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.
Hi Sarah – great article! I was just wondering, the only “raw” almonds I have been able to purchase are those that are flash pasteurized. Can these be sprouted and is it worth buying – are they still “raw”?
Aimee,
Hi, I’m not Sarah so can’t answer on same level of expertise but I was told by a sprouting company that being heat-treated (like pasturized almonds) means they won’t sprout well,
but soaking still is important to reduce anti-nutrients and make them more
easily digestible. I can’t find unpasteurized almonds either. Wonder why they are hard to find and why most companies pasteurize them.
Hi Debbie, Thank our government for that one. Despite strong objections, a law was passed a year or two ago requiring all almonds grown in the US to be either pasteurized or fumigated. Growers are still allowed to sell directly to consumers untreated nuts. This is one of the few benefits we have living in California. I can buy directly from growers at a local farmer’s market or at their farms. I’m not sure but I think they are also allowed to ship to individuals so you may want to do a web search. Ironically almonds brought in from other countries do not need to be treated so if you can find imported raw almonds they probably really are.
These sites have some raw almonds http://www.sunorganicfarm.com
http://shop.livingnutz.com/category.sc?categoryId=3
Thanks, I knew our government probably had something to do with this. Appreciate you taking the time to list the sites that carry raw almonds.
Truly raw almonds are difficult to find because most American almonds are grown in California where there is a law mandating their pasteurization. Almonds labeled as raw are only raw in the sense that they are not roasted. Unless you specifically ask the company or the almonds are certified organic- the most common way of meeting this law is for the nuts to be fumigated with propylene oxide (a banned racing fuel- yum yum!). Organic domestic almonds are steam pasteurized. You can get truly raw domestic almonds by buying direct from a farm- and unless you actually live in CA, this means ordering online, but there are some companies that say they are farmers selling raw almonds when in fact they are selling steam pasteurized nuts. So look at reviews and be sure you trust your source! Imported almonds are not subject to the California pasteurization law and so it is also possible to purchase truly raw imported almonds.
You can get truly raw almonds from Organic Pastures – Mcafee Farms – if you purchase directly from his “On Farm” store.
Thanks for this information. Just still a bit curious. Why is there a law requiring them to be pasteurized? Was there a problem with come kind of illness that caused this law to come about?
The USDA mandate was passed to eliminate any pathogens that may be present on the almonds. I don’t recall anyone ever having gotten ill from raw almonds but then again I have long since given up trying to make any sense out of government rules and regulations. Organic Pastures has some good info on current “raw” almonds and real raw almonds.
In addition to making it difficult for health conscious individuals to obtain a healthy product, this mandate has put a huge financial strain on small growers which most of the organic growers are. In my opinion this was the whole purpose of the law, to eliminate the competition of small producers.
I changed my diet several years ago due to a Lupus diagnosis. If I ate any nuts, especially walnuts, raw or processed from the store, the inside of my mouth would sting and little bumps would swell. I tried this method and now I can eat them to my heart’s content. Something for the better changes in them, for my body anyway. I loved the study on Pork that was done to show if you marinate it, it doesn’t trigger inflammation – maybe they will be able to do that with nuts as well. Either way, I trust this method. My oven’s lowest temp is 170, but I heat it to that temp, turn it off, and turn the light bulb on – then I place the nuts in the oven and shut the door. By the time they warm up, the temp is down, I’ve used a BBQ thermometer before, there is one you place the sensor inside the oven and the gauge is outside so you can monitor the temp.
Maybe we’re being too picky! Mother nature doesn’t work like a science textbook. I presume that the nut enzymes are pretty much active up to about 150 dry heat, but somewhere around that temp they start to become inactivated (denatured). Since the nuts have been soaked and the minerals released in the process, I’m not sure the enzymes that are left in the nuts are of great consequence. If you oven only goes to 170 (as mine does), I’d just use that temp and not worry about it. Obviously it takes awhile for wet nuts to heat up, since the evaporation as they dry cools them – hence they don’t dry at too low a warm temp. If you don’t dry them to crispy hard and keep them in the freezer (otherwise they may get moldy), they can still be delicious, but be closer to ‘raw’. I like mine a little softer, so the macadamia’s go into the freezer. Those of us lucky enough to have dehydrators with temp control can be more particular about drying. I always start out fairly hot for an hour or so and then lower the temp.
Oh, thanks for that comment. My oven only goes as low as 170. After 12 hours the nuts were definitely VERY warm. Maybe I over did the walnuts. The first time I might have done less time. I put them in the fridge. They taste pretty good so hopefully I didn’t make the oils rancid by drying too much. I wonder why I get constipated eating other nuts that are soaked and dried (organic) at low temp. Hmmm, maybe too much nuts in general for my body type? I was buying them from Wilderness Family Naturals. Delicous by the way.
You can also soak them and eat them as is. Sometimes we soak small batches at night and eat them the next day. They last several days in the fridge without dehydrating.
This article is self contradictory. It says that enzymes are deactivated at 150 and then later says enzymes are intact at 150. Which is it?
This is so true. I’ve seen studies that demonstrated that beans would still sprout after heat treatment at various temperatures – definitely higher than 118 degrees! Clearly the enzymes are still there if they are able to sprout.
What if my oven only goes down to 170? I can’t get it any lower than that, so that is the temp I’ve been using for my drying/dehydrating.
My oven only goes to 170, also. I turn it on to 170, it beeps when it reaches 170, so then I turn it off, open the door a bit and leave it off. I have no idea if this is a *good* strategy, it’s just what I do. ha! It takes a couple days if I’m not around to keep turning the oven on.
If your oven is programmable, it’s possible to manually adjust the temp downwards up to 20-30 degrees. It will still read 170, but the internal temp will be lower. Unless you have double ovens remember to adjust all of the rest of your baking to this “real” temp. Google online for the owners manual and it will show you how for your model. 🙂
I also have this problem and I turn the oven on and then turn off before it hits 170. I use an infrared thermometer to check the heat to make sure it’s hot enough. I would imagine any oven thermometer would do. It stays pretty hot for hours when I leave the light on, then I just turn it on for a few minutes to keep it hot throughout the day.
Now can we see the scientific data that would back this up?
I’ve tried dehydrating at 115 degrees and it took waaaaaay too long. After 2 days they were still mushy inside. I now dehydrate at 125-130 degrees. The nuts still come out light, crisp, and easily digestible. I haven’t tried going up as high as 150. Maybe I’ll try that will my next batch and see out they turn out.
Sarah, I still struggle with liking my hot chocolate at 117 degrees! It just does not seem hot enough, and therefore loses some of it’s taste. Also, it gets cold so quickly. I’m excited about trying the nuts though. Thanks for the info.
Are the soaked nuts not wet?
That’s what I’m wondering. The nuts are wet and hot until they dry out… ?