Soaking almonds

[Minibean]

I've had some almonds in soak for about 48 hours. I know that's sort of the outside of the time frame but I thought they'd be okay. However the water is very cloudy and there's fuzzy stuff all over them and floating in the water. Is that normal, or is it mold?

I should have drained them and put them in the fridge until I was ready to use them!

[rawpriestess]

Hi,

I soak almonds ALL the time, in fact almost daily.

You need to rinse them and add new water about 3 times a day, if it is hot outside even more.

The cloudy water is NOT GOOD, however the fuzzy stuff is probably bad.

I go by the smell, and taste, if they taste sweet and nutty, then they are ok, if they are slimy or squishy or taste off, then toss them, you can only use them as a body scrub, or compost.

Sorry, hope there wasn't too many you left that long.

I have found how to extend the life of soaking almonds, either dehydrate them after they soak, and you can always soak them again, I've actually done this alot. it works fine,

Or you can put them, soak water and all (they must be in water) in the fridge, and as long as you change the water daily, they can last about a week in the fridge.

Sometimes, I have planned on something that requires alot of almonds then I change my mind.

Like I was having guests and I wanted them to have egg nog(raw of course, not eggs), for the holidays, then I decided on punch with banana icecream in each glass would be more fun, different and prettier. So I had all these almonds soaking.

I just kept them in the fridge and made a bunch of stuff later.

Good luck

[Minibean]

Thanks for all the useful info, rawpriestess. I'll make sure to rinse them a few times during the soaking period the next time. I was going by the chart in Alissa's book, it just said soak 24-48 hours, then rinse before use.

Unfortunately I had already made almond milk/pulp out of them by the time I saw this reply! (My dad had looked at them and told me they were definitely ok to eat, that it was just the fat coming out of the almonds.) So I ended up dumping everything. I don't if it was necessary, but better safe than sorry. (I didn't taste any, but they did smell ok, very sweet and almondy.)