Gluten free nut flourAlmonds are key for healthy eating.
High in calcium and magnesium, a good source of fat and protein and stabilizing to blood sugar.
Most people who follow Paleo diet, GAPS diet, Weston Price’s recommendations, SCD or simply a gluten-free, grain-free diet, rely heavily on almonds. We sure do in my family.
Almonds are excellent; however, almonds are high in phytic acid which blocks the absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Almonds also have enzyme inhibitors and tannins, making the nuts hard to digest.
This is not an issue if you eat a handful of nuts per day, but if you are baking everything with almond flour, you may want to consider taking this extra step to create your own flour.
A great way to “healthify” almonds is to soak them and dehydrate them.
The soaking neutralizes the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors.
Dehydrating the nuts doesn’t denature the protein, allowing you to then grind them into a healthy, more nutritious nut flour.
How to make your own almond flour:
Soak in water with a little salt for 12-24 hours and then dry in the dehydrator until crispy (which usually takes about 24 hours at 135 degrees F in a standard dehydrator). Make a large batch of nuts, grind them into flour in the food processor (don’t grind too long or you will make almond butter instead of flour – which is also a yummy and nutritious alternative to buying almond butter), and store the flour in the freezer.
See my Pumpkin Cake for suggestions on where to use this.
To healthy eating!
Enjoy,
Hila