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Most of us love salty, tangy nibbles with our favorite beverages. Wouldn’t it be great if you could replicate the munchies served at bars and restaurants at home? Now you can, with these recipes for preparing salt and vinegar nut snacks. To make salt and vinegar nuts, soak your choice of nuts in vinegar for about two hours. Drain nuts and pat dry with a kitchen towel, then coat in oil and salt. Bake between 250 and 300°F (121.11 and 148.89°C) for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool before serving. If you’re looking for more information on how to soak, dry, and bake nuts, plus a primer on a lesser-known but equally tasty type of “non-nut,” keep reading to find out more. Go to top Salt and Vinegar Nuts Recipe Ideas Several recipes for salt and vinegar nuts exist, but this one specific recipe from Fitter Food seems the healthiest of them. The authors of the recipe are Keris Marsden, a naturopathic nutritional therapist, and Matt Whitmore, a personal trainer and health coach. Both wrote The Paleo Primer: A Jump-Start Guide to Losing Body Fat and Living Primally. Marsden and Whitmore claim their nut recipe is free from these common ingredients that cause allergic reactions in susceptible people: celery dairy egg fish gluten grain meat milk mollusk nightshade poultry shellfish yeast soy Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 2 to 3 hours Serving portion: 16 Nutritional information: 80 calories carbohydrates, 0.25 ounces fat, 0.28 ounces protein, .004 ounces Ingredients 18 ounces (510.29 grams) macadamias and cashews (mixed) 4 tbsp olive oil (alternatives: peanut or canola oil) 4 tbsp apple cider vinegar ½ teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt, kosher salt, or pink Himalayan salt flakes Alternatives to Apple Cider Vinegar Distilled vinegar White wine vinegar Balsamic vinegar Chinese black vinegar and cilantro Add parsley to the apple cider vinegar Procedure Preheat the oven to gas mark 1 or 248°F (120°C). Coat the nuts thoroughly with oil, salt, and vinegar, and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Place the sheet in the oven on low heat. The nuts are done baking when they adopt a crunchy texture. Cool before serving. Other salt and vinegar nut recipes follow variations of this basic procedure: Soak the nuts in vinegar for one to two hours. (Other sources suggest soaking nuts for up to four hours.) Discard the vinegar, then pat the nuts dry. Toss the nuts with oil and salt. Spread evenly on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Bake the nuts in the oven, rearranging them halfway. (Recipes vary on the temperature and duration of baking time.) Remove the tray from the oven and allow nuts to cool before serving. Store remaining nuts in an airtight container. Go to top How To Soak Cashew Nuts Quickly? Soak nuts faster by using any of these two methods. The first one comes from wikiHow, and the second is from vegans Stephanie and Matt of the foodie blog, Pasta-based. The Traditional Method for Soaking Cashew Nuts Mix 4 tbsp of salt and one cup of water in a saucepan. Bring the water to a boil while stirring to dissolve the salt. Remove pan from heat. Add cashews to the salted water, and soak for 20 minutes. Drain cashews, and spread on a parchment-lined baking tray. Sprinkle additional salt on them if you prefer saltier nuts. Bake the nuts at 300°F (148.89°C) for 20 minutes. Remove the cashews from the oven and allow them to cool. An Ultra-Quick Method for Soaking Cashew Nuts An alternative method for rapidly softening raw cashews is to place them in a pot, immerse them with water, then bring water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, squeeze some lemon juice into it, then remove the pan from the heat. Cover and let soak for 15 minutes. Adding the lemon juice softens the nuts and creates a chemical reaction that produces tiny sprouts to shoot out from the nuts. Some people regard these sprouts as beneficial to digestion because they secrete more nutrients. Use this method for recipes with mushy cashews, such as those for pasta sauce. You get the same results as overnight soaking but with a much shorter immersion time. What Is the Normal Soaking Time? Various nut types require different soaking times. According to wikiHow, Brazil nuts and cashews require between four and six hours, while macadamias and almonds need seven. Walnuts, peanuts, and pecans need half a day. Don’t mix different nut types, particularly if they require varied submersion times. Soak them separately, or else mold may form on them. Questions on Nut-Soaking Do cashews lose their nutritional benefits when soaked in warm water? Most commercially sold cashews, including raw ones, lose some of their nutrients when they undergo a heating process prior to packaging. However, it is not apparent if their nutrient value diminishes further when heated in water. If unsure, soak cashews overnight in