In the book Rebuild From Depression I discuss kitchen strategies to reduce phytic acid in grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds as one method for people to improve their mineral levels. Sometimes in life we do find ourselves zinc or iron deficient. If we are relying on grains for those nutrients, for instance, these kitchen strategies can be critical.
Last week I posted a revision to my recommendation in the book — that we should soak hot breakfast cereal (e.g., oatmeal or a wheat cereal) in warm water plus a cultured dairy product like yogurt or kefir. (Read the article on here: Soaking Grains.) Many children do not like the sour taste of hot cereal soaked with these dairy products and, it turns out, that there is an extremely obscure body of literature that suggests we should leave out these dairy additions altogether. The calcium in the dairy actually inhibits the breakdown of phytic acid if it sits in that warm soaking oatmeal. A better bet is to soak oatmeal in warm water.
Since I posted the update, the biggest question I have received is “Should I soak in lemon juice instead?” Personally, the flavor sounds terrible and I do hate for eating to become a penance. If you like the flavor of grains soaked in lemon juice, you should go for it.
For those who want more diligence than hot water, consider the method of complementary soaking I outline for oatmeal. This concept can be adapted for any recipe.
Some people have suggested that if the milk is raw (unpasteurized) that it would be fine to use in the soaking cereal. There really is no evidence for that practice besides perhaps some traditional societies doing so. It probably is better to leave the milk out of the soaking. Since you plan to cook the cereal anyway, avid raw milk drinkers would probably want to consume the milk raw after the cereal is cooked and not use $15/gallon milk in a cereal that is going to be cooked anyway.
Soaked Grain Bread Recipes
Beyond breakfast cereals, this obscure body of research I stumbled upon has implications for “soaked grain breads” as well, popularized by Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions. Personally, I have never found these recipes to be easy to work with and have long since created some extremely easy sourdough breads instead (which you may know if you have the phytic acid paper).
If you have soaked grain bread recipes you love, I would hate for you to cut them out of your routine unless you are severely deficient in iron or some other mineral. Indeed, some bread recipes really do require milk for moisture. Cutting out the milk would ruin the recipe. In our own house we wouldn’t make such a recipe a staple in the diet, but we might keep it as a treat if it was a family favorite.
More Information On Soaking Grains
Soaking grains is really extremely simple: warm water + grains + time = Mmmm. We simply soak the grains the night before breakfast in a warm spot and then cook them in the morning. It is that simple.
If you crave more information on soaking, sprouting, and fermenting grains, if you want to know what research says about a bread made with baking soda or beans sprouted for three days, you really should check out the phytic acid paper and video course. It is an information junkie’s collection of phytic acid research oriented toward consumers.
This post is part of Traditional Tuesday.
@ Amazon.
Hello, I would like to know how long it should go after eating non-heme iron before I can eat heme-iron, and viceversa.
Thanks.
Thank you so much for this very informative information. Your research is very helpful and answered some of the questions that I have about mineral absorption. I was always anemic when I was young even though I ate whole grains for breakfast. I have always thought that soaking grains was a more natural way to prepare them and that this method was probably used anciently and up to the time when modern cooking practices changed the preparation methods.
I have also wondered about the need to spout grains as you mentioned and that this process makes grains more digestible and nutritious. I have read that the old way of harvesting and stacking grain for several days in “Shocks” allows the grain to partially sprout before it is threshed. Also, have you done any studies on the digestibility of the newer “Hybrid” grains and how they effect our health?
Thank you again for your help,
Diane
THE CHEF IN YOU
I wanted to confirm something with you, if you know (or can find out): I have read, from a couple of sources, that Chia seeds, Flax seeds, and Hemp seeds do not contain phytic acid…it would be fantastic if this was true, but do you know if it actually IS, for sure?
I would appreciate a reply when you see this message. Thank you very much.
They do contain some. I don’t think I’ve seen how much or a comparison of any kind. I’ll look for one specifically on my next library trip
Amanda
am trying to find the bone broth pages, but for some reason it wont got to it Help