Soaked cashews have black spots?

[elfinbaby]

My cashews looked fine when I bought them. I soaked them - some got a little spotty. They were only soaked for maybe 6-7 hrs. Then I put them on a cookie sheet and into the oven with the light on. They've been in there all day and more of them have blackened areas. What's the deal? Are they bad?

TIA
April

[rawpriestess]

sounds like mold to me.


I only soak cashews for up to 4 hours, and you need wind to dehydrate, the oven just keeps them warm enough to go bad, so next time, put a little fan in there too

of course you could taste them and see if they taste okay, but I've never had them go black unless it is mold.

[Ireland]

The lady at the health food store told me that whenever you soak nuts, in order to retard any potential mold, put a pinch of ascorbic acid powder (vitamin C - from corn) into the soak water. Apparently it stops mold from growing/forming. Nic eh?

[elfinbaby]

That makes sense to me... D#$%! I'm throwing out the cashews but I'm eating the walnuts - they don't look nearly as bad. I did it before with walnuts and it was fine so I'll take my chances. Stupid nuts. I was putting them in nut mixes for the kids. Gonna have to get a dehydrator. And I might just give the Vit. C a try WoW. Have you tried it?

Thanks again,
April

[Biff]

Hey elfinbaby,

Regarding your walnuts....I found that walnuts usually have the most mold out of any nuts that I get. One way to tell is to put some water in a bowl, pour some food grade hydrogen peroxide in the water, mix it up - then add a few walnuts. The amount of foam you see is the amount of mold on your nuts. (You can still use these nuts, just completely rinse them off after a minute or so in the hydrogen peroxide water.)

At the very least, it is a fun science experiment!

[elfinbaby]

Okay. So I tried the Hydrogen Peroxide test. I got some confusing results. Neither the cashews nor the walnuts bubbled. So I tried my almonds. I didn't put them in the oven. They were only soaked for 24 hrs. then put in the fridge. The almonds were the only nuts that bubbled. And when I cut it open it bubbled from the inside - the meat part, not the outer. I'm confused. So you think my almonds are moldy?

[Biff]

I do the hydrogen peroxide test before soaking them, and before putting them in the dehydrator (or oven in your case.)

My personal experience is that the cashews that I buy never bubble, walnuts always bubble. (Might be due to the fact that they say cashews are not really raw, since they have to heat them to get them out of the shell.)

Are the walnuts that you are buying raw?

Regarding your almonds, you soaked them for 24 hours, then cut them open and put them in the hydrogen peroxide? Maybe the fact that the almond started to sprout had a reaction to it. It is my understanding that the hydrogen peroxide will kill the mold on the outside of the nut, and needs to be done prior to soaking the nuts.

[elfinbaby]

My walnuts are supposed to be raw. I'll try the test before soaking them.

I just broke open one almond to see what would happen. I don't know why it bubbled.