The Organic Climber – Vegetarian running, cycling, swimming, rock climbing and raw foods.

Sprouting nuts, seeds, and grains yields a plethora of nutritional benefits. As an athlete, the biggest advantage of sprouting is the energy the sprouted nuts and seeds provide. Sprouting takes the seed out of a dormant state and releases all sorts of nutrients and beneficial enzymes that are only accessible through sprouting. The nutrients and enzymes released from sprouting vary depending on what you sprout.

In addition to being highly nutritious, sprouted nuts and seeds are more easily digested by the body, making the nutritional contents more usable by the body, thus how the provide an abundance of energy. The sprouted nuts, seeds and grains are best consumed raw. Heating them above 116 degrees begins to destroy the healthy enzymes and reduces the nutritional content.

Some seeds, such as sunflower, buckwheat, and pumpkin seeds yield a higher protein count when sprouted; making them an excellent source of protein for people with an active lifestyle. Consuming sprouts is easy. You can include them in a recipe, such as my raw granola recipe, or toss them in a salad. You can even season your seeds to make them more tasty.

Sprouting is very simple to do, it doesn’t take a small garden to accomplish, as I first thought when I heard about sprouting. You don’t need anything more than a mason jar and a sprouting lid, or something to cover the mouth of the jar, such as a fine cheese cloth.

Below are instructions on how to sprout seeds, nuts, and grains. In regards to nuts, almonds are the only nut that actually sprouts, but they typically have to be raw, organic, and unpasteurized, which is hard to find – but it is possible. Either way, soaking the nuts still makes them easier to digest, as with any nut. Almonds typically need to soak 8-12 hours. Most other nuts only need to soak for about two hours.

After sprouting seeds and grains, you will see tails grow on them, as pictured below. The length of the tail will depend on how long you soak them. Sunflower seeds will yield a small tail after just one day of sprouting, but if you sprout them for several days you will have a really long tail, making them a nice crunchy treat for salads. I prefer to keep my sunflower seed tails small though. It’s up to the person doing the sprouting how long they want the tails.

How to Sprout

1. First you will need to soak your seeds (pictured above). Refer to the chart below for the time it takes to soak your seed or grain. Place them into a mason jar (half full, as the sprouts grow and expand) and fill with filtered water, just until they are fully covered. You may need to periodically add more water as they will soak up a lot of it.
2. After your seeds have soaked for the appropriate amount of time, drain the sprouting jar and cover with a sprouting lid, or a fine cheese cloth (secured with a rubber band).
3. Set the sprouting jars at an angle so excess water can drain from the jar. I usually place mine in a drying rack as pictured above. Let the seeds set for the amount of time indicated on the chart below. You will also need to periodically fill the jar back up with water and drain to keep the seeds wet.
4. After your seeds are done sprouting place them in a dehydrator until thoroughly dry. If you don’t have a dehydrator you can leave them spread out to air dry. Store them in a mason jar inside your refrigerator for longer life.
5. Optionally, you can season your seeds and, or nuts. I prefer to season my sunflower seeds. This is best done immediately after soaking. Just place them in a mixing bowl, toss in some seasoning, and mix away. Garlic and sea salt is one of my favorite flavors to season sunflower seeds with.

Sprouting Chart

And there you have it. All the information you need to know for simple sprouting at home. So, have fun with it, do some google searches for recipes involving sprouted grains. I have seen many great recipes, both cooked and raw, but remember, consuming them raw is best.

Have you ever tried sprouting? Do you currently sprout? Let us know what you think about sprouting in the comments.

RAW Food, Recipes, Uncategorized by OrganicClimber
energy, enzymes, healthy, nutrients, nuts, seeds, sprouting
1 comment

---

First of all, it’s important to understand why nuts are healthy and good for you. Next to hemp seed protein, nuts are one of the best plant sources of protein available. They are also rich in fiber and antioxidants. Additionally, nuts are high in fat – the good kind! They contain mostly omega 3 fats (most nuts), which are great for reduction of inflammation and helping metabolize fat, this is very important for athletes.

