Soaking Grains, Beans and Legumes: Top 5 Reader Questions Answered

Grains, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds can all add great value and variety to the diet, yet they contain antinutrients – particularly phytates and enzyme inhibitors – which detract from their nutritive value.  Traditionally, these foods were prepared in a manner to maximize nutrient density by mitigating the effects of these antinutrients.  Soaking these foods overnight seems to be an effective, traditional method of enhancing the nutrient profile of these foods, and it is one method consistently used among peoples who adhered to time-honored, traditional methods of preparing native, unprocessed foods.

Focusing exclusively on traditional foods, all of the recipes featuring grains, beans and legumes at Nourished Kitchen call for either souring, soaking or sprouting. A few recipes consistently pop up.  How do you effectively soak grains, beans and legumes?  Do you need to soak almond flour? How do you find time to soak grains? Does phytic acid fight cancer?  Do you need to rinse your grains after soaking?

1. How do I effectively soak grains, beans and legumes?

Grains, beans and legumes contain phytic acid – an antinutrient which binds up minerals preventing your body from fully absorbing them. Phytic acid can be effectively mitigated through three different traditional processes: 1) sprouting, 2) soaking and 3) souring.  To effectively soak grains, beans and legumes you need four components: 1) liquid, 2) acidity, 3) warmth and 4) time.  Each different grain, legume and bean contains a different level of phytic acid, and also a different level of phytase (an enzyme that neutralizes phytic acid), for this reason they all require different amounts of soaking time; however, I don’t believe that cooking ought to be scientific or painstakingly methodical and, instead, believe that simple methods should suffice in most kitchens and for most people.

In our kitchen, we simply combine a tablespoon or two of yogurt, buttermilk or kefir with filtered warm water and pour this mixture over whole grains.  After combining the whole grain with warm water and an acidic medium, I place this combination into our dehydrator or another warm space in our kitchen.  For soaking flour, we combine an acidic medium such as buttermilk, yogurt or kefir with flour, cover it well and set it aside to soak in a warm spot in the kitchen overnight.

Some research indicates that beans and legumes are best prepared when soaked in very warm water (about 140° Fahrenheit) for at least overnight, or longer.  In our home, we soak beans and legumes for upwards of 48 hours, changing the soaking water frequently as the beans begin to ferment.

Soaked Grain Recipes

• Brown Soda Bread with Currants & Caraway
• Whole-grain Buttermilk Biscuits
• Cold Quinoa Salad
• Soaked Flour Gingerbread
• Quince Skillet Cake
• Election Cake
• Baked Oatmeal

2. Do I need to rinse my grains after soaking, but prior to cooking?

No.  If you’ve soaked your grains overnight in an acidic solution to help mitigate the effects of phytic acid, an antinutrient which binds up minerals preventing your body from fully absorbing them, you do not need to discard the soaking liquid or rinse your grains; however, I recommend doing so because I find that rinsing grains, beans and legumes after the soaking process improves their flavor.

Beans, however, are another story: in order to maximize the nutrient value and the digestibility of beans, they’re best when soaked, drained, rinsed and soaked again repetitively for upwards of a day or two.  The Weston A Price Foundation, a nutritional advocacy group founded on the principles of Weston Price, recommends sprouting beans followed by cooking.

3. Do  I need to soak almond flour?

No.  Blanched almond flour, the kind most widely available, does not need to be soaked prior to using it in the kitchen.  Enzyme inhibitors and tannins are found in the papery brown skin surrounding the nutmeat of the almond.  The process of blanching and grinding almonds into almond flour necessitates the removal of this papery skin, and with its removal the almond flour has been effectively “pre-treated” thus eliminating the need to soak the almond flour.  If you are not using blanched almond flour, you will first need to mitigate the effects of antinutrients, including enzyme inhibitors, found in the almonds by soaking them overnight in slightly salty water, dehydrating them and then grinding them into flour.

Blanched almond flour is easy to work with, low in carbohydrates and rich in vitamin E; moreover, it has traditionally been used for confections and sweets for some time.  Many historical cookbooks may include almond flour in cake recipes as well as other confections.  (Check out the recipe for Portugal Cake in my 18th Century Menu.)

4. Doesn’t phytic acid fight cancer?

There’s some evidence that food phytates may be beneficial under certain circumstances – and the evidence is mounting that food phytates may act as antioxidants and help the body to fight cancer.  It is their very nature – their ability to prevent your body from fully absorbing minerals (the very reason we soak, sprout our sour our grains) – that may also play a role in the fight against cancers.  But while phytates deprive cancer cells of minerals they need to survive, they also deprive non-cancerous cells of the very minerals they need to thrive.  In our home, we prefer to adhere to time-honored traditions in preparing our foods – and that means maximizing nutrient density by soaking our grains when we consume them.  As for eating with a mindful eye toward the fight against cancer, we choose to consume foods rich in conjugate linoleic acid, vitamins, food enzymes and antioxidants – components of food found in meats, milk, fruits and vegetables.

5. How do you find the time to soak flour for bread, cookies, cakes and porridge?

At first glance, soaking grains to make porridge and flour to make bread seems time-consuming; however, good food takes good time – and it’s worth it.  Either you value the nourishment achieved through traditional, real food and you’ll take the time to make it happen, or you don’t. Soaking flour for bread, as in the famous no-knead bread made popular in the New York Times, requires about five minutes of active time.  Similarly, soaked oatmeal porridge requires about two to three minutes of preparation and only about five minutes of cook time.  While preparing soaked flour recipes requires forethought and planning, it does not require greater time constraints or effort.  Learn to plan your meals ahead of time in that you must begin preparing foods the night before you plan to eat them, or earlier, they do not, as a rule, require greater amount of cooking time.

Do you have a question about traditional foods?  Contact me.

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