Follow me on my journey through Motherhood, the Divine world of Raw Organic Eating, Greater Spiritual Awarness and a life that will eventually lead to Self Sufficiency and Complete Contentment.......This is my journey.....
We all know Christmas is approaching. The shops have been reminding us for the last month with all their campaigns to get us to buy more and eat more during the festive season. I am not very big on Christmas, mainly because I'm not a kid anymore and I now know Santa isn't real, but mainly because the real 'spirit' of Christmas has been lost in all the mainstream consumerism that has become what it is today. My kids love Christmas, they love it because they get presents. They also love it because 'Santa' hands out lollies in every shop! I try to add a little bit of real 'Christmas spirit' into our day by making the kids handmade gifts and emphasising the goodness of giving and sharing rather than receiving, but it generally gets lost in all the unavoidable 'hype' of consuming.
Anyway, here is a delicious, little, simple, raw treat recipe that I thought would make fabulous little handmade gifts that anyone would love to receive. Its so simple the kids can even make them. A great way for the children to experience a little bit of 'true Christmas spirit' by 'making and giving' on this over commercialised day of the year.
Raw Christmas bliss balls
Raw Christmas bliss balls to share this festive season
Simply process a mix or a combination of activated almonds, pecans and walnuts. About 2 cups will make a few balls for a family to share. I crumbled the nuts until a fine meal and added enough dates to form a sticky dough. (I used a juicer with the solid plate, but you can use a food processor to combine nuts with dates) To this I added cacao powder - about 1/2 cup and another cup of roughly chopped almonds I mixed the chocolate dough with my hands and rolled into balls. I thought they looked cute served in mini patty papers.
To make the chocolate topping, simply whisk until smooth equal parts melted coconut oil, honey and cacao powder. 1/4 cup of each should be enough to put a dollop on the top of each.
Finish by placing a goji berry on top and let topping set in fridge before serving.
My kids loved these and never left any for poor Dad to enjoy when he got home from work. Will have to make another batch for Christmas day.
I have been rather busy over the last week in the kitchen, finalising some last minute dishes as I prepare for my Raw 'Delicious Dinners' Workshop happening this weekend. I am very excited to see a full house of expected attendees, some of which have attended previous workshops, but the majority will be new to raw. Its going to be so exciting to share the amazing world of raw to interested people who have never tried it before. I cant wait!
So here is a some delicious raw dishes that has been created in our kitchen this week.
Fresh green 'tacos' with the lot!
This is a great, simple dish that the whole family can help make and will enjoy. I have even had other children visit our house and we make this meal together and everyone always digs in! Even kids who don't normally eat anything green, let alone all raw will devour this!
Start by making the 'mok mince' Process a couple of handfuls of walnuts or pecans until crumbled with a dash of nama shoyu and cumin powder and any other spices you may wish to add.
Starzi adding her special blend of herbs and spices to the 'mok mince'
Next make the tomato salsa: Chop up a couple of tomatoes with some finely chopped red onion, add some olive oil, crushed garlic clove, cumin and coriander powder and a dash of lemon juice. Finish with a pinch of salt.
Optional extras are: Chopped mushrooms in a marinade of olive oil and nama shoyu mashed avocado with lemon juice, salt and herbs sunflower seed cheese spread made by blending until smooth 1/2 cup of activated sunflower seeds with a pinch of salt, dash of lemon juice and a Tablespoon of nutritional yeast.
And now the fun bit! Ask you kids to go to the garden and gather bundles of fresh large green leaves to use as tacos.
Assemble: Lay out your leaf, place a dollop of each ingredient into the centre and roll. Enjoy.
We served today's meal with orange wedges and celery sticks just because we had some.
Both kids proud of their inclusion in today's meal.
And here is what we did with the left overs in the next days meal......
Raw Tomato, basil and cheese tarts:
Raw tomato, basil and 'cheese' tarts
Using left over 'Mok mince' from the above meal, press into a small pie tart tin to create a mould, then remove from tin.
Top with left over marinated mushrooms from above meal, chopped fresh tomato, red onion strips, fresh basil leaves, baby spinach leaves and a dollop of left over sunflower 'cheese' from above meal.
