Raw Nuts & Seeds

zonah

Hello

I've convinced my husband to start consuming raw nuts and seeds. He was eating roasted nuts and seeds before and find the raw ones a little bland. Any ideas on how to dress them so they are more flavorful?

wswing

What's wrong with roasting them?

SwimFan1981

What's wrong with roasting them?

Here is one take on it.

If you’re a nut fan, you probably feel good about consuming a tasty food that’s high in Omega 3 oils. After all, Omega 3’s are good for you, right? Correct, but roasted nuts aren’t good for you…and raw nuts are.

Sure, nuts start out high in healthy Omega 3 oils. The problem is that oils are vulnerable to heat, light, and oxidation. Once you heat the healthy oils found in nuts, you degrade them. But it does make the oil shelf-stable, which manufacturers find desirable.

To hydrogenate oil, the manufacturers take huge vats containing thousands of gallons of oil and they raise the temperature to almost boiling. Then they run an electrical current through the oil and bubble hydrogen gas up through it.

The effect is to saturate all the bonds of the fats with hydrogen atoms and to turn the fat from a liquid into a solid. That’s how margarine is made. Other processes can hydrogenate oil and keep it liquid, but it is now a saturated fat rather than a poly-unsaturated fat.

Still other heating processes turn good fats into transformed fats, or “trans-fats.” Trans-fats have been found in studies to be bad for your health.

The same sort of transformation for the worse happens when nuts sit on a store shelf in bright sunlight, or when they’re in a big bulk bin exposed to air.

Once nuts are roasted, the healthy oils they contain are no longer healthy. Sure, they might be tastier, but you can retrain your taste buds to appreciate the healthy goodness of raw nuts and seeds.

Given that the roasting process takes place under high heat, in the presence of air and light, you’ve got a recipe for turning all the good fats in nuts into bad ones just to improve the taste…in some people’s opinion.

A study on the benefits of consuming nuts in the diet recently appeared in the November 14, 1998 issue of the British Medical Journal. Women who consumed nuts 5 times per week had about a 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease than those women who rarely ate nuts.

The study concluded that "frequent nut consumption was associated with a reduced risk of both fatal coronary heart disease and non-fatal myocardial infarction. These data, and those of other epidemiological and clinical studies, support a role for nuts in reducing coronary heart disease risk ".

SwimFan1981

Hello

I've convinced my husband to start consuming raw nuts and seeds. He was eating roasted nuts and seeds before and find the raw ones a little bland. Any ideas on how to dress them so they are more flavorful?

There are some suggestions here


http://www.ehow.com/how_8140379_flavor-raw-nuts.html

ripemango

i find that certain nuts lend themselves to tasting better in their 'natural' state. We have a pecan tree and there is just nothing better than a straight up pecan. They just don't need anything on them. (We freeze ours btw to maintain freshness. Remove the bitter part prior to freezing.)

Others I like raw are macadamias and almonds.

I still feel like something is lacking when i eat raw peanuts.

maybe try a few diff kinds raw and see which ones you really like.

KenosFeoh

Mmmmmmmmmm walnuts and pecans

SwimFan1981

Cashews

judydelo1

What's wrong with roasting them?

Here is one take on it.

If you’re a nut fan, you probably feel good about consuming a tasty food that’s high in Omega 3 oils. After all, Omega 3’s are good for you, right? Correct, but roasted nuts aren’t good for you…and raw nuts are.

Sure, nuts start out high in healthy Omega 3 oils. The problem is that oils are vulnerable to heat, light, and oxidation. Once you heat the healthy oils found in nuts, you degrade them. But it does make the oil shelf-stable, which manufacturers find desirable.

To hydrogenate oil, the manufacturers take huge vats containing thousands of gallons of oil and they raise the temperature to almost boiling. Then they run an electrical current through the oil and bubble hydrogen gas up through it.

The effect is to saturate all the bonds of the fats with hydrogen atoms and to turn the fat from a liquid into a solid. That’s how margarine is made. Other processes can hydrogenate oil and keep it liquid, but it is now a saturated fat rather than a poly-unsaturated fat.

Still other heating processes turn good fats into transformed fats, or “trans-fats.” Trans-fats have been found in studies to be bad for your health.

The same sort of transformation for the worse happens when nuts sit on a store shelf in bright sunlight, or when they’re in a big bulk bin exposed to air.

Once nuts are roasted, the healthy oils they contain are no longer healthy. Sure, they might be tastier, but you can retrain your taste buds to appreciate the healthy goodness of raw nuts and seeds.

Given that the roasting process takes place under high heat, in the presence of air and light, you’ve got a recipe for turning all the good fats in nuts into bad ones just to improve the taste…in some people’s opinion.

A study on the benefits of consuming nuts in the diet recently appeared in the November 14, 1998 issue of the British Medical Journal. Women who consumed nuts 5 times per week had about a 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease than those women who rarely ate nuts.

