Soaking almonds for better digestion

Okay, I'm gonna tell you right now that I know just enough to be stupid about this next topic.  On one of the boards I belong to, there has been a lot of talk about soaking your almonds to remove phytates.  What exactly are phytates/phytic acid?  Welp, from what I can gather, it inhibits the enzymes that are used in aiding digestion and can actually rob our body of nutrients.  Almonds happen to be one of the highest foods in phytic acid.  I've been trying to add almonds into my diet daily.  So, I thought....okay, I've been doing a lot more things to cook and eat healthy.  Why not try this?  So, I did. 

 Let's just imagine I have a pound and a half of RAW almonds here, people.  I don't.  What I have is two 12oz packages of DRY roasted almonds.  Not exactly the way you're supposed to start out, but I cannot afford raw almonds at something outrageous like $12/Lb!  Yes, this $8 worth of Aldi's almonds suits me fine. Just be sure not to get the regular roasted almonds that are roasted with oils and other ingredients.  The only ingredient should say: Almonds.

I took the almonds and dumped them into a large bowl, at least twice the size. 

 Then I added a tablespoon of sea salt.  I've heard conflicting things, like add salt now, don't add salt now.  I figure it's salt...what can it hurt? 

 I then covered it with lukewarm water

and gave it a little swirl with my hand to dissolve the salt.

Just set the bowl aside on the counter to soak anywhere from 8 hours

to overnight.  Look how grody the water looks already!  You think THAT looks bad??

This is what they looked like the next morning after I gave them a little swirl with my hand!   Ewwwww!

Dump the water off into the sink. The nuts will be about 50% larger from soaking up the liquid.  Sorry, there's no good way to repurpose this water unless you want to water some outside plants with it??  No clue.  Look how gross that is!!  Rinse the almonds very well to get rid of any remaining water of death.

You can dump them out on paper towels first to pat dry.  This is what I did the first time and it really sped up the drying process.  This time, I just dumped them on the baking mat as shown below.  That took forever to dehydrate.  Don't do that.

In reality, you should dehydrate the nuts at 150 degrees, no higher, or you destroy nutrients.  Since my oven doesn't go any lower than 170, that's what I used.  You could crack the oven door, I suppose.  Dry as long as it takes, stirring and turning over from time to time.  How long will it take?  I dunno.  Depends on how long you soaked them.  My first batch that I patted dry only took only a couple of hours.  My next batch took forever, maybe 8 hours!  You can also do these in a food dehydrator, but I don't have one of those, so please don't ask.  You will know when the nuts are done by testing them.  They should be crisp and have no give to them.  This is the worst picture ever, but they should easily and crispily 'snap'.  Otherwise, they could end up getting moldy before you're done eating them all.  Kinda hard to take a picture of 'snapping' when you don't have three hands. See how dark brown it is inside?  That's okay.

I just put mine in a gallon bag and store in the cupboard.  A pound and a half

of almonds for just under $8.  Not too bad, really.  I put them in my homemade yogurt every day!

So, what does all of this work do for us?  Well, it makes the almonds more digestible.  I do like that they aren't salted because I tend to be sensitive to salt.  I think most everything purchased that is not in its natural form is too salty...because it is!   LOL!  Slowly 'roasting' them like this makes them extra crispy and I really like that. You could always add some salt before dehydrating if that's something you'll really miss.

From what I read, the skin is what makes it harder to digest.  It's there as a protectant to stop the seed from prematurely sprouting, but it also makes it difficult to digest.  Another interesting little tidbit I just heard is that even though they sell almonds labeled RAW in the U.S., it is technically illegal for them to sell raw almonds except for at a roadside stand or online.  So, the ones we might get at a health food store, even though labeled raw, really aren't!  They're flash-steamed or steam-blanched or something like that.  Apparently it's at a high enough temperature that it destroys vital nutrients anyway!  So, I thought....why spend the extra money for those?   Ever notice that when the government gets involved, we always get the short end of the nutritional stick?    For some informational reading by people who really do know what they're doing, click here.
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