This was super fast to create as it was basically made from leftovers.... two very different dishes with very similar ingredients!
And here is another variation from the above meal I created today using similar ingredients.
Tomato, mushroom, spinach, avocado, olive and basil towers (to make 4 towers)
This is just as the name suggests - a tower of raw food to create these delicious, gourmet looking creations.
I was inspired to make towers after stumbling across a brand new 'stack em kit' for only $5 at the op shop last week. What a bargain..this kit contained 6 stainless steel cylinders with a 'pusher' so towers like this can be achieved without any fuss. I was really impressed with the results.
So I started by making a nut base by processing about a cup each of activated walnuts and almonds a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and a sprinkle of 'seasoned salt' . I also added a tablespoon of melted coconut oil to ensure the nuts mix would hold shape when pressed. I pressed this nut mix into the base of each cylinder with the 'pusher' to create a sturdy base. (I think my bases were too thick so make them half the thickness as mine in the picture)
Next I began to invent layers with what I had available.
First layer was fresh basil leaves placed flat onto the nut base. Next layer was a slice of fresh tomato Next layer was chopped mushrooms that had been marinated in olive oil and nama shoyu (or tamari) Next layer was another slice of fresh tomato Next layer was fresh garden silverbeet that had been shredded and massaged with olive oil, nutritional yeast and salt until wilted. Next layer was another slice of fresh tomato Next I added a few pieces of cubed avocado and sliced raw olives. I then crumbled left over nut base on the top, but if I had any left over 'sunflower seed cheese' I would have used that instead. Garnish with a basil leaf.
I think this dish can be enjoyed just as much without the nut base for a light summer lunch (just use a slice of tomato for a base) and some raw pesto would work great in amongst the layers also. The options to expand on this dish is endless! If you don't have one of the fancy 'stack em kits' then just try your best to create a stack anyway - I have done without one in the past with great results.
Today I have found myself again highly energised on a 'raw high' as I created a few more exciting new recipes to share at my next workshop and a couple of quick and easy bliss balls for the family as I used up some excess almond meal and coconut pulp.
Lunch was these fantastic little raw 'spring rolls' which were enjoyed like this:
And then like this as a packed lunch for the husband:
I also whipped up these quick and tasty little raw bliss balls using left over coconut pulp from making fresh coconut milk recently.
Recipe: Raw Chocolate and coconut bliss balls
Combine in a bowl:
pulp of one brown coconut after making fresh coconut milk (or you can use 1 cup of dried coconut)
1/4 cup of cacao powder
pinch of salt
dash of vanilla powder
1/2 cup of chopped activated almonds (or any chopped nuts will do)
Add:
1/2 cup of raw honey
1/4 cup of coconut oil
Mix until well combined and shape into balls.
Roll in a little cacao powder to finish
Then I made some tasty little raw 'jam drops' using left over almond pulp.
Recipe: Raw 'Jam Drops'
Combine in a bowl:
left over almond pulp (about 1 cup)
5 dates that have been pushed through a juicer with the flat plate
1/4 cup of honey
dash of vanilla powder
dash of cinnamon
1/4 cup of coconut oil
Roll into balls and make an indent with your thumb to add the jam drop(mixture will not stick extremely well so take care when pressing in the hole for the jam.)
Add a dollop of raw jam by just blending any type of fruit. I used mulberries. If jam becomes too runny, just squeeze excess liquid out through a nut bag. Keep liquid for smoothies or drink as is. You can also add a small amount of honey for more sweetner or to thicken. (or you could use store bought jam from a jar but it wont be raw)
These were disappearing quicker than I could jam them!
Today I was delighted to find my enthusiasm re-emerge for creating raw delights as I trialed this fantastic new Phad Thai noodle recipe....and the results were amazing! So, I have decided to include it at my next workshop. Here is a picture before it was devoured.
Raw Phad Thai noodle
And here is another favourite that I will be sharing on the day of the workshop. Raw pasta pesto.
