flax seeds and other seeds questions

[joyce09]

(1) Do I need to soak flax seeds in order to de-activate the enzymes in them that protect them from germinating?

(2) When I dehydrate soaked seeds (like sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds), I often leave them in my dehydrator (at 115 degrees) for one week until I have finished eating them bit by bit. Then it occured to me that the oil in them might become rancid. But they are whole seeds, not cracked seeds. Will that protect the seed oil from becoming rancid even though the seeds stay inside a dehydrator for one week (at 115 degrees)?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[sport]

Flax seeds should be either soaked or ground. A small coffee grinder is perfect for this but you can also do it in the blender. If you prefer to soak them then they will become very thick and gelatinous.

I think that 115 is too high a temp to dry your seeds. I would prefer to stick to 100.
Why do you leave them so long. When they are dry they can be put in a bag or container and will keep for months (even years). I think that sunflower seeds get very peculiar if overdried. They only take hours to dry.
Going rancid is a very slow process if the seeds are intact.

[DebB]

Hi Joyce ~ I'll share what I do, although it probably doesn't answer your questions... No, I don't soak flax seeds unless I need them to gel for a recipe. I don't soak them to release their enzyme inhibitors like I would almonds, etc.

I have a habit of dehydrating at 105°. After I dehydrate sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (all seeds and nuts for that matter), once they're cooled I put them in glass jars and store in the fridge.

Is this necessary? I don't know for sure - but I have a second fridge, so I have room.

I love to actually sprout my sunflower seeds after soaking and before dehydrating. I don't sprout pumpkin seeds though. I've tried and cannot get them to sprout.

[oceanluv]

"I don't sprout pumpkin seeds though. I've tried and cannot get them to sprout."

I sprouted the seeds from an organic pumpkin, and they were the most awfullest, bitterest, disgusting things I have ever eaten in my whole life. I only tried one, and had to spit it out, rinse out my mouth, eat something sweet, quick. OMG I will never try that ever again.

[sport]

"I don't sprout pumpkin seeds though. I've tried and cannot get them to sprout."

I sprouted the seeds from an organic pumpkin, and they were the most awfullest, bitterest, disgusting things I have ever eaten in my whole life. I only tried one, and had to spit it out, rinse out my mouth, eat something sweet, quick. OMG I will never try that ever again.

I sprouted pumpkin seeds to baby greens and put them in a smoothie. I was sick for hours and had to go to bed.
I sprout sunflower seeds to baby greens as well and find them tedious but fine. I only sprout the ones that have the black casing still on them to this point.
Regarding the sunflower seeds that you normally buy in the health food store without the black outer bit. I find that if I let it sprout too much and then dehydrate it it seems to have less bulk and almost has the feel of something too dry and maybe cooked and is not as nice as if I just leave it sprout for less than 12 hours after soaking.

[joyce09]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I should have made my question about Flax seeds clearer. My concern is that if I don't soak them for a few hours first (before I dehydrate and grind them) they will have the engyme inhibitors that will be hard on my body. Is that true?

Why would 115 degrees be too high for seeds? I thought all raw foods will be doing fine as long as the dehydrator temperature does not exceed 118 degrees?

[DopeRawAbundance]

I've had spaghetti squash with sprouts inside, they were indeed punishing to the tongue. Imagine doing a whole run of them in a sprout bag and stuffing a dense handful into your mouth.

[sport]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I should have made my question about Flax seeds clearer. My concern is that if I don't soak them for a few hours first (before I dehydrate and grind them) they will have the engyme inhibitors that will be hard on my body. Is that true?

Why would 115 degrees be too high for seeds? I thought all raw foods will be doing fine as long as the dehydrator temperature does not exceed 118 degrees?
If you are grinding them then you do not need to soak.

[joyce09]

If you are grinding them then you do not need to soak.

Thanks for response. Will grinding de-activate the enzyme inhibitors in the seeds? How?

[blenditallguy]

To my knowledge, Processing/grinding flax won't deactivate/denature enzymes. Enough Heat will though. To process them you'll need a machine that can do it. Check out my site for more info on that. Hope that helps.

www.blenditall.com

[sport]

To my knowledge, Processing/grinding flax won't deactivate/denature enzymes. Enough Heat will though. To process them you'll need a machine that can do it. Check out my site for more info on that. Hope that helps.

www.blenditall.com

It is the enzyme inhibitors that she is asking about deactivating.
Soaking them will not remove them in the way that it does nuts because you can not throw away the water. The water will all be absorbed but the water wakes it up and brings life to it.
We must assume that crushing them is sufficient to give us all of the benefits as this is what the "experts" tell us to do.

[joyce09]

Thanks for the responses. I soak my flax seeds with a lot of water so most of the water can be discarded.