Activated nuts simply means that the nuts have been soaked in water and salt for an extended period, after which they are dried at low temperatures in a regular oven or a dehydrator.
Soaking increases the nutritional value of the nuts while this method neutralizes enzyme inhibitors and makes the nuts easier to digest.
This is especially important for people who experience digestive problems.
Many who are allergic to, for example, walnuts find that they can eat activated walnuts. Interesting, isn’t it?
Step-by-step: How to activate nuts
1. Rinse the nuts (or seeds). 2. Place them in a bowl or glass jar. 3. Cover the nuts with room temperature water (more water than nuts). 4. Add some sea salt (about one tablespoon of sea salt per liter of water). 5. Cover the bowl with a linen/kitchen towel so they can "breathe". 6. Avoid direct sunlight. 7. Let sit for about 10-12 hours. Cashews, pine nuts, and macadamia only need to soak for about 2 to a maximum of 4 hours, otherwise they become "slimy". 8. Drain the water using a colander. 9. Rinse the nuts thoroughly. 10. If you want, you can now easily remove the skins by "scrubbing" the nuts in a kitchen towel. 11. Then dry the nuts in the oven at 40-50 degrees Celsius, spread them out on a baking sheet and place in the middle of the oven or put them in a dehydrator. It is important that they become completely dry – this can take about 4-5 hours in a regular oven and up to 12 hours in a dehydrator. They should be completely dry and crispy. 12. Of course, you can season the nuts with your favorite spices or with nutritional yeast, see the recipe below; this is done before drying the nuts.
Recipe: Vegan nut milk
Maybe you prefer to make nut milk?
You can easily do this in a powerful blender like, for example, Omniblend. You can also make delicious nut milk in a Soyabella. In the video below, Sara shows how it’s done.
1. Soak the nuts in water overnight. The water should cover the nuts.
2. Drain the water.
3. Put the nuts in the blender with cold water.
4. Blend. If you need to make it thinner, add more cold water.
5. If needed, strain the milk through a nut milk bag. This is most important with almonds. Some nuts don’t need to be strained, like cashews.
You can make milk from hemp, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pecans, cashews, sunflower seeds, etc.
