Soaking Almonds

Almonds are full of calcium, folic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, and Vitamin E and these nutrients are made more available by soaking.  

Soaking almonds removes anti-nutrients that bind to and make essential minerals unavailable to your body.  Increase your almonds nutritional profile by following the steps below.

1. Place almonds in a jar.  That's it.  They expand so only fill the container way.

2. Add water. Fill with non-chlorinated water.  Set aside for 24 hours.

3. After 24 hours drain water and rinse a few times until the water runs clear.  

4. Leave them sit on the counter for 3 days, rinsing and draining occasionally (2 times/day is enough).  During this time invert the jar to drain any excess water over these three days, tap water is fine at this point.  Use the canning jar screw top and cheese cloth to hold the almonds back and make rinsing a breeze, or an elastic band and cheese cloth work just as effectively.

5. After 3 days they are ready to refrigerate and use in your next salad or cooking project.

Use them on salads, or salt them and dry them to make a delicious crunchy treat.  

Dry them by slow roasting them on a baking sheet at as low as your oven goes (best temperature is 150F) until crisp and dry.  If you have a dehydrator, even better!  Or roast them to at about 300F until crispy and have a tasty snack.