How do you store your nuts and seeds?

I have been adding nuts and seeds to my diet, and I'm not sure the best way to store them. I have all of them in the plastic bags that I brought them home from the store in and that makes it hard to see what is what. I have some big mason jars that I was thinking about storing them in, so I can quickly find the one I want. Here's some questions I have:

1. Do you store your nuts and seeds in jars or what?

2. Jars have some air or oxygen in them, will that effect your nuts or seeds?

3. Should you store them on your counter top or in the fridge, or does that depend upon the nut or seed? Or perhaps they should be stored in a cabinet away from light?

4. How long can you store nuts and seeds for in your jars before you would need to throw them out and get some more?

Thanks

Glass/fridge.

Freezer for me.

vacuum sealed in jars

I store all our nuts and seeds in the freezer. Some are in mason jars (these are the ones that I've soaked and dried, so they're ready to use). Otherwise I store them in the plastic bags they come in (I order in bulk from Azure Standard). I store flax seeds in the cupboard.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DebB

these are the ones that I've soaked and dried, so they're ready to use).

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Is it really the case that soaking and drying is the same as just soaking? After all the nuts are "wet" when they are on the tree and then they dry after harvest. We bring them home after they have been shelled and soak them. Where is it shown that if we then dry them again the enzymes are active the the less desirable aspects are diminished?

Dehydrated food is always worse then the fresh version, because the water content helps you digest it + contains a large portion of the life energy of the food.

That isn't quite what I was asking. I was trying to fathom how soaking and then dehydrating nuts can possibly make sense in so far as lots of people do it but isn't it like taking a dry towel off the line, dunking it the bath then hanging it up to dry again before using it. Do you really lose the less desirable things from the nuts by doing this and do the enzymes really stay "activated" after they've been dried again? It doesn't make sense to me.

Maybe parallel it to seeds in the garden.

Repeated rains soak the seeds, and the intervals between rain dry them. This is how they lose their growth inhibitors and come to the point of being able to sprout. As well those repeated expansions and contractions that come from hydration and dessication are what cracks the seed coat so they can sprout. That they do eventually sprout shows that they have living enzymes intact. It may be a fine line between soaking the living enzymes out of them, or how long they will survive in storage without the inhibitors intact.

That's about the best I can explain it. I'm not sure where to get a more precise detail of it with data to back it.
It would be interesting to see if soaked and dried seeds still sprout, and how long their storage life could be and still produce a plant. Based on my own experience with gardening, sprouting, and composting, I'm assuming they will unless the soaking puts them near a state of rot. Then we know we've gone too far and most enzymes are probably lost. Maybe with enough left to be food for the mold/rot.

Is that more in line with what you are wondering about? I think it is just a way to duplicate nature, yet allow it to be more convenient to fit our liferstyles. I'd venture a guess that if you soaked until they began to sprout and then dried them, their enzymes are subject to depletion.

I guess some inhibitors are their to make them last until the next season or next year or two/three/four (survival of the species). Others, there to make them unappealing to animals. These are what we rinse away. I think you and I, having a love for plants and the earth, know that as soil is turned, seeds from years back may be brought to the foreground (slight pun there?) where they can then be subjected to favorable conditions to sprout-best temp/moisture level/sunlight. If they had been buried and under relatively cool and dry conditions, and protected from sunlight, then they might be stored for years in the soil. If we soak and rinse we place them at a point somewhere between seed drop and sprouting, and then arrest it by storing in cool dry no light conditions.

Does that help some?

glass in freezer. Sometimes plastic freezer bags if I run out of glass jars or space for the glass jars. Otherwise, I lose too much money due to rancidity.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by streetsurfer

Maybe parallel it to seeds in the garden.

Repeated rains soak the seeds, and the intervals between rain dry them. This is how they lose their growth inhibitors and come to the point of being able to sprout. As well those repeated expansions and contractions that come from hydration and dessication are what cracks the seed coat so they can sprout. That they do eventually sprout shows that they have living enzymes intact. It may be a fine line between soaking the living enzymes out of them, or how long they will survive in storage without the inhibitors intact.

That's about the best I can explain it. I'm not sure where to get a more precise detail of it with data to back it.
It would be interesting to see if soaked and dried seeds still sprout, and how long their storage life could be and still produce a plant. Based on my own experience with gardening, sprouting, and composting, I'm assuming they will unless the soaking puts them near a state of rot. Then we know we've gone too far and most enzymes are probably lost. Maybe with enough left to be food for the mold/rot.

Is that more in line with what you are wondering about? I think it is just a way to duplicate nature, yet allow it to be more convenient to fit our liferstyles. I'd venture a guess that if you soaked until they began to sprout and then dried them, their enzymes are subject to depletion.

I guess some inhibitors are their to make them last until the next season or next year or two/three/four (survival of the species). Others, there to make them unappealing to animals. These are what we rinse away. I think you and I, having a love for plants and the earth, know that as soil is turned, seeds from years back may be brought to the foreground (slight pun there?) where they can then be subjected to favorable conditions to sprout-best temp/moisture level/sunlight. If they had been buried and under relatively cool and dry conditions, and protected from sunlight, then they might be stored for years in the soil. If we soak and rinse we place them at a point somewhere between seed drop and sprouting, and then arrest it by storing in cool dry no light conditions.

Does that help some?

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Yes it does better answer what I was asking. Thank you. I am not totally convinced that it is the enzymes in raw foods that is the magic bean so to speak! I continue to ponder; as always :)

I prefer the vacuum boxes for my seeds and nuts. I guess the main thing to care for is that they are not exposed to heat and humidity.