The Tea Hack That'll Change The Way You Roast Nuts Forever

There's something about roasted nuts — be they almonds, walnuts, or pecans — that makes them so enticing. Several things, actually: The crunch, the texture, and the earthy sweetness. There's a broad spectrum of expression with seeds and nuts, but you'll almost never see anyone eating raw peanuts, and, flavor-wise, raw pine nuts are a shadow of their toasted selves. Home roasting is simple, cost-effective, and gives you more control over things like salt content. You may have heard that people often soak nuts, seeds, and legumes before roasting. There are many reasons for this, including encouraging crispness and digestibility. But the one thing that warm water won't do is add flavor. Before roasting, consider soaking nuts in tea instead. 

Just as beautiful harmonies rely on more than one note, wondrous food pairings require more than one ingredient. Tea-infused roast nuts offer a wide palate of culinary expression and dozens of opportunities for experimentation. Yes, you're basically just soaking nuts and seeds in warm tea, but even that simple act contains multitudes.

Just a few examples of pairing nuts and tea should give a sense of the very exciting world awaiting you. Start by soaking raw almonds in matcha or other green teas. Matcha in particular has an assertive green color and flavor and will impart at least some of that to the nut. Almonds, while not exactly neutral in flavor, are not dominant and gain a slight sweetness through roasting. Walnuts also pair beautifully with green tea, as evidenced by how often they're dusted with the stuff or show up in blends.

Moving to black teas, infusing pistachios (an Indian food staple) with chai will also prove a highly complementary pairing. Most masala chai recipes include a cinnamon stick, cloves, and green cardamom pods; each a culinary intimate of the pistachio nut, which is robust enough to stand up to the spices. These ideas barely scratch the surface of possibilities. 

Many people like to soak nuts prior to roasting for reasons other than flavor and crunch. Raw nuts contain enzyme inhibitors, which keep them from sprouting at the wrong time. As for the people eating raw nuts, enzyme inhibitors can impede digestion and mess with nutrient absorption. Soaking helps get rid of these anti-nutrients, while a slow roasting process will dehydrate the nuts and allow them to toast to a beautiful crisp.

In one respect, soaking nuts in tea can add to, rather than relieve, one of these issues. All teas made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant (this includes green, black, white, and oolong) contain tannins in varying degrees. Tannin, a polyphenol, is also an enzyme inhibitor that negatively affects the absorption of some digestive enzymes. The good news is that tannins have antioxidant and antibacterial qualities, so it all comes out in the wash — or, rather, the tea infusion. Now go get soaking!