Sprouting 201: Nuts, Seeds and Enzyme Inhibitors

Sprouting is a fun and easy way to add nutrient dense food to your diet. You have to wonder though why go through all the trouble? Soaking a seed turns it from it's natural dormant state into a living product that is full of life (and nutrients). There is another process going on and that is the shedding of enzyme inhibitors.

Enzyme inhibitors are natures way of protecting a seed from it's environment until it is ready to sprout and become living. Shedding a seed of enzyme inhibitors is a very important step not only in turning the seed into a living nutrient dense food but but also for our own health and digestion it's not something you really want to be eating. While it's not really possible to eat a bean before being soaked you can eat nuts and seeds that have not been soaked. Every heard someone tell you they can't eat nuts because they don't digest them well? Most likely it's because they have not been soaked and have not been shed of their enzyme inhibitors.

Soaking nuts and seeds will shed the enzyme inhibitors and aid in digestion and increase the ease of the absorption of  vitamins and nutrients.

Enzyme inhibitors are a huge topic and play a key roll in our own life cycle, I strongly encourage you to research their roll in our life. Our bodies are capable of breaking down enzyme inhibitors but only to a certain extent and It's my understanding we will only produce so much in our lifetime and once it's done your done. Notice the rise in OTC probiotics lately?


Soaking/Sprouting Nuts and Seeds:

Soaking nuts and seeds is the same process as the bean sprouts except for a couple of minor variations. First, most nuts and seeds won't actually sprout. I've had a few that have but it doesn't matter unless you are trying to grow an almond tree. All we really need to do is soak them to release the enzyme inhibitors anyway. Second, the soak times will vary widely depending on the type of seed. In this demonstration we will be soaking almonds, sunflower seeds and walnuts. Google other nuts and seeds to see the soak times for that particular nut or seed. General rule of thumb is the more dense the seed the longer the soak.

Just like the bean sprouts add the desired amount of nuts or seeds to your sprouting jar, fasten the screened lid and rinse them well. The water will immediately be murky, this will be some of the enzyme inhibitors already washing away.  I've found this case particularly with walnuts in the beginning so be aware of that. Rinse until the water is about as clean as it's going to get and leave soaking out of direct sunlight for.........................

Walnuts about 4 hours
     Walnuts and Your Health


Almonds about 8-12 hours
      Vitamins A, B, C and E
      Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Niacin, Phosphorus, Potassium
      All Essential Amino Acids
      Protein: 20-25%
     Almonds and Your Health


Sunflower Seeds about 6-8 hours
      Vitamins A, B, C and E
      Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Niacin, Phosphorus, Potassium
      Great for Men
      Protein: 25%
     Sunflower Seeds and Your Health

Four Hours Later:

The walnuts have been soaking for about 4 hours now and all the enzyme inhibitors are washed away from the nut. All that is needed now is a good rinsing and the walnuts are at peak nutritional value for eating and digesting. Store them in the refrigerator  for maybe up to 7 days.

Here is a side by side comparison of walnuts before soaking and after. The after just look cleaner and better to eat.

 

 Six Hours Later:

Our sunflower seeds are shed of their digestive enzymes and ready to be rinsed and drained very well. 

Usually I would be done with them at this stage and store them in the refrigerator to eat but for the sake of demonstration we will continue the sprout process and see what happens. Sunflower seeds are easier to sprout than almonds so hopefully we can get them to sprout. 

12 hours later we can rinse the almonds of their enzyme inhibitors and start the sprouting process.

8 hours later (sorry I didn't get up during the night to rinse).

I think that 24 hours start to finish for sunflower seeds is good. Rinse and drain them well and store in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.

I rinsed and drained the almonds and will keep at them to see if I can get one to sprout.