You have questions. Nomi Shannon has the answers. Submit your questions about anything raw.
hi nomi-can you please tell me if you prefer to grind chia seeds before use in a smoothy??-do you feel that they are easier to digest and absorb if
ground first? thank you so much
- susan
Nomi’s Answer:
With a powerful blender like a ktec or a vita mix there is no need to pregrind. If you don’t have that kind of powerful blender then, yes, I’d grind them in a coffee grinder first to be sure you’re getting the nutrition from the seeds.
Desperately need help. As a cancer survivor I need this type of diet, but I’ve no support from DH or DD (age 17). I part work, do make all 3 meals at home. We never eat out, since we are Jewish and keep Kosher. Working part-time and preparing 3 meals a day I’ve no time, which makes things more difficult.
Most raw recipes I find have ingredients I never heard of require a food processor (hope to purchase mid October) and or a dehydrator (which at this point and time I don’t own and can’t afford). I don’t own a Vita-Mix but do have a Blendtex. , which I really don’t know how to use. And have an Omega Juicer. The only good thing I do is juice regularly for me.
Suggestions. What program can work for me. How can I get started. I need simple way of doing this. With grocery list, etc. I am desperate to try this, but have no clue how to.
Judy – Jacksonville FL
Nomi’s Answer:
When you say blendtex do you mean a blendtec blender?
You need first of all to buy my book, The Raw Gourmet and read it from cover to cover.
If you have a blendtec or ktec blender, it’s all you need. learn how to use it. There is a raw food restaurant in St. Augustine that a lot of raw fooders from Jacksonville go to. There is a Jacksonville raw food meetup. You could bring a salad and only eat from that but get to know people and see what they make. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant in St. Augustine.
In the meanwhile why don’t you just eat a lot of raw food just as it grows: tomatoes, fruits, greens and in time you can learn recipes. I have several video recipes on YouTube. You can click here to visit my YouTube Channel.
hi Nomi, thanks for the opportunity to ask you questions! (I love your
book!)
My question is about Thai coconuts….I really love them, the water and the
meat, but I\’m having trouble finding them organic. My fav and very
conscientious organic store (Community Market in Santa Rosa, CA) says
they have not been able to find organic ones anywhere. Do you know how
heavily they are normally sprayed? or a place to find organic raw ones near
Santa Rosa? thanks for your time and help.
- Terra
Nomi’s Answer:
I DON’T know much about spraying the young coconuts but all that white coir
then the hard nut I feel protects it pretty well…I do not believe they are
sprayed as they grow (they are pretty high up for that!) just when they
enter the country on the very outside.
I don’t worry about it.
Dear Nomi
I have Asian green bean plants that grow flowers then the beans from the flowers. They are very tasty raw, do I “can” them and how good are they once canned or do I freeze them?
Nomi’s Answer:
Canning would kill all the enzymes and they would no longer be raw. To freeze them they will probably come out best if you blanch them first, simply dunk into boiling water for a moment then put in ice water. Dry. Freeze.
Try testing them by freezing without blanching first, then once frozen hard, thaw and see how they are. Blanching will allow them to stay frozen longer and will ’set’ their color.
My best advise is to eat them all up in season.
You can also try seasoning them a bit and dehydrating them if you don’t own a dehydrator they can successfully be dried in the sun, but if you want them to keep you need to be sure they are dry, dry, dry or they will get moldy.
Some modern ovens have a dehydrate option as well.
Dear Nomi
I love your cookbook, The Raw Gourmet. How can I use it to feed my 5 year old daughter and 19 month old son? A few weeks ago I radically stopped giving my daughter bread that she loved and ate so much. Now I am teaching her to eat vegetables. She now eats potatoes, rice or quinoa cooked, carrots steamed, broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, avocado, alfalfa and fennel. Can you help me make a weekly plan so that the meals can be varied. My baby has breast milk and likes to eat fruit. In the evening he wants to eat vegetables. He eats avocado and tomato but now he wants other vegetables. What can I give him. Nomi, every day I ask myself what will I give my children to eat. I would like this to come natural to me. Please help me! -from Julie in the Netherlands Read More
Reasonably Priced Blenders
I am seeking info on starting a raw food diet. I wanted recommendation for reasonably priced blender to make the green smoothies. the Vitamix is more than i can spend at this time. any other options?
- Cheryl
Nomi’s Answer
Hi Cheryl
This is tough, as a really powerful blender is your first essential big purchase for a smooth running raw food lifestyle.
I actually prefer the Ktec to the Vitamix. Go to http://www.rawgourmet.com/blender for the reasons why.
It is true that they are both expensive. My first couple of years of all raw I was using an old (OLD) Oster Blender. But I wasn’t
trying to blend up whole frozen bananas in it or whole carrots. I grated the carrots, then put them in with other liquids then did
my blending. In fact I wrote the entire Raw Gourmet book using that OLD Oster blender plus a juicer and a food processor.
So it’s not IMPOSSIBLE by any means to get by for quite some time with a pokey ol’ blender. I do recommend you dig up a food processor
somewhere as well. Even Walmart has some cheap ones (24.95) that will last you awhile.
As you get more and more into it, you will want to save up to get a Ktec…it saves a ton of time and allows you to create things you just can’t do otherwise.
But truth be told, especially in the beginning you will do just fine with what you’ve already got at home. If you don’t already own a blender I really haven’t got a suggestion for an inexpensive one. Certainly a $150 blender will be better than a $50 or $90 one but it seems a shame to spend anything but the minimum as you will probably be shooting for the Ktec one of these days.
If you find you can’t make certain things like green smoothies, frozen concoctions, etc…just take the ingredients and cut or chop into a salad, or soup, or put in a food processor.
You know you can be all raw just by eating all the fruits and veggies and nuts and seeds pretty much as they come…so don’t let it stop you that you aren’t all stocked up equipment wise, and I do recommend that you purchase a book rather than troll the internet for your recipes as I think you will find that most of the internet recipes are assuming you own the high powered blender. Start with The Raw Gourmet and if you happen to find an older (50’s or 60’s) Oster Blender that still works at a garage sale…GRAB IT.