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.
My friend was testing the enzyme theory and decided to rehydrate sunflower seeds at 180 degrees for 12 hours and then planted them and they did grow sprouts. So if it is still able to produce a plant, I am guessing the seed is still intact.
I enjoyed this video and the problem I had with raw almonds were they were so hard when I tried to eat them in the past. That caused me to stop eating them, even tho they are a good source of nutrition. Now I know that raw nuts are not as nutritious as soaked and dried nuts, I may give them another try. I broke a tooth on another food in 2011 and had to have it pulled which really hurt in more ways than one.
I was disapointed to see a Dupont ad with this video for a fungicide, but I guess you can’t control what ads are placed on your videos..
I heard about soaking the almonds but never got around to it because it didn’t sound appetizing to me, but I wonder if soaking them and drying them make them easier to eat as far as how hard they are?
Most definitely soaking and drying can make for a more tender almond. Just don’t dry them to rock hard. I much prefer almond that are not dried so hard. You do have to be aware that if they aren’t dry enough they can become moldy – in which case it’s put most of them in the freezer and just keep a few in the frig.
My Excalibur dehydrator’s manual/directions for dehydrating soaked nuts is to use a temperature of 145 for two or three hours and then to reduce the temperature to below 120 for the balance of the time. The manual states that the actual FOOD temperature of the wet nuts stays low enough to not destroy the enzymes for the first several hours even though the dehydrator is at 145. I find that after an overnight salt water soaking, nuts that are dehydrated following this method are dehydrated by the evening. They are gently warm when removed from the 115 dehydrator (the temp I use), I let them cool overnight, and then I freeze them the following morning.
The Excalibur manual states that this is the best way to preserve the enzymes and overcome the potential of spoilage or bacteria growth according to Ann Wigmore and Viktoras Kulvinskas. They also cite work performed by Dr Edward Howell (temps above 140 destroy enzymes) but he also advocates for use of a 118 FOOD temp.
Oh my goodness, who ever knew that drying nuts could be such a “heated” topic!? I had to laugh reading the comments with the intensity that came through…especially the one about “losing credibility over it.” Sarah, thanks for going out on the ledge over such a controversial issue. (She says, cheekily.) You are not only credible, but you are incredible for taking a stand for what you believe, raising your family, and setting an example for so many to follow. Keep up the great work!
The temperature of the nuts once they are finished is probably far less than the oven temperature it is cooked at.
In other words, just cooking it at 150 is very unlikely to cause the temperature of the nuts to be 150.
For example, I roast chicken in the oven at 400 degrees, but the chicken is at the temperature of 160 – 170 after about an hour of roasting.
A local farm sells milk “low-vat pasteurized”… 145 degrees F for 30 minutes. Their website unashamedly advertises that the enzymes are intact. How can we know FOR SURE whether they are there or not?
That’s moist heat, so over ~118 the enzymes would suffer.
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon explains all about soaking nuts. I soak brazil nuts in sea salt about 6 hours and then drain and dry in my warming oven at 150 or less overnight and until they are dry. They taste better and are better for you! Try it!
Jean
Sarah,
Could you give some guidance on Brazil nuts? One of the recent presenters at the Real Food Summit was talking about their nutritive value, but when I read online about whether or not they should be soaked first, I get conflicting information. If they do need to be soaked first and dried, what are the parameters for doing so? Thank you.
“All enzymes are deactivated at a wet-heat temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit, and a dry-heat temperature of about 150 degrees.”
I hadn’t even read that post yet; however, this quote does say that enzymes are deactivated at a temp of about 150 degrees. Yet this is the temp you are using, so I’d assume the enzymes are being deactivated, maybe if you were using 130 or 140 at dry heat? But 150 looks like it is deactivated if you take that quote as accurate.
I agree with JIm.
I don’t understand. If food enzymes are deactivated “at a dry-heat temperature of about 150 degrees,” then why would you heat your nuts up to 150 degrees? Doesn’t 150 degrees qualify as “about 150 degrees”? Wouldn’t you heat them up to 147 or 148 to be safe? Why would you pick the exact degree around which you expect the enzymes to be deactivated?
You dry them to your liking. Ideally as you get closer to the desired dryness you reduce the heat (turn off the heat and leave oven light on),
To get an idea of what happens to the wet nut in the oven, think of taking a very wet washcloth outside on the very hot day. Shake it around in the breeze and it will feel very cool. It will have to dry considerably before it begins to feel warm.
The oven temperature isn’t the same as the temperature of the food. As Stanley Fishman pointed out, you can roast a chicken at 400 degrees or more until it’s done, which is about 160 degrees internal temperature.