While plain cashews aren’t that bad, you’ll agree with me that they are best enjoyed with some salt and pepper. Processed and packaged cashew nuts are sold under different brands.
You can also buy raw or pre-roasted, unsalted cashews and indulge in salting them at home. It’s not a hard thing to do.
If you have not found this easy to do before now or you have never tried it before, you can get right with this article.
How to salt unsalted cashews
1. Heating the cashews
Heating cashews work for pre-roasted and raw nuts. In this method, you won’t be putting the nuts under too much heat so you won’t lose the texture of the pre-roasted nuts either.
- Heat a pan with little oil (olive oil or any neutral oil) on medium heat. Too much oil will give you greasy nuts and will also shorten their shelf life
- Then, toss in the nuts and sprinkle some salt over them
- While it heats, make sure your tossing with a wooden spatula
- Do this for one to two minutes before you take the pan off the heat
- Thereafter, leave the nuts to cool
- Store them in an airtight bottle and consume them within two weeks
2. Steaming
If oil doesn’t seem to work well for you, you can steam unsalted cashews in salt and water to make salty nuts.
You can use this method for both unsalted and pre-roasted cashews. But it works best for pre-roasted cashews.
- Bring water to a boil in a pot
- Pour the nuts into a metal or stainless strainer or colander
- Then, place the colander or strainer over the pot of boiling water
- Make sure the steam is getting to the nuts
- Sprinkle salt and toss with a wooden spatula
- The quantity of salt you use depends on the level of saltiness you like
- Leave the nuts over the boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute
- Bring down the nuts, allow them to dry, and serve
3. Roasting
Roasting unsalted cashew nuts is the best method to prepare salty cashews from scratch. You can use this method for pre-roasted nuts, but you may end up with bitter nuts because you’ll be double-roasting them.
But, if you must roast pre-roasted nuts again, do it on low heat and for just a few minutes.
For this method, you’ll also need a sticking agent, like oil, egg white, honey, or salted water. What you use depends on the flavor you hope to get.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking tray with parchment paper
- Spread the cashews across the tray. Make sure the nuts are not overlapping each other
- Then, drizzle oil (a neutral oil like olive oil or vegetable oil) over the nuts until they are evenly coated. Stir gently to distribute the oil evenly
- Roasting the nuts with oil will help bring out the natural oil in the cashews and the cashew-y flavor too
- Leave the cashews to roast for five minutes on medium heat
- Bring out the baking tray and stir the nuts, you may drizzle more oil if they are not as oily as you want
- Put the tray back into the oven and roast for another five minutes
- Keep an eye on the nuts so they don’t get burnt
- When you begin to smell the nutty flavor and the nuts look darker, bring out the tray
- Drizzle one or two teaspoons of oil and sprinkle salt over the cashews
- Feel free to add any additional seasoning you want (nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, or paprika)
- Leave the nuts to cool before you serve or store
- Don’t worry if the nuts look soggy or too greasy (as long as you did not add too much oil). They’ll reabsorb the oil, becoming crunchy while they cool
4. Soaking
If you want to salt unsalted cashews with the soaking method, do it with raw cashews that are still in their shells. This is because you’re soaking them in brine which can easily make cashews saltier than you expected.
More so, the brine can penetrate the shells into the nuts and make them salty and crunchy.
- Make a concentrated solution of salt and water
- Pour the nuts into a deep bowl
- Pour the brine into the nuts until they are covered
- Cover the bowl with a firm lid and set it aside to soak for two to four hours
- Afterward, drain the brine from the cashew nuts
- Dry the nuts on low heat in an oven. You can also use a dehydrator
- Make sure you check on the nuts while they dry. Taste a few of the nuts to be sure they are as crunchy as you want
- Take them out of the oven when they are fully dried
- Allow the cashews to cool before you serve or store them
How can you make the salt stick on the cashew nuts?
Getting salt to stick on cashew nuts could be quite a task. Introduce a sticking agent like oil, water, egg white, or honey. Cover the cashews with the sticking agent, then add the salt. This method works for oven-roasted nuts.
If salt is the only seasoning you want on your nuts, you’ll have to soak or steam the cashews in salt.
What do you do when your cashew nuts are too salty?
If you accidentally end up with salty cashews, you don’t have to throw them away. Here are ways you can do to salvage the situation.
Shake off the salt
You can unsalt cashews that are too salty by shaking off the salt. Gather the nuts into a clean, dry colander and cover it.
Gently shake the nuts so that they don’t break into pieces. You can put a plate under the colander to be sure the salt is shaking off.
Shake for two minutes and taste a few. If they are still salty, shake again until you reach your desired saltiness.
Soak and dry the nuts
The second method is to soak the nuts. This method removes the salt faster, but you’ll have to use the oven again.
Pour the salty cashews into a bowl and pour water until the nuts are covered. Don’t soak the nuts for too long, so they don’t get too soft.
After a minute or two, taste the nuts. When you’re sure that most of the salt is gone, you can drain the nuts and dry them off on low heat in the oven.
In addition, these nuts cannot last so long, so you better eat them within 3 to 4 days.
Are salted cashews good for you?
Salted cashews taste better than unsalted cashews. But, they are not a healthier option. Eating salted cashews is putting yourself on a high-sodium diet. If you must eat salted cashews, do so with caution.
FAQs
How many calories are in roasted salted cashew?
One ounce of roasted cashews contains 165 calories. They are low in sugar and rich in fiber which may even aid weight loss.
How do you preserve roasted cashew nuts?
To keep cashew nuts fresh and crispy for two weeks or more, refrigerate or freeze them.
Remember to store them in airtight bottles to prevent moisture from tampering with their texture.
How can you make stale, soft cashew nuts crispy again?
To revive stale, soft cashew nuts, you’ll have to toast them in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes.
You can also choose to warm the nuts in the microwave using the high heat setting. Moreover, it’ll take less time to get this done.
How long should you soak cashews?
Soak cashews overnight or for 5 to 7 hours. Soaking the nuts makes it easy to get rid of contaminants like pesticides and other chemicals that help preserve the nuts.
Conclusion
After all, salting cashew nuts is not very easy, yet it isn’t much of a task either. The challenge you may experience is getting the salt to stick to the nuts. And that was addressed in the article.
Salting unsalted cashews, especially after roasting, takes a while because the nuts don’t readily absorb the salt. Look for the method that best suits your nuts and make delicious salted cashews.
Thanks for reading.
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