Today, we’re talking all about how to activate your nuts, what that actually means, and why you should want to…
In New Zealand, there is fantastic peanut butter, made with Australian peanuts, called Pics Peanut Butter. It is seriously good.
But of course, peanuts are a what Americans call a legume (and we down under know as a ‘pulse’), so I no longer eat them LIKE I USED TO. Sigh.
One of my happiest Autoimmune Protocol reintroductions is nuts. I love nuts. You could even say that I’m nuts for nuts.
It seems that all nuts are acceptable for me. Which is fan-bloody-tastic, given there are still a number of foods that are off the table after all this time.
But, I do approach nuts a little differently than in my pre-AIP days.
Now, I activate those babies.
activate
verb
make (something) active or operative.
synonyms: operate, switch on, turn on, start, start off, startup, set going, get going, trigger, set in motion, actuate, initiate, initialize, energise, animate, convert (a substance, molecule, etc.) into a reactive form.
Activating is just a fancy term for soaking and then drying your nuts to make their nutrients more available. The process has significant health benefits.
Soaking and drying (or dehydrating) raw nuts and seeds serves three purposes.
- It makes them easier to digest
- It increases the nutrient density in the nuts
- I think they taste even better
Nuts and seeds are full of a combination of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids – all of which help us to reduce inflammation, and in lowering blood pressure, too.
The problem is that raw nuts and seeds contain high amounts of enzyme inhibitors which are natures way of protecting them. While good for the nuts, these enzyme inhibitors interfere with our absorption of proteins and nutrients and can cause us digestive distress, especially if we have a compromised gut in the first place.
Making a habit of soaking your raw nuts and seeds increases their vitamin and mineral content and makes these nutrients easier for us to absorb.
If you’re new to the practice of activating your nuts (and seeds), I’ve put together this handy-dandy infographic for you.
To download your printable version, just click on the button
Now that nuts (and seeds) are back on the menu, one of my guilty pleasures is nut butter.
Made from my activated nuts and seeds.
Nut butters are a great way to get some healthy, nutrient-dense goodness into your diet if tolerated. And, they are forgiving. You don’t really need to follow a recipe. You just throw a couple of cups of your nuts-of-choice into a food processor and let the machine work its magic.
After a few minutes, you have a smooth, buttery concoction that just needs to be salted according to your personal taste buds.
It’s THAT easy
This baby is one of my favourites – its a combo of macadamias, sunflower seeds and cashews. I call it MSC butter in a nod to my Mum’s favourite LSA mix (linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds).
It’s particularly good schmeared over with Gala apple slices. Well, any apple slices, really.
Activated MSC Butter(AIP Reintroduction)
- 1 cup activated macadamia nuts
- 1 cup activated sunflower seeds
- 1 cup activated cashews
- Salt
- Pop your nuts into the bowl of your food processor. Grind the nuts into a powder This process will take anywhere from 5 - 10 minutes depending on the power in your food processor.
- Continue processing until your mixture becomes smooth and creamy. You will need to stop your machine every couple of minutes to scrape the sides. Be patient. This can take some time, and it can't be rushed.
- It REALLY can't be rushed.
- Really. This could take 20 minutes.
- Once the butter has reached your preferred consistency, add ½ a teaspoon of salt. Pulse to mix the salt into the mixture and taste. Add more salt to suit.
- Pop your MSC butter into a jar and try not to eat it all at once!
E N J O Y !
*first published March 2016
Way to make a guys mouth water Jo! Freckin’ delicious. I don’t tolerate nuts very well but a guilty pleasure of mine back in Australia is to eat the activated macadamia nut butter from my local farmer’s markets. I can get through a whole jar pretty quickly!
Now you can make it yourself!!!
I was just wondering how long to soak walnuts, and then I came across your post! Thank you for the handy infographic~.
What’s it’s shelf life? Do you store it in fridge?
Tammy, I store my nut butters in the fridge (and the never last very long!) I’d say 3-months is reasonable, but that’s a guess – I think you could safely keep for longer.