Storing Raw Nuts and Seeds

My first attempts at eating more raw foods usually consisted of making almond milk and making various raw deserts with nut based crust. I had never purchased raw nuts much before that and had no idea that they required cold storage.

When I made almond milk for the very first time I noticed one almond was floating while the rest were submerged in water. I wondered if that particular almond had gone bad but didn’t give it much thought. Then about 2 weeks later I made a second batch of almond milk and this time close to two dozen floated to the top of the water while the majority stayed submerged.

This time I decided to do some Internet research and found rancid nuts float. I also learned that nuts go rancid pretty fast… as in a couple weeks. This is do to the oil in the nuts. They start to go rancid when exposed to light, heat, and moisture and I had been keeping them in a pantry where they were often exposed to light and warmth.

How you store your nuts will of course depend upon how many you have and how fast you go through them. I am about to place a co-op order for about 100 pounds of various raw nuts and seeds. I will be dividing them up and putting a few pounds each and in glass jars that will go in the refrigerator. The others will be carefully packaged and put in the freezer. In the refrigerator they should last about four months and in the freezer they will stay good for about eight months.

But are they still raw if you freeze them? Yes! Nuts and seeds freeze with very little damage because they have low water content unlike fruits and veggies. They will sprout just fine after freezing and only a living nut or seed can sprout.