Crispy Pecans and Walnuts

 

I've not been sticking to the "Dinner" theme of this blog the last two days.  Rabbit trails and side-tracks have led this discussion elsewhere.  I digress.  But, I can tentatively tie this one in to the dinner theme, because a lot of upcoming crock (and other) fall recipes include a topping with at least a few nuts.  Or nuts mixed in to the recipe.  So it's very convenient to have these guys in your freezer, ready to go.  See?  I did it!  I tied this one in. :)

Crispy nuts came up as a topic a few days ago, and at the time I was just finishing off the last of what was in my freezer.  Time for a fresh batch.  For this round I did walnuts and pecans, because they are well tolerated (by me), my family likes them, and they seem to jive well with fall-ish foods like apples, pears, pumpkins, squashes, etc.

If you missed the first conversation about crispy nuts (on the "balsamic beets" post the other day) you can take a peek at it here, but just to do a quick re-cap: the reason for soaking and then dehydrating raw nuts is that it makes the nuts easier to digest, and makes the nutrients more available for your body to use.  The soak in salt water gets rid of the enzyme inhibitors.  And the best part is, they come out all nice and crispy and crunchy, and kinda-like pre-toasted for you.

Nuts are a nutrient dense food, especially when prepared this way, and a little sprinkle of nuts can add a lot of flavor, texture, and interest to many dishes.  They are a great  condiment, and fantastic for breakfast on fruit and yogurt.  They are great in the lunchbox.  Along with some cut up fruit and or veggie sticks they make a great after-school snack.  They are very satisfying in small amounts, which helps middle-age moms like me fight off the elastic-waistband pants a few more years.  (My friend "Glazed Donut" has threatened to hold an intervention if I even think about elastic waistband pants.  Thanks Glazed D.  you've always got my back. ;)

O.k. here we go:

1.  Put the raw nuts into a glass container, cover completely with filtered water, and add sea salt (Sally Fallon, in her book Nourishing Traditions recommends two teaspoons of sea salt.  I typically use less than that.)

2. Cover and leave out on the counter overnight (at least 7 hrs, but not too long, the texture holds up best, I find, if you get them out of the water fairly promptly.  No need to set a timer or anything, just add the water right before bed, then get right on draining it when you get up in the morning.)

3.  Sally's instructions say to just "drain" the nuts.  I rinse those babies, thoroughly.  I don't like mine salty at all, and I want to really get rid of that soaking water, which contains all the enzyme inhibitors you want to get rid of in the first place.

 Note, this is my 5 tray dehydrator in the background...I had to switch to my 9 tray because I didn't want to crowd the nuts...they do better with lots of "personal space".

4.  Here comes that "choose-your-own-adventure" part:  Sally says to spread them on a stainless steel baking pan and put them into a warm oven (*no warmer than 150 degrees) for 12-24 hours, turning occasionally until completely dry and crisp.  If you do not have a dehydrator, then you can do it that way.  However if you have a dehydrator, it's easier, I think, to just do it in there. 

I set my dehydrator to a pretty low temp, 115 degrees, and for a full 9 tray dehydrator, it usually takes about 18 hrs.  But no babysitting required.  Once in a while I stop by and grab one out and pop in in  my mouth to see how things are coming along.  And OH MY, these are so, so, good warm from the dehydrator!!

5.  Cool completely.  Put them into freezer safe containers and store in the freezer, ready for use.

All ready for fall...