It is best to soak nuts and seeds in water before eating them especially if you have digestive issues.  Soaking helps remove the phytic acid they contain and that helps you absorb the nutrition of the nut and anything else that you happen to be eating at the same time (do you take your vitamin pill with your nutty breakfast?   If so, you are probably wasting their goodness).

The recommended time to soak almonds, macadamia, hazel, pine, sesame and chia is 8 hours or overnight; pecan, walnuts, pumpkin and flax 6 hours; and cashews and sunflower seeds just a couple of hours. 

If any of the nuts float whilst you are soaking them, it shows you that they are rancid and you should remove them and thrown them in compost instead of eating them.  If they float, they bloat!

Also, please remember to chew nuts and seeds really well.  It is the essential first step of digestion.  Skip or skimp on this bit and you are affecting your digestion and the nutrition you are able to get on board.  They say you should chew 32 times before swallowing a mouthful….  If you try it, you will notice that most likely you will also eat less…. Just sayin’!  If you pre-soak your nuts you can probably chew a bit less as some of the work of digestion has already happened in the soaking.

So, to that recipe….

1 cup each: pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds

1 1/2 tbsp warmed coconut oil (cold pressed raw organic oil is most nutritious)

1 tbsp local honey

1 tsp fine sea salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Grind of black pepper

Coat seeds in other ingredients by mixing with your hands in a bowl.  Spread thinly on a greased baking tray.   Bake at 180 degrees C for 5 mins, then give the seeds a turn and bake for a further 5 minutes until they are golden-brown.  Store in air-tight container.