The study concluded that "frequent nut consumption was associated with a reduced risk of both fatal coronary heart disease and non-fatal myocardial infarction. These data, and those of other epidemiological and clinical studies, support a role for nuts in reducing coronary heart disease risk ".

THIS

I love raw pistachios, cashews, almonds and brazil nuts. All very healthy.

zonah

What's wrong with roasting them?

Here is one take on it.

If you’re a nut fan, you probably feel good about consuming a tasty food that’s high in Omega 3 oils. After all, Omega 3’s are good for you, right? Correct, but roasted nuts aren’t good for you…and raw nuts are.

Sure, nuts start out high in healthy Omega 3 oils. The problem is that oils are vulnerable to heat, light, and oxidation. Once you heat the healthy oils found in nuts, you degrade them. But it does make the oil shelf-stable, which manufacturers find desirable.

To hydrogenate oil, the manufacturers take huge vats containing thousands of gallons of oil and they raise the temperature to almost boiling. Then they run an electrical current through the oil and bubble hydrogen gas up through it.

The effect is to saturate all the bonds of the fats with hydrogen atoms and to turn the fat from a liquid into a solid. That’s how margarine is made. Other processes can hydrogenate oil and keep it liquid, but it is now a saturated fat rather than a poly-unsaturated fat.

Still other heating processes turn good fats into transformed fats, or “trans-fats.” Trans-fats have been found in studies to be bad for your health.

The same sort of transformation for the worse happens when nuts sit on a store shelf in bright sunlight, or when they’re in a big bulk bin exposed to air.

Once nuts are roasted, the healthy oils they contain are no longer healthy. Sure, they might be tastier, but you can retrain your taste buds to appreciate the healthy goodness of raw nuts and seeds.

Given that the roasting process takes place under high heat, in the presence of air and light, you’ve got a recipe for turning all the good fats in nuts into bad ones just to improve the taste…in some people’s opinion.

A study on the benefits of consuming nuts in the diet recently appeared in the November 14, 1998 issue of the British Medical Journal. Women who consumed nuts 5 times per week had about a 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease than those women who rarely ate nuts.

The study concluded that "frequent nut consumption was associated with a reduced risk of both fatal coronary heart disease and non-fatal myocardial infarction. These data, and those of other epidemiological and clinical studies, support a role for nuts in reducing coronary heart disease risk ".

Thanks for taking the time to post that detailed answer great post.

There have been studies done showing people who eat raw nuts and seed reduce their risk of heart attack by 45%. There have been other studies supporting this as well. If you want to find the source I found this info book, Eat To Live.

ahamm002

What's wrong with roasting them?

Here is one take on it.

If you’re a nut fan, you probably feel good about consuming a tasty food that’s high in Omega 3 oils. After all, Omega 3’s are good for you, right? Correct, but roasted nuts aren’t good for you…and raw nuts are.

Sure, nuts start out high in healthy Omega 3 oils. The problem is that oils are vulnerable to heat, light, and oxidation. Once you heat the healthy oils found in nuts, you degrade them. But it does make the oil shelf-stable, which manufacturers find desirable.

To hydrogenate oil, the manufacturers take huge vats containing thousands of gallons of oil and they raise the temperature to almost boiling. Then they run an electrical current through the oil and bubble hydrogen gas up through it.

The effect is to saturate all the bonds of the fats with hydrogen atoms and to turn the fat from a liquid into a solid. That’s how margarine is made. Other processes can hydrogenate oil and keep it liquid, but it is now a saturated fat rather than a poly-unsaturated fat.

Still other heating processes turn good fats into transformed fats, or “trans-fats.” Trans-fats have been found in studies to be bad for your health.

The same sort of transformation for the worse happens when nuts sit on a store shelf in bright sunlight, or when they’re in a big bulk bin exposed to air.

Once nuts are roasted, the healthy oils they contain are no longer healthy. Sure, they might be tastier, but you can retrain your taste buds to appreciate the healthy goodness of raw nuts and seeds.

Given that the roasting process takes place under high heat, in the presence of air and light, you’ve got a recipe for turning all the good fats in nuts into bad ones just to improve the taste…in some people’s opinion.

A study on the benefits of consuming nuts in the diet recently appeared in the November 14, 1998 issue of the British Medical Journal. Women who consumed nuts 5 times per week had about a 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease than those women who rarely ate nuts.

The study concluded that "frequent nut consumption was associated with a reduced risk of both fatal coronary heart disease and non-fatal myocardial infarction. These data, and those of other epidemiological and clinical studies, support a role for nuts in reducing coronary heart disease risk ".

While I agree that raw nuts are overall healthier, you're really overstating the effects of roasting nuts. Roasting nuts does not hydrogenate all the healthy oils in them!

traceyfunk

Even better - take those raw nuts, soak them over night, and then dehydrate or roast them yourself and add your own herbs and spices. chili, cumin, paprika, cinnamon - what ever types of flavours you like.