Almonds are one of the post popular nuts and are especially high in vitamin B2, fiber and antioxidants. Almonds are the most nutritious nut of all. Walnuts are also a very healthy nut, and highly beneficial to athletes. They are rich in B vitamins, potassium, and magnesium. They also help retain electrolyte levels, which is important to help athletes stay hydrated.

Now that you know some of the health benefits of nuts it’s time to learn how to include more of them into your daily diet. It should be noted though that since nuts are high in calories they should serve as a replacement food, and not an addition to our daily caloric intake.

1. Snacks: Everybody loves snacks, but often times we tend to choose unhealthy options. Making healthy choices can be difficult when vending machines are readily available and clients bring good into the office. Nuts are great to keep around your desk to curb those hunger cravings. Seasoned nuts make for an very tasty snack, there are many store bought options, but most are not raw. You can make your own raw, seasoned nuts, at home; just check out my recipes here.
2. Nut Butters: Almond butter is pretty much a staple food in my diet, I often put it in my smoothies or spread it over a piece of Ezekiel bread, topped with banana and occasionally agave nectar. Cashew butter is considered a delicacy in my book, but can be easily made at home if you have a high-speed blender such as the Vita-Mix.
3. Raw Deserts: You would be surprised at how many delicious raw deserts are out there that involve nuts. Susan over at Rawmazing has a new book out full of delicious raw deserts; it’s well worth checking out. There are also plenty of great raw food (and a few cooked) recipes on the site.
4. Energy Bars: Nuts are a great source of complex carbs and protein, and are easily consumed in the form of an energy bar. Check out the recipes I have here on my blog. There are also plenty of store bought raw energy bars, but it’s much more cost effective to make your own if you can find the time.
5. Almond Milk: Easy to make, and highly nutritious! Simply blend up 1 cup of almonds to 3 cups of water and strain through a milk bag or fine cheesecloth and you have your self a highly nutritious non-dairy beverage that is great in smoothies, with granola, or as a simple morning drink. You can also sweeten your nut milk by using dates, stevia, or agave nectar. Almond milk is also a great substitute for dairy and soy products to use in your tea or coffee. Store bought almond milk is also a good alternative.

The Benefits of Soaking Nuts

Soaking nuts before you consume them is very important. Nuts have a natural enzyme inhibitor that makes them more difficult to digest. Soaking nuts (and seeds) neutralizes the enzyme inhibitor and makes them easier to digest. Additionally the amount of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and essential fatty acids your body can absorb increases. Soaked nuts are simply put, more nutritious.

Soaking Times

• Almonds            8-12 hours (the only nuts that sprout*)
• Cashews            2.5 hours
• Walnuts            4 hours
• All others          6 hours

Although these nuts sprout, you will not see tails. They only swell.

Feel free to share your favorite nutty recipes here. Also, be sure to check back on future Fridays for great nutty recipes.

Nutty Friday, RAW Food by OrganicClimber
almonds, cashews, healthy, macadamia nuts, nuts, omega-3, pecans, RAW Food, raw nuts
7 comments

---

Nutty Friday, RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
cashew, cashews, lemon, nuts, pepper, RAW, seasoned, seasoning
No comments

---

Ever since discovering the RAW Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie, I have been somewhat addicted to this wonderful substance known as cacao. But, I will say this. As with any food, moderation is key. I have recently cut back my cacao intake after hearing of some negative side effects of the tasty powder. However, I’m not totally convinced that the positive benefits don’t outweigh the negative.

This recipe is really simple and only requires three ingredients. It takes almost no time to make, other than the time to dehydrate.

The Recipe

• 1 Cup of Cashews
• 1/2 TBSP of Agave*
• 1 TBSP of Cacao Power

*In the batch I made I actually used 1 TBSP of agave, but felt like it was too much.

