Soak the raw almonds with the skin still on, not the blanched ones. The purpose of soaking them is to start the germination process (like sprouting) so that nutrients become more bio-available. It breaks down the enzyme inhibitors and in that sense does make them more easily digestible. Soaking leaches out some of the tannic acid, which interferes with the absorption of iron, for one thing. That is why people who eat a lot of almonds remove the skin. Of course, soaking does make it easy to remove the skin, although sometimes I eat the soaked almonds with the skin on anyway. I eat the roasted salted almonds, too, and a whole lot of other "normal" foods, like sausages, and hamburgers, and pizza.
Answered by
Ajay Chawla
at
2:19 PM on March 10, 2009