Nate' Raw Harvest

Nathan Jackson and Scott Shafer have joined forces to bring you Nate's Raw Harvest.

Check it out at www.natesrawharvest.com

Pre-soaking is a culinary practice dating back hundreds, if not thousands, of years.  Almost all ancient cultures pre-soaked many of their foods, such as grains, nuts, and seeds,  before cooking or eating them.  Why?  We don’t exactly know why they did this because they did not have the scientific knowledge to justify pre-soaking that we have today.  Ancient cultures seemed to have an innate knowledge of the world around them that we no longer have.  Our best bet is that they figured out that foods cooked faster and digested easier after they had been pre-soaked.  One of the earliest recorded instances of pre-soaking comes from the Aztec Indians who were known to soak pumpkin seeds in sea water and then leave them on the rocks to dry in the sun.

Today we have a little more understanding behind the science of pre-soaking.  That understanding centers around phytic acid and other enzyme inhibitors.  Phytic acid naturally occurs on the bran and hulls of grains, nuts, and seeds.  Phytic acid plays a key role in signaling the grain, nut, or seed to germinate.  This is good for the plant, however, phytic acid is not digestible by humans and animals.  Phytic acid actually blocks the absorption of important minerals such as zinc, iron, calcium, and magnesium.  If you regularly consume foods that contain phytic acid then you are denying yourself much needed minerals and possibly setting yourself up for a deficiency.

By pre-soaking grains, nuts, and seeds the phytic acid is neutralized and the process of sprouting is initiated.  This sprouting process tells the grain, nut, or seed to start turning into a plant by turning it’s stored energy into usable nutrition.  With the phytic acid neutralized and the sprouting process initiated, the enzyme content, minerals, vitamins, proteins, essential fatty acids, and fiber increase and their ability to be absorbed by humans and animals is also increased.  This creates a food that is much less stressful on our digestive systems and higher in nutrition than its un-soaked counterpart.

So if we’ve known the benefits of pre-soaking and have practiced it for so many centuries why do we continue to produce grains, nuts, and seeds that are un-soaked, especially since they rob us of nutrients and cause digestive distress?  Well, it’s about money.  As everything tends to be these days.  Pre-soaking takes time and time is money.  At Nate’s Raw Harvest we are committed to making food with quality and with nutrition.  That takes times and patience, but the benefits are well worth it and it is the right thing to do.  You can rest assured that when you eat any of our products you are eating 100% certified organic nuts and seeds with all the nutritional benefits of pre-soaking.  Enjoy and thank you!

Nate