So, start by placing one cup of nuts in a mixing bowl, then pour in the agave and mix thoroughly. Once the nuts are well coated with agave (add more agave if needed) pour in the cacao powder and mix until well coated. Next, place them on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for 24 hours. After 12 hours remove the nuts from the sheet and place on the mesh tray.

Alternatively you could use your oven set at a low temperature as well. Since the nuts are not roasting it is okay if you use a lower temperature, just make sure you keep it under 116 degrees in order for it to remain raw. This tasty little snack will provide you with healthy fats, carbohydrates, antioxidants, and protein. This is also a good “energy” snack because of the carbs from the agave and stimulant like properties in the cacao (called theobromine). But I would avoid consuming too many of them before physical activity because nuts are generally harder to digest than raw fruits and veggies.

Nutty Friday, RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
agave, cacao, cashew, energy, nuts, RAW, snack
2 comments

---

Recently I had posted about my homemade version of YUMNUTS. Not too long after making the post Yumnuts Naturals sent me some free samples, so I decided to review them here on my blog. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I was pretty excited when the packaged arrived at my door, containing one 5oz bag of Chili Lime flavor and sample sizes of Sea Salt, Toasted Coconut, and Chocolate. I was skeptical about all of the flavors except for the Chili Lime, which really resonated with me. They closely resembled the Cajun flavored nuts I had bought in the store and made on my own. They had a bit more of a kick to them though, which I liked a lot. At first I thought it was going to be impossible to consume the nuts in one sitting, which I was happy about because I can easily devour a 5oz bag of the Cajun flavor in one sitting. However, I quickly found myself picking the bag back up and polishing them off. As with any nut, these are extremely filling, but also flavorful; they left little to be desired.

Next up was the Toasted Coconut flavor, which I found to be lacking. I’m not a huge coconut fan, but do use coconut flavor fairly frequently in raw food recipes, but the flavor combination didn’t do the trick for me. The Sea Salt flavor was the bare bones version of YUMNUTS but were very tasty and just as addicting as the spicy flavors, but nowhere near as tasty. The plus side of these is that the only ingredients in them are sea salt and gum acacia. But if you have read Michael Pollen’s Omnivorous Dilemma you will know it’s best to avoid such foreign ingredients.

My favorite of the flavors YUMNUTS so far have ben the Chocolate flavored nuts. They remind me a lot of peanut M&M’s which was perhaps one of my favorite candies before I gave up eating candy (for the most part). I have already consumed more bags of these than I can count on one hand and look forward to making my own raw version once I get my dehydrator out of storage. For now I will have to do with a mild addiction to a still healthy nut, although less healthy than any of the others.

The Chocolate nuts contain: honey, sugar, cocoa powder, milk powder, and soy lecithin. The biggest disappointment in the Chocolate nuts is that they contain sugar in addition to honey. Why go overboard with the sweetener? Although there is a lot of debate about soy going on, soy lecithin isn’t all that bad and is a great source of Vitamin B. Granted these aren’t really the healthiest nut you can be addicted to, but it sure beats candy and other sweets. The only truly healthy nut is 100% organic raw nuts, but I am learning that truly raw nuts are hard to find and organic nuts come at a really high price.

So in conclusion, give YUMNUTS a try, but remember moderation is key with anything. I would also like to mention that Yumnuts are roasted, so you don’t get as many beneficial enzymes as you would with raw nuts. Also, YUMNUTS don’t use any oils to season their nuts, which is good in the sense that you don’t have a lot of added calories, but the down side is they are using foreign ingredients (gum acacia) to coat the seasoning on the nuts. Again, it comes back to moderation, so enjoy these healthy snacks. They are an excellent replacement for just about anything you would find in your break room vending machine.

