Living Maxwell
Archive
How I Buy and Store Organic Nuts and Seeds
I buy a good amount of organic nuts and seeds each week. Not only do I always take them with me when traveling, but I use them to make nut milk smoothies quite often for breakfast.
Here is some information about how I buy, prepare, and use organic nuts and seeds.
BUY RAW
Although I am not a 100% raw foodist, or even remotely close, I only buy organic nuts and seeds that are raw. Why?
When a nut is heated or roasted, it loses some of its minerals, enzymes and nutrients.
Furthermore, I never buy salted nuts.
If I wanted salted nuts, I would buy them unsalted and then put my own, high-quality salt on them. There is no such thing as “certified organic salt”, and most of the salt out there is of very, very low-quality.
Lately, I think this Himalayan pink salt is fantastic.
BUY IN BULK
When possible, I almost always buy nuts and seeds in bulk rather than buying them in plastic containers. I find that the bulk bins are less expensive and also are more fresh.
STORE IN THE FRIDGE
As soon as I get them home, I immediately put them in the fridge, ideally in an air-tight, glass jar. If I don’t have an air-tight, glass jar, I’ll put the bag of the nuts or seeds into the fridge.
Storing them this way will keep them fresh longer and will help prevent them from going rancid.
SOAK IN THE FRIDGE
When I make nut milk smoothies, I always soak my organic nuts and seeds. The primary reason to do this is because the soaking process removes the enzyme inhibitors. This allows us to absorb the maximum amount of enzymes from the nut or seed.
The general rule I follow is 2-8 hours of soaking time or soaking them overnight. I used to soak the nuts or seeds in water sitting on the kitchen counter but now I am soaking them in an air-tight container in the fridge. Once the soaking is finished, I wash them off with water several times.
It is my understanding that Brazil nuts (above, on the left) do not have to be soaked.
If I am simply eating nuts right out of the bag, I won’t soak them, mostly because I don’t have a dehydrator.
MAKING NUT/SEED MILK
As I mentioned, one of my favorite things to consume in the morning are nut milk smoothies. (A concoction that I came up with lately and absolutely love are black sesame seed milk smoothies.)
Once you have the nut or seed milk, you can then put it back in the blender and then add bananas, coconut palm sugar, maca, cacao, chia seeds, berries, or any other ingredient that you wish.
Below is a video on how to make nut milk, and I never let my nut milk sit in the fridge for more than one day. Some people leave it up to four or five days but I like to play it safe and give it only 24 hours.
When making nut or seed milk, the general rule of thumb is to use a 5:1 ratio of water to nuts/seeds to water (5 cups of water to 1 cup of nuts), then make adjustments based on how thick you want it.
Never made nut milk before? Below is a video on how to do it and this is the super-fine mesh strainer that I am using.