Raw Vegan Recipes

There is a huge selection of raw vegan recipes available online now that the raw food diet is becoming so popular. You can also buy raw vegan cookbooks either on the internet or in stores, but often times these focus on either gourmet raw foods or recipes high in superfoods which are usually more expensive to prepare and are not everybody's idea of the simple raw diet.

Raw or living foods are those which have not been heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Strictly speaking, this rules out a lot of commercially dried and prepared foods which are often heated above this temperature at some point in the process.

Many foods which could be sold raw, such as milk and Californian almonds, are pasteurized to reduce the risk of microbial disease. It seems crazy to pasteurize almonds while fruits which are much more likely to come with bacteria if not well washed are sold raw everywhere, but it is a fact of life. Source your almonds from elsewhere if you want to eat raw.

Many raw vegan recipes include foods such as agave nectar which are processed food products and it is hard to know exactly what temperatures have been used in the preparation. You will also find recipes online which may claim to be raw but include ingredients such as Braggs or soy sauce which are not raw foods. So a certain amount of caution is required when looking at recipes on the internet.

Although it is possible that commercially dried foods may have been dried at temperatures below 115, many raw eaters prefer to dry their own. This is best done with a dehydrator which includes a thermostat to control the temperature. Food is dried on trays which sit inside the dehydrator. Most dehydrators have between 5 and 9 trays. Most raw foodists agree that the best dehydrator for drying living foods is the Excalibur, available to order online.

Having a dehydrator allows you to make raw 'breads' such as onion bread which is made from chopped onion, flax seeds and any other ingredients that you choose. We like to add finely chopped leeks and carrots.

Another essential piece of equipment for your raw kitchen is a high speed blender. With this you can make everything from green smoothies to nut pates. Vita-Mix is the brand to choose. While not the cheapest, Vita-Mix blenders are strong and long lasting. Anything else is a pale imitation.

You will also want a food processor for chopping and grating your vegetables. You may use a juicer, although many people prefer to put whole fruit in the blender with a little water instead of juicing, so that the fiber is not lost. Cheap juicers especially are very wasteful of fruit and vegetables, so you may be better off skipping the juicer purchase and investing in a better blender to enjoy your raw vegan recipes to the full.