Raw Pasta pesto
Looking forward to creating and trialling a few more recipes over the next couple of weeks to share at the workshop.
Hello everyone...I am back and happy to be here. Its been a while since I have posted anything new, as I fumbled, lost through the last month, finding a little more of myself and my 'middle ground' in a raw lifestyle.
Finding that 'middle ground' has been a struggle, as I personally find it quite difficult to allow just 'a little bit' sometimes, as that 'little bit' easily becomes a lot more and lines become very hazy. Not only that, eating just one baked muffin...ok, it wasn't actually just one, I ate 3 in the afternoon, just turns my stomach, literally. I have discovered that eating only truly raw in its whole form, my appetite is content and I feel completely fresh inside with not a need to 'over do it' and want more. My energies are high and I am feeling good. Its only when I enjoy the tastes of processed, baked or cooked foods, my taste buds are in charge and I find myself wanting more, in some cases, even when my stomach is literally about to burst with fullness until it cramps! My energy also plummets, I just want to curl up on the lounge and become a couch potato and I feel crap.
Anyway, these are all good lessons and just as much as I love raw food and the benefits it provides for my mind and body and my wish to eat it all the time, I have accepted that this will not always be the case as our lives transition from what they are now, to what we are aiming to achieve, maybe only then a 100% raw lifestyle may be achievable. For now it is a very high raw diet as I take it day by day, hoping to end each day on just wholesome pure raw food.
So today like the last few have been all raw and today like the other days, we have enjoyed simple raw meals to coinside with the glorious season we are in now - Spring, coming into summer and with it, the flow of sweet juicy fruits!
I absolutely love fruit, tropical fruits and berries particularly. I can eat fruit all day and be totally content. As long as the fruits keep rolling in, my interest in other cooked, baked or processed foods will be all but gone.
Here is our simple Spring lunch today...
Our simple staple salad made by Starzi:
Just throw together some greens, avocado, olives and tomatoes and top with a dressing made from olive oil, crushed garlic, pinch salt and juice of lemon (we used apple cider vinegar today as we were out of lemons) and then for something different and because our garden is thriving with them, a sprig of chopped dill.
This salad was served with Moroccan Carrots
Spiral a couple of carrots, toss in olive oil, juice of half an orange, dash of lemon juice, pinch of salt, sprinkle of cumin powder and cinnamon and some cracked pepper with a topping of fresh chopped parsley.
This was followed by the sweet fresh juice of a thai young coconut
And then to top it off...my favourite food in the world! Mangoes! Simply a bowl of diced mangoes with a few left over strawberries for colour. So easy, simple and totally delicious.
Its amazing just how much life can teach us in such a small space of time. Only 4 weeks ago on the eve of the last new moon, I sat here, writing up my list of daily achievements with full intentions of fulfilling each on a daily basis for a month. And here I sit on the eve of this new moon with completely different ideals.
This month has really been an interesting month for me. I would have to say it has been definitely the most challenging since taking on the raw lifestyle 10 months ago, but also the most reflective as I have learnt a great deal more than just another series of raw meal ideas.
So what have I learnt, and where to begin. I think the title of this post explains it all. Its like I have taken 2 massive leaps into the raw food world and taken it on whole hearted for 9 months, filled with enthusiasm, energy, excitement and total commitment to living an ideal 100% raw lifestyle.....and then things changed, and I have now taken that one step back. Stepping back and finding a more sustainable way to enjoy a raw lifestyle, one that can be easily obtained and sustained long term.
I don't think it was really just one day or one thing that allowed me to take that step back, just an accumulation of moments, circumstances and factors that have forced me to take a look at everything and reevaluate life.
This month I have seen a major shortage of fresh organic food available in our coop, due to members being away on holidays for school and products just not being available such as basic essential ingredients like tomatoes and zucchinis, and the summer fruits have still not arrived, so my weekly small organic fresh food order has not caused any reason to be enthusiastic about food at all! There is only so much interest I can create with the same selection week after week - hence the complete lack of new posts on new raw creations this month. Chia pudding has become a regular standby on the dinner table each night much to the disappointment for the kids who had just had it for breakfast!
