Read The Complete Book of Raw Food Online
Authors: Julie Rodwell
The Complete Book of Raw Food (3 page)
If you really love fresh herbs, you may want to grow an herb garden or window box, depending on your inclinations as a gardener, your space, and the local climate.
To dry herbs at home, buy them fresh in season and then hang them to dry in your kitchen. Homemade dried herbs are more flavorful than store-bought. In addition to those fresh and dried herbs, fresh and powdered garlic, and dried hot peppers such as habanera, jalapeño or Thai dragon are handy to have.
Perishables are stored in the refrigerator. In addition to fresh herbs and greens, nuts should also be kept in the fridge. Unless they are eaten quickly, nuts can soon go rancid. Place them in a sealed plastic or glass container in your refrigerator to prevent this. (Nuts in the shell will keep for a very long time without refrigeration.)
IN THE RAW
Many raw foodists use green powders as dietary supplements. The powder contains concentrated amounts of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes found in fresh fruits and vegetables. Green powder is “an acquired taste,” but many of our chefs swear by it. Some popular brands include Vitamineral Green, Perfect Food, ProGreens, Green Vibrance, and Green Magma. You can purchase green powders in many health food stores or from on-line vendors.
Fresh greens (chard and kale, for example) are plentiful in the raw food kitchen, as are ready-grown sprouts of different varieties and other vegetables to grate and slice for salads and other dishes. Fresh lemons are a must-have for many recipes, as are many other fresh fruits. If you own a dehydrator, you can experiment with drying fruit slices to eat when your favorites are out of season.
When it comes to shopping for raw food ingredients, you sometimes have to go beyond the local grocery store. Raw chefs Jinjee and Storm Talifero have lots of experience food shopping. “We shop at several specialty stores, such as the Asian market, farms, and farmers’ markets, sometimes visiting four different locations in a day and even driving two hours each way to connect with farm produce.” Here’s their advice about how and where to find the right ingredients.
Farmers’ Markets
. These are ideal places to connect with farmers and their fresh organic produce. A farmers’ market is like an old-fashioned street market, which you can still find permanently set up in Europe. Here in the United States, farmers’ markets are usually weekly affairs. Farmers set up their stalls for three or four hours in the nearest town in a large parking lot and sell their freshly harvested produce directly to consumers. Sometimes, toward the end of the day, you can get free “leftovers” or “seconds” (produce that will be too ripe to sell the next day, for instance).
REJUVELAC
One basic in the raw food kitchen is rejuvelac, a fermented wheat beverage that raw foodists believe imparts great health benefits. It has a tart, lemony flavor; and because it is fermented, it’s slightly carbonated, too. Here’s how to make it.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
½- to 1-gallon jar, with a wide mouth spring wheat berries (usually sold in bulk at better health food stores)
filtered water
cheesecloth
rubber bands
Fill the jar about one-quarter full with the wheat berries, and then fill the jar with filtered water. Cover the jar with the cheesecloth and secure it with rubber bands. Let the berries soak overnight, or at least 8 hours. Drain the berries, rinse them, and then drain them again.
Place the jar upside down but at a slight angle so that water can drain and air can circulate.
Rinse the wheat berries twice a day. After about two days, they will begin to sprout. When that happens, rinse and drain the sprouts well. Fill the jar once more to the top with water and let the sprouts soak for about two days. During that time, the liquid will ferment and become rejuvelac. Transfer the rejuvelac to a jar or pitcher and refrigerate.
You can get two more batches of rejuvelac out of the same sprouts, but let the sprouts soak for only 24 hours for each successive batch.
Jinjee recommends buying Certified Organic food. Keep in mind that many farmers who do sell organic produce can’t afford to be certified, so simply ask whether they’re organic. You can judge for yourself whether they are truthful.
SWEETENERS
Sweeteners, at least in small amounts, are essential for preparing flavorful raw food. Sugar is not raw. To some chefs, the sweetener comprises such a small portion of most recipes that whether or not the sweetener is raw is of no importance. But chefs who want to be 100 percent raw use only raw sweeteners.
Here are just a few of the sweeteners used by raw chefs.
Date sugar
. This product is made by pulverizing dried dates. It contains all the nutrients and minerals of dates in addition to fiber.
Dried fruits
. These include apricots, dates, pineapple, prunes, and raisins. All provide lots of natural sweetness and can be chopped or blended or food processed along with other ingredients.
Raw honey
. Bees make honey from the nectar of flowering plants. To be considered raw, the honey must not have been heated during the extraction process. The flavor of honey depends on the plant from which the nectar was derived. Raw honey reportedly has medicinal benefits, too, and contains enzymes and small amounts of minerals and B-complex vitamins.
True vegans do not use honey—it’s an animal byproduct—but it is a staple in the kitchen of most raw food chefs. Our chefs recommend shopping for organic, non-pasteurized honey. The beehives are in an area free of spraying, which means pesticide residue will be absent. (Note: It is unsafe for babies younger than 18 months to eat honey, which can contain spores that cause botulism.)
Sucanat® and Sucanat® with Honey
. This is the brand name of a certified organic, unrefined whole cane sugar. It is produced from concentrated, dried cane juice that is granulated. Only water is removed, which means Sucanat retains the mineral salts, trace elements, and part of the vitamins and vegetable fibers found naturally in the sugar cane plant.
Turbinado sugar
. This is a partially refined raw sugar from which about two-thirds of the molasses has been removed.
Stevia
. This powerful natural sweetener is an easy to use powder; not everyone likes its slight aftertaste.
Agave
. Agave isn’t just for tequila any more! Raw, organic agave syrup is an excellent, inexpensive sweetener with a low glycemic index.
To find out where and when the farmers’ markets in your area take place, search the Internet or check your local health food store, library, phone book, or Yellow Pages.
Health Food Stores
. Many health food stores sell only supplements. But some also offer produce, and bulk foods such as nuts, seeds, grains, and occasionally dried fruit. There are some stellar health food stores out there, as well as some really good chain stores. Whole Foods, Mother’s, and Lassens are some of the chain stores Jinjee recommends. These chains are just starting to sprout up, so they are often just in one or two states at this point. Prices tend to be high, but it’s worth supporting these outfits and the organic farmers that they in turn support.
Get involved in your health food store. Put on events and lectures there. Post flyers there. Have conversations with the staff, management, and customers. Make shopping a social event. Help to make it a fun community place for like-minded people to gather.
Asian Markets
. These markets are a great source for tropical exotic fruits such as durians, tamarinds, guavas, lychees, mangostines, and young coconuts. And if the market doesn’t carry a fruit you want, you can usually order it. You’ll find listings for Asian markets in the phone book and Yellow Pages.
Supermarkets
. Become friendly with your local supermarket produce person and the owner/manager. You can influence them to start an organic section if the store doesn’t yet have one. You can also ask them to special order organic produce for you. It may end up being less expensive than other options. Encourage them to keep a cover on salad mixes, for a longer-lasting product that’s not soaked hourly by their spray system.
Farms
. What could be better than connecting with the farms and farmers where food is grown? You can find farms listed on-line, in the yellow pages, or simply by driving through the countryside.
CHEF’S TIP
Remove the stickers from fruit and tomatoes as soon as you get the fruit home. That way, you won’t accidentally blend or chop the sticker into a recipe later.
—Matt Amsden
Farm Stores
. Some farms run stands or even stores in the countryside or in small towns. A single farm, or several farms may run these stores together. To find one, look up “farm stores,” in your phone book. The produce may or may not be organic.