Delving into Traditional Eating for the first time inevitably uncovers the fact that modern methods for preparing grains and legumes can be extremely damaging to health over the long term particularly if numerous servings of these foods are consumed on a daily basis as recommended by conventional dietitians and nutritionists.
Even if you take the time and care to make your own bread at home with freshly ground grain, if you do not follow the centuries-old traditions for eliminating anti-nutrients and maximizing the nutrition in the grain prior to baking, you could, in fact, be doing yourself and your family more harm than good.
In the video below which I filmed as part of a Beginner Video Series for the Weston A. Price Foundation, I show you the basics for soaking grains and legumes so that you can enjoy these wonderful foods in your home and experience health benefits from doing so rather than health depletion.
Following these guidelines makes food more digestible and more nutritious as vitamins and minerals become more bioavailable.
As a huge bonus, preparing grains properly results in more satisfaction per bite. This translates into easier portion control which makes eating less and losing weight more attainable.
For a complete transcript of this video which is translatable into any language, click here.
Soaking Grains and Legumes Video How-To
This lesson describes the very important traditional practice of soaking legumes and grains. Note that in the past few years, the use of chickpea cooking water, called aquafaba, has become popular in vegan circles.
Note that while legumes are a traditional food, using the cooking water as an egg replacement is not. In fact, it is quite dangerous to gut health as it is loaded with anti-nutrients.
So enjoy your legumes and grains, but be sure to toss the soaking and cooking water!
More Information on Soaking
These articles contain more information on soaking once you get the hang of grains:
- How to soak raw nuts
- Soaking raw seeds
- How to soak beans before cooking
- Soaked lentils
- Does white rice need soaking?
Hi Sarah
Can I ask why when you soak oatmeal you dont recommend whey as one of the options to soak it in but do for wheat/spelt flour
You can use whey to soak oatmeal if you like. Lemon juice, cider vinegar, and whey are all interchangeable as they all add acid to the soaking solution which is the goal of the process to break down the antinutrients and make nutrients more available for digestion.
I think lemon juice adds a nice refreshing flavor. I actually like it.
I agree! I actually like the flavor soaking in water/lemon juice gives to waffles!
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Does the vinegar make the final product taste different? I have used buttermilk to soak pancakes, but I am afraid to try the vinegar. What do you think?
Yes, the taste is affected somewhat but no different than if you soaked in yogurt. I think the flavor is improved.
Hi Sarah,
I too have similar questions to others based on what Ramiel Nagel has stated. Is there any validity to his statements as he seems to think it is almost impossible to reduce the phytic acid in oatmeal and that other grains must be soaked much longer than 7 hours as well as sifted. I grind and then sift my spelt but sometimes am not sure if I am actually sifting out the chaff or just small parts of the flour I just ground? Does sprouting grains (including corn) reduce the phytic acid enough so you don’t have to soak? One last question, you mentioned rolled oats. If I buy my oats already rolled won’t they be rancid since they aren’t in the whole form anymore? Sorry to bombard you with so many questions. It’s just that I was following NT to prepare our grains and then I went to a talk with Ramiel Nagle and read his book and felt really discouraged. He still seemed unsure on alot of things, mainly how to prepare oats and I was unclear as to where he got his facts. I love your site and am so grateful for how much work you’ve put into it and I trust and admire your opinion grealty. Any advice would be greatlyl apprcietaed!
From what Rami told me directly in a one on one conversation at the last Wise TRaditions Conference, soaking in water plus acidic medium does reduce phytic acid considerably. I wrote a post about this awhile back called “Whole Grains Cause Cavities?”
Thanks Sarah. Also can I purchase oats already rolled or will they go rancid if not rolled fresh? We haven’t had rolled oats in a long time as I was concernd about them being rancid but we sure would love to have them again!
Just buy them in airtight bags or buckets and not out of bins exposed to the air and you should be fine.
Video: Proper Preparation of Grains and Legumes – The Healthy Home Economist
http://ow.ly/6AGZo
Hi Sarah,
I’m a bit confused about acid mediums for soaking. According to several sources, too much calcium will prevent phytic acid from being broken down, so that would mean buttermilk and yogurt would not work. On the other hand, my understanding is that some societies traditionally used soured milk products for soaking grains, and I like to err on the side of what we know has worked in the past to maintain good health. Can you shed any light on this? Is there any evidence that soaking with yogurt and buttermilk will actually reduce phytic acid?
A really nicely done video, Sarah!
I have a question: Whatever happened to the argument raised by Rami Nagl that it’s not really possible to reduce phytic acid very much and that people are much better off avoiding foods that have it? Am I misstating his contention? Do studies show that the soaking techniques you showed make a big difference in phytic acid?
Soaking with a very watery soaking medium such as what I show in the video does reduce phytic acid significantly. Soaking in yogurt or kefir does not apparently.
What about the Nourishing Traditions pancake recipe of soaking the grain in kefir? We have been using this method for some time, so what are your thoughts? We really like 100% buckwheat soaked in kefir for pancakes. Gluten free and the best pancakes in the world, hands down! 😉
Nickole
We also used to soak in yogurt for many years, but Rami Nagel’s cutting edge research in this area is suggesting that soaking with more liquid is better such as what happens with water and an acidic medium such as cider vinegar, whey, or lemon juice. His research is simply taking wise NT suggestions to a new level.
Hi Dan,
I soak my steel cut oats. I soak them in a 1:1:2x ratio (1 part steel cut oats : 1 part water : add my part amounts to arrive at the number of Tablespoons of acid needed). For my family of 5, I’ll soak 3 cups of oats in 3 cups water and 6 T of lemon juice or cider vinegar (plenty for leftovers, which I just keep in the fridge). I do that in the morning and leave it until the next morning and rinse the oats until the water runs clear. Then I cook them in a 1:1 soaked oats to water mixture. Boil the water first, add the oats, and as soon as the oats are boiling, back it off to simmer and leave it there for about 3-5 minutes.
I’ll also make a huge batch of the steel cut oats to use for cold cereal. I do the same 24 hour soak as above, except that I dry them instead of cooking. After rinsing, I spread them all out on a jelly roll pan (or 2) and put them in the oven at about 200*F for several hours until they’re all dried out. Stir once or twice when drying. When that’s done, I put them in a pyrex dish and store it in the pantry. We really miss cold cereal, so this is a good comfort food for us.
I have no idea if I’m doing this the right way or not, but I can’t believe how much better my belly feels doing it this way. No pain or bloating, which is a nice change for me.
Sarah, thank you for addressing gluten intolerance in this video. I think that’s an issue for me, and I was thrilled to hear about how I can still prepare grains in a way that my body will tolerate.
Great video, Sarah. You are getting more and more comfortable on camera, and it shows. Good for you! And, good for us with all the excellent information.
A natural actress I am most definitely not! LOL
So many people have it all wrong. Thanks for sharing.