Other than the lack of motivation to create with the same regular ingredients daily, I think the biggest revolation of the month was when I discovered just how distant I had become from my friends due to my 100% raw lifestyle. For the past 9 months I had been literally consumed by the excitement of the wonders of raw living and sharing with everyone I spoke too and became oblivious to the slow demise of my social life. It really hit me hard when I found myself intentionally being left off the invites list of a friends birthday celebration. It was after this that I began to reflect on just how much I had excluded myself and the children from the general community and our friends. I realised then that our social life had haltered the moment we began our raw journey. My friends were uncomfortable around me as they felt I would not approve of their 'conventional' ways so preferred not to include us and assuming I would not be interested in attending gatherings that did not revolve around raw food. While on the other hand, I began to feel judged by everyone, feeling the restrictions, daring not to eat anything that was not raw or I would be caught out as a fraud! I had a profile to maintain as a raw foodist considering all the preaching I had done over the last year on how great raw is. How could I be holding a raw food workshop one week and then eating out with friends on cooked dinners? I soon realised just how controlled my life had become and restricted....and most of all I realised that I just wasn't completely happy. After a week of eating chia pudding for dinner and browsing through photos on Facebook of my friends enjoying a party that I wasn't invited to, I hit a low point and that's when I took that one step back.
I have since heard about life happening like that. When someone jumps into a completely new lifestyle in one massive leap overnight whole heartedly, they follow that lifestyle for awhile, until one day, something happens and then they have to do a reality check, and settle for a middle ground. A lifestyle that can be maintained and continued happily long term. It is that 'middle ground' that 'balance' between conventional life, friends, family, happiness, and raw food that I have to find.
So instead of following my 'daily raw achievements' chart on the fridge this month, I have instead began to seek my middle ground, my happy medium that will keep my family and I happy long term and still feel connected with my family and friends while living a raw lifestyle. And the way to do that is with compromises. I found this month being a month of compromises. I actually cooked our family the first fully cooked meal in nearly 10 months. It was either going to be another bowl of chia pudding for dinner or a serve of sweet cooked mashed pumpkin grown by my lovely friend in her garden with spinach paneer made from homegrown spinach from another friends garden. Though it was not raw, it was wholesome, it was tasty and it was enjoyed by us all. I have since made a few meals that I call 'hybrid meals'. Meals that consist of a high raw portion with a small cooked portion, just to bring some enthusiasm back into the kitchen. I have also attended our first 'kids' birthday party in a long time, and I helped myself to some sweet home baked goods that were on offer. Just allowing myself to be in the 'moment' and enjoy what is on offer is such a huge relief to let go of. Allowing myself to say that life can be about high raw lifestyles, and allowing just a little wholesome cooked foods in a 'moment' can actually be beneficial as takes away the stress of maintaining a very difficult ideal and making life a little easier which is more important. Happiness is the key to the greatest health..not just raw food.
Raw Harmony - finding a harmonious balance of raw living.
A friend posted this link to me after I spoke to them amidst my confusion about life and it helped a great deal.
This month my family celebrates our 16th birthday as a Raw Family. Raw food saved our lives and I love every aspect of my raw life except for one. It becomes increasingly uncomfortable to feel the separation of us "purists," (100% raw foodists) from anyone who is "below" that standard.
I first experienced this unease four years ago. I visited my relatives who eat a standard American diet, when suddenly my 9 year old nephew confided to me that he decided to become a vegetarian. He asked me if I would teach him to cook a vegetable soup. I froze, thinking. "How can I do that? I am a 100% raw fooder!" Yet, after looking into Sasha’s excited eyes, I went ahead and helped him cook a soup, which he loved.
Soon after this episode, I participated in a weekend workshop with about self-realization, along with 500 other attendees. That was the very first non-raw food event that I had been to in more than ten years. I remember feeling different, weird, and completely out of place. In addition, and contrary to my expectation, those people did not look particularly unhealthy. I did a lot of thinking at this workshop about why I felt separated and the importance of happiness in one’s life.
