I always soak organic rolled oats overnight before making oatmeal for my daughters in the morning. Oatmeal is my younger daughter's favorite breakfast. I can just hear her 2 year old voice now saying "O-meal O-meal!". Here I will show you how to do it and why the heck you would want to do it in the first place!
Soaking grains and nuts is a great way to make digesting their nutrients easier. Grains and nuts have phytic acid, the plant's way of preserving the precious seed. Phytic acid can be very irritating for the gut lining and also makes the nutrients harder to absorb (vitamins and minerals). If you are spending your time and money on healthy whole grains and nuts (seeds too!) then you want to get the most out of them. This simple extra set doesn't take much time at all and makes the end result even yummier!
As a rule of thumb you want to soak grains in an acid, and nuts in salt. For grains that I will be making sweet I soak with yogurt, whey, or kefir (see my previous post on how to make kefir!), and for foods like rice that will be savory I use apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. For nuts and seeds I always use sea salt or pink Himalayan salt.
(above) First you want to place your oats in a glass bowl and add two tablespoons of kefir (or yogurt, or whey). This was about two cups of oats.
Second you will cover the oats with filtered water and leave at room temperature over night.
In the morning you will strain and rinse the oats. Then they are ready for cooking as usuall! They wont need quite as much water to cook in. If this is your first time cooking soaked oats and you find that you have added too much water let it simmer in the pot with the lid off for a little while to let the water evaporate.
If I eat grains with sugar I always make sure to pair them with plenty of healthy fats. Fats slow the absorption of sugar and carbs, reducing insulin spikes. Here I added grassfed butter, raw cream, maple syrup and a raw egg yolk from a local amish farm. This breakfast sustained me for the majority of the day!
Have any of you soaked grains before? Do you find it makes them lighter and fluffier? My husband loves when I cook white rice that has been soaked over night. The result is a fluffy rice that cooks quick- no fancy rice cooker needed.