About soaking Raw Cashews

[jamesey]

Hi,

Today arrived a 2.5kg bag of raw, organic cashews :) .. can't wait to have some as I usually just eat sunflowers seeds as they are much cheaper and I know they are raw because they sprout!

Anyway, just a few questions.. they (the cashews) do say they are raw, and the company I've bought them from have explained a certain method they used to remove the outer skin of the cashew without heat to keep them raw (or something along those lines!!) but none the less I want to make sure myself!! Basically I want to sprout a few as I know cashews do sprout a little tail, I was just wondering how long they need to be soaked and then how long till they sprout?

Also, I do have Allisa Cohen's book which definately is the best all round RAAW book out there by far, I also like the NFL Raw Food Diet by Arlin, Wolfe and Dini for the added depth about raw foods. Ok I'm getting side-tracked.. anyway, Allisa says its very important to soak all nuts and seeds to active the enzymes for better digestion, and converts them from acid to alkaline. However, and as someone pointed out on replying to one of my messaeges last week, cashews are one of the softer nuts and are delicious to eat as it is. I remember trying to soak cashews (although not raw) a while ago and when you eat them, they aren't soggy.. but there just too soft to really enjoy.. not as nice as ust not soaking. But perhaps raw cashews don't go to soft.

Can anyone tell me just how important it is to soak nuts, and in this case, cashews?Birds don't soak there nuts (obviosly because they can't) but if we didn't have nessessary tools , like a simply bowl, then we wouldn't be able to soak them either.. becausally I'm saying from day one on this earth we wouldn't of gone around finding nuts and then soaking before we eat them.. we'd just eat straight away!

Thanks if anyone can clear up these important issues!!

[NYbutterfly]

I just wanted to say that that is an excellent point... birds don't soak their seeds and neither did mankind back in the day. I only soak raw cashews if a recipe specifies to do so. Otherwise, I find that soaked nuts never do dry nicely (I don't have a dehydrator) and create more gas and bloat in me than if I ate them in their regular state.

What is the company that you bought the cashews from? It's so hard to tell what is truly raw when it comes to nuts, sounds like your source it pretty good.

[jamesey]

hi NYbutterfly - thanks for replying, its good to know i'm not the only person who wonders about the credability of soaking nuts. I also remember in Allisa's book saying the bodys needs to be 80% alkaline and 20% acid.. maybe the 20% acid comes from eating the nuts in an acid (not soaked or sprouted) state?

The website I bought from is called Kiemling - or something liek that! I'm from the UK but I think the website is based in Germany or Holland.

Can anyone else shed some light onto this? Otherwise I'll just soak and sprout my cashews (a few of them anyway) just to test if they are really raw) and then I'll probably eat them from then on without soaking UNLESS someone can tell me if i need to soak cashews.. because they simply loose there appeal to eat after soaking as there too soft!!

[MommyB]

I wish I was writing to give you an answer... but I don't have one :( I would be interested to know what happens when you soak your cashews. Might be a good way to test in the future!

[MrGreenJeans]

soaking nuts releases enzyme inhibitor(s). Also, it creates a lot more enzymes within the nut.

[currious]

I just wanted to say that that is an excellent point... birds don't soak their seeds and neither did mankind back in the day. I only soak raw cashews if a recipe specifies to do so. Otherwise, I find that soaked nuts never do dry nicely (I don't have a dehydrator) and create more gas and bloat in me than if I ate them in their regular state.

What is the company that you bought the cashews from? It's so hard to tell what is truly raw when it comes to nuts, sounds like your source it pretty good.

hehe actually birds may not soak their nuts, but usually they eat them from the ground after they were sitting there in the wet dirt for a while.....natural germination :D

trying soaking the cashews for only a few hours, I wasn't aware that cashews could sprout, I thought only almonds sprouted a bit lol. But I have notice that after about 3 hours the cashews get well, they drown it seems. I still use them though :), 3 hours is good if you want to soak then dehydrate!

good luck!!

[bonbon]

I've been soaking my cashews overnite for a chocolate smoothie i drink in the morning. I noticed the other day how eerie they look floating there in the water (perhaps, i just have scary halloween on the brain??)... anyway, they make things really creamy.

I, too, didn't know they would sprout a tail. How long do you soak them and then let them sprout? The sprouting chart in Alissa's book does not include cashews.

Thanks! Enjoy them! :)

[jamesey]

Well i tried soaking the raw cashews i got but they just divided into 2 halfs when i found them in the morning!! The this be because I ordered cashews without the skins on? I had the option to go with the ones with skins but thought without skins would be better?

And the natural germination sounds creditable.. i guess i will be soaking all my nuts and seeds after all, even if they don't taste as good!! Thanks for the answer!!