Since then I noticed feeling progressively more sensitive when talking to people who were struggling to stick to a 60%, 70%, 80%, or whatever % raw diet. All of a sudden, I realized that my book 12 Steps to Raw Foods (first edition) contained fanaticism about 100% raw foodism. Soon I completely revised this book and published the second edition, which I find to be a much kinder book, and perhaps more useful because of that. I shredded and recycled the left over copies of the old edition.
I have noticed that when I was telling other people about myself being a 100% raw foodist, it came across as if I was claiming to be a better, higher, more spiritual person. I felt so uncomfortable that I repeated in every lecture, "I am just a woman in a green dress. Please don’t put me on a pedestal."
We are all pioneers, still in the beginning of our research of the human diet. Nothing is set in stone and our bodies continually change. For example, while I enjoyed gourmet raw food in the beginning of my raw journey, for several years now, I have completely eliminated food prepared with nuts. In recent years I have decided that it can be healthier, to eat a bowl of cooked green vegetables than a whole jar of raw nut butter.
While I believe with my whole heart that, when done correctly, a raw food diet is the optimal way of eating for humans, and my present diet is almost exclusively raw, I prefer to resign from a "100% raw" position.
Listen up everyone, I am announcing the next raw food demo's!!!!!!!
As a follow up from the last workshop on raw breakfast ideas, I will be sharing some simple raw lunch and dinner ideas. Meals that can be made quickly with minimal ingredients. These meals can be served as an entire meal, or incorporated as a large portion with a cooked meal to help family members transition to increase their raw... intake. I want to share how to make raw pasta's, 'stirfrys' and curries. I only plan to make about 5 different dishes on the day so it does not become to overwhelming for me or the attendees!
And more exciting news - I will be also preparing for another follow up workshop in December on Desserts! Yay, thats right - sweet, nutritional raw desserts! Plenty of great ideas to serve and impress at this years comming Xmas events - guilt free sweet treats! I will be sharing recipes on making raw cheesecake, chocolate and fudge layered cakes and some other little things!
And if you cant make it to my workshop, I will have handouts from the days available to be purchased and downloaded from this blog, so look out for that
While on our regular afternoon bike ride through the streets of Kalgoorlie this week, we stumbled into this amazing old mulberry tree absolutely loaded with fresh, plump, juicy mulberries hanging over the fence! What a find. We instantly found ourselves in mulberry heaven...stuffing our faces until purple with mulberry stains. I have the fondest childhood memories of being perched high in our mulberry tree, stained from head to toe in purple juice.
After eating what we could from the overhanging branches, we politely knocked on the owners door and asked if they minded if we return with a bucket to collect some more. Thankfully, they were more than happy for us to 'help ourselves' and even suggested we bring a ladder back to reach the higher ones.
So with our plastic tubs and ladder, we returned and collected a lot, ate some more and had a lot of fun!
So now that we were all juicy and full of mulberry goodness, I thought about transforming a few into a delicious raw cheesecake. This was the result which was pretty darn delicious!
Raw cheesecake with freshly picked local neighbourhood mulberries
Recipes: Raw Mulberry Cheesecake
Base:
Process until combined about 2 cups of mixed activated pecans, macadamia nuts and almonds with about 3 dates. Press into a spring sided cake tin.
Filling:
blend until smooth:
3 cups of macadamia nuts
juice of 2 lemons
3/4 cup of melted coconut oil
half a cup of raw honey
pinch of salt and a sprinkle of vanilla powder
I then poured out 1/4 of the mixture into a bowl to keep it 'white' and then added a cup of fresh mulberries to the remaining mix still in the blender. I blended again until mixture was pink and whipped
Assemble:
I poured the white cream mix first over the base, then poured the pink mix on top and swirled with a knife to create a pretty pattern.
I then topped with more fresh mulberries and left to set in the freezer.
It was a winner with the hubby who couldn't stop at one slice!
I really didn't want to write this post as I thought my little 'splurge day' could just slip away in the past with out being noticed, but not so.....and there may even be something that can be learnt from it all.