Health & Fitness, RAW Food by OrganicClimber
cashew, nuts, seasoned, snack, yumnuts
No comments

---

The other day while picking up some fruit at Kroger I ran across some seasoned cashews under the name brand Yumnuts. They were seasoned in black pepper and other spicy spices, so I decided to attempt my own raw version. They are very simple to make, all you need is your choice of raw nuts, olive oil, and spices.

I chose cashews, and for the spices I went with a black pepper medley, chipotle, and cayenne pepper. To season the nuts, place about 2.5 cups into a mixing bowl and pour about 1/2 TBSP of olive oil over them and mix well. Once they are coated with olive oil season generously. You can consume immediately, but I opted to throw mine in the dehydrator overnight to let the olive oil dry. I imagine they would air dry just as well.

Enjoy your homemade yumuts!

Nutty Friday, RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
almonds, cashews, nuts, seasoned, yumnuts
3 comments

---

This post is essentially a re-hash of the Larabar post I did a while back. These recipes are different and the date to nut ratio is far better. After seeing some raw energy bar recipes in Thrive by Brenden Brazier I got a better idea of how I should actually be making these. It is far simpler than what I was originally doing. Rather then pre-chopping the nuts I just toss all the ingredients into a food processor. So, I will actually be presenting to you two recipes here. One for Cashew Cookie and the other Pumpkin Spice Energy.

The Cashew Cookie flavor is my favorite Larabar, so now that I can make these on my own I will be buying them a lot less. Especially since I found out it’s easier than I had been making it out to be. For this recipe all you need is cashews and dates. It’s that simple!

The Recipe – Cashew Cookie

• 1 cup of pitted dates
• 1 cup of cashews

Directions: Place all ingredients into a food processor and process until the dates and nuts are well mixed and the nuts are coarsely chopped without any large chunks lingering about. There can, and likely will be a few but you don’t want too many. After your mixture is complete you have two options. One, place them on a teflex dehydrator sheet and shape into bars. I found myself creating one large square and then using a pizza cutter to divide into shapes. Once you have your bars shaped on the dehydrator sheet, place them in the dehydrator at 115 degrees overnight. In the morning flip them over onto the mesh sheets and remove the teflex sheet. Then dehydrate a few additional hours if needed.

Option two is to place them in the refrigerator overnight. They should also be stored in there as well. Your dehydrated bars won’t need to be stored in the fridge. My experience though with doing the refrigerator method with similar recipes is that they start to turn to mush after they warm up, so they have to be consumed relatively quickly after removing from the fridge, this is why I prefer using the dehydrator. When storing in the fridge wrap the bars in cellophane or place in a Ziploc bag.

The Recipe – Pumpkin Spice Energy

This one is destined to be one of my favorite raw treats. The Pumpkin Spice Energy bar is 100% my own invention too. Granted it was inspired by other raw goodies. Pumpkin Spice is one of my favorite flavors, so I will be more than likely making this recipe again and again. Another thing I like about it is I incorporate chia seeds. I have mentioned this potent little seeds before in Eating for Energy. The nice thing about chia seeds is that they slow down the breakdown of glucose when consumed with fruit (dates in this case), thus giving you loner lasting energy. Great for a long day at the crag, running or cycling.

• 1/2 cup of dates
• 1/2 cup of organic raisins
• 1/2 cup of almonds
• 1/2 cup of cashews
• 1 TBSP of chia seeds
• 2 tsp of pumpkin spice
• 1-2 TBSP of raw honey or agave nectar

Directions: Follow the same directions for the Cashew Cookie energy bar.

Oh, and on a side note. I fixed the overlapping comment box that occurs on shorter posts. So you will now be able to see the entire comment box without it being hidden by the sidebar. Yeah! Finally took the time to find the line of code that needed to be changed.

RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
almonds, cashews, chia seeds, dates, energy, energy bar, Lara bar, Larabar, nuts, organic, RAW, RAW Food, recipe, snack, sweet
6 comments

---