Nut Butter: The Case of the Nut-Soaker
Making your own nut butter is a great way to save money and customize your nut blend for optimal enjoyment.
Seems simple enough — take a bunch of nuts and blend them until a nut butter forms.
You’re not wrong. The process can be that simple. Pretty delicious too.
I did just that for the longest time.
But then I took a peak Through the Nut Butter Looking Glass.
A little look — a glimpse — and a world of curiosity and certainty swirled together.
My interest inched me closer to the Looking Glass.
At the cost of firm footing.
’Til I stumbled then tumbled into the rabbit hole.
Much like ANYTHING you do, say, or think — small details come together to form big ideas.
Nut butter is no exception.
First the possibilities.
Option 1: SOAK nuts then DEHYDRATE them
soak nuts in salty water for many hours
drain soaked nuts and rinse them off
bake or dehydrate nuts for many more hours
Option 2: ROAST nuts
Place nuts in oven for short time
Option 3: SOAK, DEHYDRATE, and ROAST
Option 4: Avoid all extra processes
Toss nuts in machine and make butter
Option 5: Forget about it and just go buy nut butter
Why soak nuts just to dehydrate them again??
Well, here are a few reasons why nut-soakers say you should soak your nuts:
Soaking allows the nut (which is a plant seed) to begin the germination process.
Soaking simulates an environment where the nut is getting ready to do its job — sprout into a plant.
When the nut receives the signal to sprout, it experiences changes in its composition.
As with any seed that wants to succeed, its stored protein, starch, and oil kick in to feed the sprout.
Then you eat this little life and thrive from its bounty.
Soaking nuts brings PHYTIC ACID levels down.
Phytic acid is a plant compound that stores phosphorous and preserves the nut.
When you eat phytic acid it binds to minerals in your body (Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Zinc, Chromium, Manganese) and becomes PHYTATE.
Humans do not produce PHYTASE, the enzyme necessary to break phytate down.
Once a mineral is attached to phytic acid, it cannot be broken down and reabsorbed. It becomes waste.
As a result, phytic acid is dubbed an anti-nutrient.
Soaking nuts reduces enzymes inhibitors and goitrogens.
Enzyme inhibitors do as their name implies: inhibit enzymes that aid in your digestion.
The salt in the soaking solution is meant to neutralize the nut’s enzyme inhibitors.
Goitrogens, which are naturally occurring plant pesticides, may disrupt your thyroid function.
Soaking reduces the amount of goitogens in the nut.
Yeah.
Those are the many reasons why you should soak your nuts.
Always. Without fail.
BUT, one of the first studies I found, from 2018, claimed that soaking whole nuts pretty much does nothing.
To be sure, they chopped the nuts up and ran the test again.
As it turns out, the chopped-soaked nuts had a reduction in both phytates (bad) and the nut’s natural mineral content (good).
Soaking your nuts removes some of the bad stuff AND the good stuff.
So what’s the point of soaking nuts?
Then I decided to look into phytic acid. I wanted to understand why it’s been deemed an evil anti-nutrient.
Instead, I find that phytic acid is an extremely powerful antioxidant that may protect against cancer (study).
As an antioxidant, phytic acid binds to free radicals — free radicals that would otherwise roam free throughout your body, potentially causing dis-ease.
Phytic acid doesn’t stop fighting at cancer. It is known to prevent kidney stones and protects against diabetes mellitus, caries (cavities), atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (study).
Suddenly, phytic acid doesn’t sound so bad anymore.
An antioxidant that’s going to help prevent kidney stones and cavities and heart issues? Maybe even cancer?
I definitely want that.
Does it come in pill form? Sure does.
It’s even beneficial in skincare. I had no idea. I mean, my personal skincare routine is a splash of clean, cold water.
Here’s why rabbit holes are fun — you’ll always discover something new and potentially useful.
Now I can connect with my local Sephora skincare professional.
Any cursory search can bring up black and white answers, but it isn’t until you hit the rabbit hole that the complexity of soaking your nuts becomes apparent.
For example, I found out that human beings actually DO produce phytase (the enzyme that breaks down phytate).
So even if a mineral attaches to phytic acid and becomes phytate, your microbiome can potentially still break it down and use the attached mineral. Also, when larger amounts of phytic acid are consumed, your microbiome adjusts to produce more bacteria ready to break it down (study).
And as you may have suspected, there are mixed reviews regarding the significance of enzyme inhibitors and goitrogens.
What the rabbit hole is suggesting — the human body is adaptable.
Now that you’ve made it here, ask yourself: Should I become a nut soaker?
Begin to answer this question by first determining how you feel after eating not-soaked nuts.
Since I can eat bowl after bowl of not-soaked nuts and feel great, maybe I’m not a great candidate for soaking my nuts.