So, a couple of days ago, it was suggested that we take a quick overnight trip to the beach - (a quick trip being an 800km return drive to Esperance which is Kalgoorlie's closest beach) The plan was to take in a breathe of fresh air, let the kids have a play on the beach and take a 'step back' from the everyday life and all its minor stresses.
So keeping with the 'stress free' theme, and wanting to take a little more of a relaxed approach to the ideals and limitations of an all raw diet, I decided to just 'eat a day of conventional food'. I didn't prepare the fridge with fresh greens and fruit, or make loads of any dehydrated crackers of kale chips. Instead, I took a quick trip the the supermarket, purchased a loaf of bread, a packet of corn chips, a block of cheese, a couple of tomatoes, a dozen eggs, a chocolate nut bar each and some juice. The kids thought it was absolutely fabulous that their strict old mother was letting loose in the supermarket and stocking the trolley with a few of the old favourite things from a year ago. My children were ecstatic to be allowed to eat cheese and tomato sandwiches and packets of corn chips while we spent the day in Esperance.
Still feeling very generous, we indulged in an Indian takeout the night before, complete with curries and naan bread. I went to bed completely stuffed!
In the early hours of the next morning we set off on our adventure to Esperance. Now that I had eaten Indian the night before, the car was loaded with chips and bread, anything now seemed ok. Our first stop in Esperance was the bakery! I hadn't been to a bakery in years and my kids didn't even know what one was! I remembered an old tradition I loved as a kid - cream buns for breakfast every camping trip, so we entered the bright lights of the bakery hoping to locate a cream bun, but the selection was a lot different to what I remembered. The store was filled wall to wall with every thing creamy, sugary, pink, and flossy..but not a single cream bun. Splurging out completely and being 'in the moment' we walked out with a bag of croissants and a tray of donuts! The donuts were devoured within minutes and the croissants didn't take much longer. Its amazing just how cheap junk food is when our large purchase at the bakery that fed more than all of us cost almost nothing!
Later in the morning, we found a lovely little camp site on the beach. We set up camp and played on the beach. We collected shells, fished, threw a Frisbee, flew a kite, splashed in the freezing waters and then ate some more...sandwiches filled with cheese and peanut butter, corn chips, nut bars, more corn chips and more sandwiches. Even though I was completely stuffed, I ate more. The kids walked around with fistfuls of bread and chunks of cheese. We all then rested for the afternoon, like beached whales in the tent, rubbing our full bellies.
By evening the tent and all the bedding was filled with sand, bread and chip scraps and spilt juice. The wind was blowing strong and the tent was collapsing. We decided to pack up and head back into Esperance town.
In Esperance, we did a little more playing on the beach and then thought about eating more. Even though non of us were actually hungry, we still went in search of something for dinner time. We settled on a noodle wok shop and ordered up vegetarian dishes....and stuffed ourselves again. I ate until my stomach literally cramped! I felt exhausted, bloated and totally uncomfortable. If only a fresh sprout salad or a raw zucchini noodle creation was our only option to eat - we all would have declined on dinner all together. Its not because those raw dishes don't taste nice...its the complete opposite, its because the cooked processed junk food tastes so good! We don't eat that crap because it makes us feel good, we do because it tastes so good and is really addictive! I can never over indulge on a raw meal and have never felt bloated, exhausted or uncomfortable while eating a raw diet. I haven't felt that 'yuk' since discovering raw. And, I am still feeling yuk, even today!
The next day ofter we drove back from our day trip to Esperance, I was hit with a running nose, a terrible head cold, and a shocking migraine complete with nausea and exploding eye sockets! I am still sneezing, coughing, nose dripping like a tap and head thumping. I haven't been sick for a year and the day after my 'processed food splurge' I am sick for days...
