderman.
@Hollywood, this is a food/wellness blog. Do you really find it necessary to make a statement like that here? If you’re so anti-God/anti-Jesus, why not find a blog of the same nature and comment about deity to your heart’s content? And let those of us who just want to read and comment about food enjoy this space that is supposed to be dedicated to just that. So not classy.
Thanks, Lindsey!
Lindsey – that comment needed a ‘like’ button 🙂
To be fair, I do have to say that Debbie V’s comment about how God is amazing is just as off-topic as Hollywood’s – why is that ok? I agree, let’s just read and comment about food – leave God out of it completely –
There is no Hollywood, it is all fantasy.
Like.
Great post! Thank you for learning me something cool 🙂
Can you tell me your source for the information that if you dont get burned you havent destroyed the enzymes? Just want to see the source of this info, Thanks
Thanks Sarah! I’ve been wondering about that because I have heard that the drying temperature has to be below 118 but just read in the Nourishing Traditions to use 150 oven.