room-temperature water to retain as many nutrients as possible. Can you store already soaked nuts in the fridge? If you soaked the nuts in hot water before realizing you don’t need them till the next day, wait about 30 minutes for them to cool. Then rinse and dry them before storing them in the fridge. They should keep for a day. Why only one day? What if you prefer to consume them a week later? Those nuts are best used within 24 hours but may keep to about a week. If they smell funny or feel slimy by then, throw them out. Go to top How To Salt Unsalted Nuts? When you salt raw nuts yourself, not only will you add flavor sustainably, but you can also monitor salt levels and avoid unhealthy oils and additives. Here are some methods to help you get the right amount of saltiness: Soak nuts still in their shills in brine overnight. This is the best method for these particular nuts. Reduce soaking time down to one to two hours by boiling the brine. For every pound of nuts, use 2 ounces (56.7 grams) of salt and 3 cups (709.77 ml) of water. A more condensed solution produces saltier nuts. Dry them in the oven. Heat them in a pan. This is the quickest method. Use vegetable oil to avoid an aftertaste. Roast raw nuts in oil or butter for five minutes at medium oven heat to bring the natural oils to surface coat the nuts. This is the best method for raw nuts. Roast them up to two shades darker. If you prefer them harder, roast them at 450°F (232.22°C) for five to eight minutes. Keep pre-roasted nuts in the oven for an extra two to three minutes to ensure optimum crunch. Spray the nuts with oil and sprinkle salt on them, then toss. Steam the nuts. This is the healthiest method. Place in a strainer over boiling water for less than a minute. If they become soggy, dry them with a dehydrator or in the oven at a low temperature to avoid burning them. Various nuts will take different amounts of time to dry entirely. Boil nuts in their shells, drain, remove the shells, then season with salt. This is the second healthiest method. If you’ve salted the nuts but aren’t ready to eat them, keep them in a hermetically sealed container. If stored at room temperature, they will keep for approximately three days, but they will last longer if kept in the fridge or a cool, dark cabinet. Go to top When Is a Nut Not a Nut? Tiger nuts are not nuts, but tubers that come from the same family as potatoes. They’re a superb alternative for people allergic to grains and nuts and are great for lactose-intolerant people because milk made from them makes an excellent substitute for cow’s milk. Doctors recommend these nuts to diabetics because they contain the hormone arginine, which secretes insulin. According to Healthline, tiger nuts are rich in antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory properties. They reduce blood sugar, lower cholesterol, relieve constipation, and promote healthy digestion. Ayurvedic practitioners recommend them as aphrodisiacs to those with erectile dysfunction. Tiger nut milk is a staple in Nigeria, where the tiger nut plant is indigenous. Various tribes call this tuber by different names, including “ofio” and “imumu.” Tiger nut milk is also a favorite beverage in Spain, which is known as “horchata de chufa” and serves it chilled in the summer. It is also a popular drink in Mexico, but they flavor their version with cinnamon and vanilla. Go to top How To Prepare Tiger Nut Drinks? This recipe is courtesy of Ronke Edoho, the author of the book, Lose It Nigerian. Her process is straightforward, similar to making soy milk. If tiger nuts are not available in your area, substitute them with almonds. If you’re lucky to get fresh tiger nuts, you don’t have to soak them beforehand. If you’re cutting down on sugar, sweeten the milk with dried dates instead. Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes Serving portion: 6 Ingredients 1 cup (128 g) tiger nuts or almonds soaked overnight 4 cups (946.35 ml) water 6 dried dates (to sweeten the milk) Half of one fresh coconut (to intensify its creamy consistency) Procedure Rinse the dried nuts and soak them overnight in plenty of water. Drain the nuts and transfer them to a blender. Add four cups of water with the dates and coconut. Blend everything until smooth. Pour the mixture into a strainer bag or a muslin cloth draped over a large bowl. Squeeze the bag or cloth to extract the milk. Pour the resulting liquid into a mason jar and keep it in the fridge. Tiger nut milk may coagulate when refrigerated, so shake the container before every use. Go to top Conclusion Nuts are essential ingredients to some of the world’s most desirable snacks and beverages. Learning to prepare and season them with panache will make you even more popular at social gatherings. We hope that the information we provided in this article is enough to bolster your confidence in snack and beverage creation. Enjoy your culinary masterpieces!

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