So whats my lesson learnt? Its not as easy as just saying I must eat all raw from now on and its not about never eating junk food again either. Something that I have been trying to discover over the past couple of weeks, its about finding a compromise..a happy medium. I dont want my kids to feel completely deprived and never be allowed the chance to enjoy a rare day eating tomato sandwiches on the beach or never getting the chance to eat a cream bun as a kid. We still need to live amongst this current society of conventional products to a degree and I cant disconnect ourselves completely from our modern culture of processed food. Its even harder while we live in this remote town, with a husband that works all day almost every day and everything we eat has to be purchased and everything that entertains us has to be sought from outside our house yard. Allowing just a little piece of 'spurging' on a very rare occasion I think is ok for now - and not a full day of it!...just until we find our 'place of happiness' a place where nature is right on our back door, food grows abundently in our back yard and the community welcomes and respects food in its pure natural raw form. Only then will eating become less about being a 'social entertainment', a way to 'break boredom' or an 'addictive taste sensation'. It will be more about nuturing, respecting and feeding our soul....
Living in Kalgoorlie, we do not have access to a local organic shop that supplies us with daily raw products, therefore, I rely a lot on buying bulk from raw suppliers in Perth (Healthy Valley being my preferred organic raw supplier)
Buying bulk is fantastic as it can make the product cheaper and creates less packaging, but it can also mean that storage can become a problem as a lot of space is needed and items need to be stored correctly to maintain freshness.
Here is a quick overview of how I store my bulk raw organic goods.
Storing Bulk Nuts, Seeds and grains long term: Freezer I use a lot of raw nuts. I use almonds to make milk, macadamias to make creams, and cheeses, and pecans or walnuts to make fudge, cake bases and 'meaty' substitutes. I usually buy anywhere between 2kg and 10kg boxes of nuts at any one time. The bulk of the nuts are stored in their unopened box in the freezer. By freezing nuts, they are protected from the warm air and hot sun and prevented from going rancid. Freezing does not change the texture or flavour of the nuts as they have a high oil content which will not freeze and little or no water. This is the best place to store anything raw for long term. I will store the bulk of my raw nuts, seeds, coconut shreds, chia, linseed and grains. Freezing will not inhibit sprouting either.
Storing bulk organic raw nuts, seeds and grains for long term in the freezer
Storing small quantities of nuts and seeds short term: Fridge The fridge is another fantastic place to store your raw nuts, seeds and grains, but because my fridge is also used to store all my fresh fruit and vegetables, space is definitely limited. As I like to have on hand a small supply of easy to access raw nuts and seeds that are not frozen, I keep a couple of jars of my most used nuts - almonds and pecans at arms reach in the fridge. I continue to restock these jars from the bulk supply in the freezer as they run low.
Short term storage of raw nuts in the fridge
Storing 'Activated and dehydrated' nuts and seeds and other raw products: glass jars in the pantry cupboard To store my activated nuts and seeds, that have been fully dehydrated, I place them in a selection of large preserving jars that can be sealed airtight and place in the pantry. I also add an oxygen absorber pouch that usually comes with the products in each jar to prevent sweating. This is the same way I store unhulled seeds for sprouting, cacao powder, jars of coconut oil, nama shoyu, miso, salt, honey, agave, quinoa, sundried tomatoes, goji berries, dried chili, currents, sultanas, dehydrated buckwheaties, homemade dehydrated cereals etc. I really love the glass jars - though they are expensive, I find they keep my products fresh, look great and will last forever. I started out by just buying 2 every week until I got quite a collection and have a jar for every item in varying sizes. They have really been worth the cost.
Storing dehydrated raw good in the pantry in sealed glass jars
Fresh greens - sealed containers in the fridge As for storing fresh produce - the fridge of course is the best place to maintain freshness and longer lasting. I do find though when storing fresh green leafy vegetables such as spinach or Kale, they do require a little extra effort then simply placing a bunch in the fridge. Often I would have to throw our bunches of green from my fridge as they had wilted beyond recognition within days, but since storing them in containers, they now stay fresh for weeks.
If you have been fortunate enough to receive a lovely big bunch of homegrown silverbeet from a friend, as we did last week, and don't intend on using it all on the first night, then I highly recommend:
washing the silverbeet and then de-stemming
before storing in a sealed container in the fridge. This will ensure they will stay fresh for a couple of weeks.
To preserve fresh silverbeet for long term freshness, pack into a sealed container and store in the fridge
