If I soak beans, grains, nuts, etc. to remove anti nutrients, would I gain (or lose) anything by crushing first? I suppose the main reason I'd do this is to save soak time but I'd be concerned at what expense.
I thought one of the ways soaking reduces antinutrients is by spurring the seeds into the beginning processes of sprouting. That triggers a lot of chemical reactions inside the seed. If I'm understanding this correctly, that would make crushing the seeds very counterproductive. If it were just washing away chemicals I would expect us to call the process a rinse. Someone may be along shortly to correct me here.
I find when I soak crushed pulses that they don't cook as evenly as whole ones. Some of them cook too fast, and some remain raw in the middle. To get around this, I cook them to a mush so that I know that all of the pieces are cooked all the way through. This is great for making hummus or a thick soup base.
Another thing about soaking pulses. You're not just leaching out antinutrients; you are waking up the seed and starting the germination process. This process activates the internal mechanism that transforms difficult to digest components in the beans into easy to digest energy. Carol Deppe talks about this a lot in her book The Resilient Gardener. I don't think this happens as much when the beans or nuts are crushed.
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