Do I Need to Soak My Grains? (2024)

FAQs

Do I Need to Soak My Grains? ›

Soaking is not necessary but it does appear to make it easier to digest and breaks down the phytic acid that blocks absorption of some nutrients. See this article from Food and Nutrition Magazine for more information.

If you've been eating whole grains, nuts and seeds for years without soaking, don't stress. A small amount of phytic acid is reduced just by the cooking process alone. But for minimal effort, you can significantly improve the digestibility and nutrition of these important foods.

Oats, rye, barley, wheat and quinoa should always be soaked (or fermented). Buckwheat, rice, spelt and millet can be soaked less frequently. Whole Rice and whole millet contain even less phytates so it's not necessary to always soak. Flax seed does not require soaking if eaten in small amounts.

However, there are some exceptions to the 24 hour soaking rule for seeds and grains: Some grains benefit from a longer soak including barley, rye and wheat. These are better digested when they soak for 3-4 days, swapping out the water each day.

Just as with nuts, soaking grains and legumes is essential for proper digestions. When eating grains and legumes that haven't been soaked, the phytic acid binds to minerals in the gastrointestinal tract and cannot be absorbed in the intestine and to many bound minerals can lead to mineral deficiencies.

Soaking grains can help improve their digestibility and nutrient absorption. Soaking also breaks down phytic acid and reduces cooking time.

• Buckwheat Groats:

It's creamy texture is similar to farina. Buckwheat has a relatively high phytase content (the good enzyme that breaks down phytic acid), so if you opt to soak it, be sure to keep the soak time to 7 hours max, or it will become to pasty/mushy.

Soaking flour or whole grains in water with an acidic medium such as apple cider vinegar or lemon might sound bizarre, but it's a practice that has been used around the world for centuries. The acidic environment helps to “wake up” up the enzyme phytase, which begins to break down phytic acid.

Micronutrients that are found in good amount in the nuts and seeds like calcium, iron, zinc, selenium do not get absorbed in our body if we consume them raw. Soaking them overnight is the best way you can wash away the phytic acid. Soaking them overnight also reduces the amount of Tannic acid.

Can you eat raw soaked grains? ›

Before eating raw grains, it's important to soak and sprout them to make it easier for your body to digest and absorb their nutrients. To adhere to the raw food principle, don't eat anything heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

Milling is the most commonly used method to remove phytic acid from grains. This technique removes the phytic acid but also has major disadvantages as it also removes major parts of minerals and dietary fibers. Soaking is widely applied and most important method in germination and fermentation process of cereals.

Do you have to soak barley before cooking? Pearl barley does not need to be soaked prior to cooking because it cooks quickly. Hulled barley benefits from soaking in water for a few hours before cooking. However, you should still budget more time for the hulled grain to cook (about 35 to 40 minutes).

Here's the thing: Beans that have not been soaked ahead of time will always take longer to cook, but they will, indeed, cook. But timing aside, sometimes we actually like to cook beans straight from dry, as is the case with this easy black bean soup recipe.

Our ancestors, and virtually all pre-industrialized peoples, soaked or fermented their grains before making them into porridge, breads, cakes and casseroles.