How to Soak Pecans for Digestion

The first thing you might be thinking is: why would I ever want to soak my pecans?

Pecans are a great source of vitamins and minerals. They contain vitamin B1, Copper, Magnesium and Manganese, Zinc, and much more. However, like other nuts and seeds, pecans contain enzyme inhibitors, tannic acid, and phytic acid. These substances can mess with your digestion and absorption of nutrients. Thus the healthy properties in nuts are kind of negated.

What's a health-conscious girl to do?

By soaking your pecans in a briny solution you can deactivate the negative properties. The salt in the soaking water also activates enzymes in the nuts that neutralize the enzyme inhibitors.*

Once your pecans are soaked for the proper amount of time you can dehydrate them to make them a lovely, crispy texture. 

You can read more about the benefits of soaking nuts in this great blog post by Kimi of The Nourishing Gourmet. She also gives methods for soaking other nuts here.

Note: It's important to dehydrate your nuts at the proper temperature. If you go higher than 150 degrees F (65 C), the beneficial enzymes that you activated by soaking can be destroyed. My oven only goes down to 170. Next time I'll leave my oven door open a tad to lower the temperature.

Soaked and Dehydrated Pecans

adapted from The Nourishing Gourmet and Nourishing Traditions

Ingredients: (can increase amounts as needed)

• 1 cups of pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon real salt
• Filtered water to cover nuts

Directions:

Place the pecans and salt in a glass or stainless steel bowl. Add enough filtered water to cover. Stir. Place a kitchen towel on top and leave in a warm part of your kitchen for at least 7 and up to 12 hours. 

Drain in a colander, spread on a stainless steel cookie sheet (or dehydrator trays) and place in a warm oven (105 to 150 degrees) until the pecans are nice and crispy, stirring occasionally, about 12-24 hours. 

Store in an airtight container in a cool place for a few months, or longer in the refrigerator. 

*From Nourishing Traditions, p.512

Note: Some links are affiliate. As always, all opinions are my own.

Monday, November 17, 2014

How to Soak Pecans for Digestion

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Maple Apple Pecan Bread

This post was originally published on October 10, 2010 on Cooking for Seven.

We have been blessed with a multitude of apples this year. It’s wonderful to be able to, after a hard run, pluck an apple from our trees and enjoy a sweet reward.

It’s also wonderful to have so many apples on hand, ready to create something delicious. Like pink apple jelly. Or this scrumptious Maple Apple Pecan Bread.

  Notes:

  The original recipe called for brown sugar. Since I didn’t have natural “solid” sweetener on hand, I substituted maple syrup and increased the flour by 3 tablespoons.
   I did use 3/4 cup of ap-flour, but if you have whole wheat pastry flour on hand you could easily use all whole wheat.




Maple Apple Pecan Bread
Printable Page
Adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 3 tablespoons white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• generous pinch freshly ground nutmeg
• 2/3 cup buttermilk (I used yogurt + a little milk)
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup grated apples
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped apples
• 1 tablespoon flax seeds
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts, divided
• cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9×5×3-inch loaf pan.
2) In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3) In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, maple syrup, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Add the grated apples, chopped apples flax seeds and half of the chopped walnuts.  Fold to incorporate thoroughly.
4) Scoop batter into prepared pan and top with granulated sugar, cinnamon and the rest of the walnuts. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
5) Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack to cool before wrapping & storing.  Serve slightly toasted with butter.

Makes one large loaf.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Maple Apple Pecan Bread

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The Best Granola Recipe

I have been making this granola recipe for over five years. You know a recipe is gold when you keep going back to it after trying many others.

Sure, it's fun to try new recipes and flavors. But somehow I always return to this tried and true granola. It really can't be beat for its simple, hearty, wonderful flavor.

Waaaay back in 2009 I first posted about this recipe on Cooking for Seven. I had found the recipe on my then-online baking bible: Joy of Baking. For some reason Stephanie (the author of that website) decided to change the recipe she had online. I felt very fortunate to have saved the original before it was moved.

And so I felt that I should share this recipe with ya'll again. It will forever be my favorite granola. 

And in the style of Top With Cinnamon, I had to share a gif of Reuben pouring milk over the granola. I convinced him, still bleary-eyed from sleep, to help a food-blogger-girl out.

The Best Granola Recipe

adapted from Joy of Baking | makes about five cups | Printable Page

Ingredients:

• 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup of shredded or chipped coconut
• 1 cup nuts of choice, coarsely chopped (I love pecans)
• 1/4 teaspoon real salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup dried fruits (cranberries, cherries, apricots, raisins, dates, etc.), optional (I usually leave these out)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. 

2) In a large bowl, mix together the oats, coconut, nuts, and salt.

3) In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter. Remove from heat and stir in the honey, maple syrup and vanilla. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and toss together, making sure all of the dry ingredients are evenly coated.

4) Spread onto the prepared baking sheet and baking in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Stir the granola every 10 minutes and rotate the pan halfway through baking.

5) Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack. Once the granola is completely cool you may stir in the dried fruit. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, or in the refrigerator or freezer for longer storage.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The Best Granola Recipe

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