Mornings are the best times for me to mess about with seeds in my kitchen. I’m currently soaking
- almonds (3 days),
- red quinoa (overnight),
- garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) (24 hours), and
- sesame seeds (overnight).
And I’m growing sesame seeds and chia seeds (remember the chia pets from the 1980s?) on a small square sheet of nori on a saucer. I am a kitchen gardener!
The brilliant thing about soaking all these seeds – nuts, beans, and lentils are all seeds – is that it starts the germination process. The amount of Vitamins A, B, and C in seeds is increased through soaking and sprouting (a longer soak), in preparation for growing and nourishing a plant.
Soaking and sprouting also convert inhibitors such as phytic acid that are present in all seeds into a neutral form that no longer inhibits the action of our own enzymes. And they inactivate aflatoxins that are carcinogens found in grains.
The starchy part of the grain is transformed into sugar and some of the complex sugars are broken down to make them easier to digest, helping us avoid the intestinal gas that can result from eating beans for instance.
Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig contribute an article entitled, Be Kind to Your Grains…And Your Grains Will Be Kind To You to The Weston A. Price Foundation, which is a brilliant resource for traditional ways of nourishing our bodies. Fallon and Enig are also the authors of Nourishing Traditions, a wonderful read and bible for wholesome nutrition.
If you’re tempted to start soaking, get yourself a source of filtered water, a jar with a lid, and half a cup of almonds. Start them one evening and try them each day for the next three or four days. Just keep rinsing and pouring off the soak water and add them to breakfast, salads, and breads. They soften up and become absolutely delicious.
Nina Shoroplova
