soaked cashews look gray

[3for3hb]

My raw cashews have been soaking for 18 hours in salted water. And now they look grayish. Is that normal? I've never tried soaking cashews before, only almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, umm I forget what else.

I was going to make crispy nuts with them (low temp oven drying). Do you think they are still usable?

[krankedyann]

Cashew aren't truly raw- they have to be steamed to get them out of the shells. Something about a toxin if they aren't... so raw cashews aren't really raw.

I remember seeing that you can only soak cashews 7-8 hours, then you risk them going 'off.'

[tanyalynn]

Because cashews are already cooked, I think they're only supposed to soak for a really short time, like 4-6 hours. I would worry that they're rotting.

[Metasequoia]

: SF says no more that 6 hours.

[3for3hb]

well shoot.
I had no idea about them not really being raw.
Hmmm.

[NikkiLDS]

you CAN buy them really raw. They are usually steamed to get them out of the shell, but they can be opened carefully by hand (carefully so as not to get the toxins from the shell on the nut. cashews are related to poison ivy, so they have urushiol on the outside). I bought some from eatraw.com - but actually, I asked at whole foods, and they claimed that the cashews in the bulk aisle were opened by hand, giving me the impression that they are raw as well.