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Hope for Peanuts

Peanuts are one of our favorite and are so tasty. We can eat them in a variety of ways and cannot imagine life without them. 
  • Soak peanuts overnight and pressure cook them with salt. (discard water)
  • Roast peanuts and can be eaten
      • straight
      • peanut butter with a hint of honey
      • dip/chutney with green chili and tamarind and curry leaves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, salt. 
      • coarsely chop and add to curries for that extra crunch.
They do have a lot of health benefits too.

The shock came to me when I realized peanuts are very susceptible to mold which can result in a number of diseases.  The mold creates a toxin - aflatoxin which can cause serious liver damage. The intensity of the issue is so high that many holistic coaches just stay away from peanuts and peanut butter just to be safe. 

However I could not give up on peanuts. I decided to dig deeper. 

Produced by the mold Aspergillus flavus, aflatoxin can occur in nuts, legumes, seeds, corn, wheat and other crops. If it is present in almost everything (as it seems), how do we try to mitigate its effects on our body. After enough research, this is the plan I came up with.

  1. For peanuts, only buy organic valencia peanuts which are grown in dry/arid regions are very resistant to mold. Yay! 
  2. For peanuts, soak them overnight with himalayan pink salt (1/4 tbsp for 1 cup of peanuts), boil them the next day with salt and can be eaten straight.
  3. Aflatoxin effects are neutralized with chlorophyl/vitamin C/phytochemicals, so eating greens, broccoli, radish, garlic sprouts, wheatgrass is a good idea.
  4. Soak the nuts/grains/seeds/legumes in diluted baking soda for an hour before soaking them in an acidic medium overnight. (I am yet to see if they sprout if we follow this rule). 
  5. This one is the best and ended my research - Sprouting. Aflatoxins are inactivated by Sprouting. 
  • Make sure you buy organic non-pasteurized, irradiated grains, seeds, nuts or seeds. Only eat those which can be sprouted. 
  • Walnuts, pecans cannot be sprouted but soaked to remove anti-nutrients.
  • Store all nuts/seeds in fridge 
  • Consume nuts as a snack (5 of each nuts per day is fine except Brazilnuts in which case 2 is enough)
  • Since Walnuts contain more fungus than other nuts, soak the walnuts first with 1-2 tsps of food grade Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) for 15 minutes. See source below.
Sources:

http://www.csnc.cn/Nutrition-Health/20141103124423.html (Boiled Peanuts Safer)
http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/food-safety/article/aflatoxin-peanuts (Greens Help)
http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=69760 (Rinse, Soak in Vitamin C, Bake, Grapeseed oil spray to kill mold)
http://draxe.com/sprout/ (Sprouting deactivates aflatoxin)
https://godshealingplants.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/soaking-nuts-seeds-and-their-benefits/ (Soak in baking soda for an hour before soaking process)

http://www.yogitrition.com/soaking-grains-beans-nuts-and-seeds-101/ (Walnuts contain more fungus than other nuts. I recommend soaking your walnuts first with 1-2 tsp. of food-grade hydrogen peroxide (at a 3% solution) for 15 minutes)
http://www.intentionallydomestic.com/friday-food-fight-organic-vs-natural-peanut-butter/ (Valencia peanuts)
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