But I wanted to give my body something new to work with and see if anything changed. Run an experiment.
When I tried soaking my nuts to see what it’s all about, I found that it didn’t affect me profoundly enough to become a committed nut soaker.
However, someone who experiences bloating or any kind of digestion issue when eating nuts might want to give soaking a try.
Some people have a very light allergy that can be aided by soaking, like this account.
Or maybe your enzyme production is low and there is a component that doesn’t break down sufficiently.
On the other hand —
Maybe you have too much iron floating around and the phytic acid would be helpful in demineralizing.
Maybe you eat nuts without other foods and the phytic acid can only effect the food being digested at that time.
Maybe you’re nutrient deficiency is a red flag that needs more attention than simply trying to change the chemistry of the food eaten.
There are so many different factors to consider; experimentation is imperative to finding your balance.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the endless small details pouring in Through the Looking Glass.
Not far behind overwhelm is frustration, and then it’s a matter of time before discouragement shows up.
But don’t forget — The devil is in the details.
The more you learn about something, the greater the number of questions you’ll have.
The cycle of wonder continues; fueled by answers that unfold into new questions.
This principle is like defending a PhD thesis — answer questions about your idea until all that’s left are new questions.
Curiosity is important.
It opens the doors headed for rabbit holes.
And carves out a way to discovery that is focused on who you are.
I greatly enjoy the process of not knowing, experimenting, and attempting to find an answer based on the information I’ve gathered.
It’s probably part of the reason why I do NOT enjoy following recipes.
Maybe it’s a result of my background in the sciences and the pleasure that experimentation has brought me.
Maybe it’s that I don’t like being told what to do.
This propensity toward curiosity has resulted in weird flavor combinations, varied final consistencies, and a willingness to eat all of my mistakes. Once you’re off the beaten path, it’s just a matter of choosing your direction. And what follows is delighted surprise or hilarious displeasure.
Playing around with nut butters has resulted in these realizations —
Certain nuts release oil more quickly than others.
The mixes I’ve made that were majority almond resulted in the fastest release of oil.
When the mixture seems too dry and you’re getting tired of food processing, just add an oil that accompanies the flavor. I like to add MCT (medium chain triglyceride) oil to my nut butters, but it can be coconut, walnut, avocado, olive, etc.
If you choose not to soak your nuts, at least toast them in the oven for 8-10 minutes.
Warming the nuts will add to the overall flavor (bolder, richer, nuttier? — is that redundant?).
The warmth from toasting the nuts makes the food processor’s job easier and the oil will release more quickly.
The butter can be made from a single nut (almond) or a combination (almond, walnut, macadamia, etc).
The power of your food processor/blender plays an important role.
A 10-cup Cuisinart food processor is going to make nut butter faster than a vintage Oster blender.
As you’ll see in the pictures that accompany the recipe, I added some seeds to the mix (sunflower, pepitas, hemp hearts).
The recipe below, however, is for a single nut butter.
But if you’re anything like me, get wild.
SOAKED NUT BUTTER
Ingredients
3 Cups Nut(s)
6 Cups Water
1 tsp of Salt
Directions
Place all ingredients in a large bowl and allow the nuts to soak for 8 hours.
Once soaking is completed, drain water and rinse nuts.
Place soaked nuts on baking sheet and bake at low temperature (100°F is ideal but not all ovens go that low).
My oven’s lowest temp is 150°F so I periodically released heat from the oven by opening the door.
Dehydrator is a great option as well. Should take about 8-10 hours to dry the nuts.
Once the nuts are crispy and dry (try one), place the warm nuts in a food processor or blender.
Begin processing or blending in 1-minute intervals.
Scrape the sides of the food processor/blender between each interval.
Add a pinch of salt for flavor.
Be patient. Keep repeating this process and doing your breathing exercises.
My 850 Watt food processor took about 15 minutes to make the nut butter.
Add a teaspoon of honey (or vanilla extract) to balance out any bitterness (optional).
Add a pinch of cinnamon or cardamom for added flavor (optional).
There is a general attempt to make everything in our lives black and white — a simplified version of reality.
It’s easier to avoid the rabbit holes and refuse the Looking Glass. Just trust what is said.
But only you know what it’s like to be YOU.
Only you can ask the necessary questions to unravel the riddles that ride along.
The human body is complex and adaptable. Within any single moment is a multitude of actions and reactions that result in your individual experience. Try making the search for what works a playful discovery of the countless possibilities.
Then take that inquisitive, open mind and see others through Your Looking Glass.
We are all trying to find our way. We are all searching for what might work for us and the ones we love.
And so rarely should the answers be presented in a neat black or white.
Although I have decided where I stand on one topic: I am not a nut soaker. Case closed.
