Nuts and seeds are little pods of nutrition that plants create to grow up into more plants someday. And like all parents, these plants want to give their children the best start in life. Part of this is to provide them with loads of nutrition to grow big and strong; but only when conditions are right for growing. At the same time they also want to give the little nuts or seeds protection from animals that may want to eat the baby seed.
This nurturing and protection usually comes in the form of enzyme inhibitors that stop the nuts and seeds from sprouting and releasing their nutrients until conditions are perfect for growing. These enzyme inhibitors can make many nuts and seeds hard to digest and have even been known to give people sore stomachs upon eating too many. The enzyme inhibitors also stop the nut from releasing important macro and micro nutrients.
As another defence, the nuts and seeds contain a chemical compound called phytic acid which binds with important minerals such as calcium, zinc and iron. This means that your body cannot absorb these important nutrients when you eat them.
Activating nuts is a special process that works to get around the nuts and seeds ‘defenses’ by sprouting them first. When the nuts are taken through a process of sprouting, enzymes are released to break down the enzyme inhibitors and the phytic acid significantly reduces.
This process in turn makes starches in the nuts and seeds turn into complex sugars making them taste sweeter and more rich in flavour. More of the vast amounts of nutrient within the nuts and seeds become available. At the same time, the nuts and seeds become more digestible.
But, by this stage the activated nuts and seeds have lost one of their best culinary features – they are not crunchy. This is why ROAR nuts are then dehydrated until they are about 10%-15% lighter than before and are extra crunchy (this means you actually get more nuts and seeds for your $$$). They are dehydrated at low temperatures to maintain all of the nutrients and enzyme activity. The end result is a sweeter, crunchier, more flavourful and digestible nut or seed.
ROAR activated nuts and seeds are all made with mostly certified organic ingredients and are not heated above 45 °C. This also helps keep the healthy poly-unsaturated oils within the nut in tact and healthy – unlike a roasted nut.
