Some Tips on Preparing Raw Foods Without Fancy Equipment

Abundance

The first thing I want to say in this post is that this is not about deprivation or lack of abundance. I have decided, with Phil's encouragement, that I _am_ going to get a Vitamix (or possibly a Blendtec), when the universe is in alignment, there is a good sale, etc. If I was still living in Hawaii, where damp and mold are such an issue, I would definitely be working on manifesting a good dehydrator as well. However, since we live in such a tiny space and, while we feel good about using power from the grid because it's sustainably hydro-generated here, we both have a lot of experience of living without electricity or with unpredictable or wimpy solar power, it's a strong habit to avoid proliferating 'stuff' and equipment for us. We also don't have running water at this point, so for all of you who hate washing up food processors and blenders after a multi-step job, spare a thought for me!

I do have to confess that I have a tendency to take this frugality too far when fixing stuff for myself. I am ridiculously willing to eat things with less pleasant textures if it means using less power! One morning I tried actually blending my nut milk/chia gel/herbal tea/chlorella/coconut oil breakfast instead of just stirring it together and it was wonderful how it was transformed! I like it fine as a 'chunky' with blobs of aromatic oil floating on top but I'm sure that not many people would ;o)

How to do almost everything you could do with a Vitamix

That said, I want to share how I do manage to make blended and dehydrated goods with no Vitamix/Blendtec and no dehydrator. I do have a Cuisinart, but it doesn't come out very often because of the cleanup issue!

For blending, and for several food-processing tasks, I have a Kitchen Aid Immersion Blender. It comes with the regular blender attachment, a whisk (which I use occasionally when I'm baking for others) and a little s-blade food chopper that can handle about a cup of nuts at time. If I'm making energy bars that call for a cup or two of ground nuts, I'll often use this because it's much quicker to clean than the Cuisinart.

In my opinion, immersion blenders do a better job than regular standup osterizer-type blenders, even if they have a lower wattage, because you can move them around in the mixture and get the blades to places, as opposed to having to rely on centrifugal force to have the stuff fall into the blades. It's also handy because you can blend right there in your mixing bowl or blend a smoothie in a wide-mouth jar and take it along. If you're cooking, you can puree a soup right in the pot. 

It doesn't have the oomph of a Vitamix or Blendtec - you're not going to be able to grind dry nuts/seeds with it - and generally food will need more 'prepping' for successful blending. Vegetables will need to be pre-chopped and blended with a little more liquid, and will never be pureed quite as smoothly.

That said, I have successfully made milk with sesame seeds and hemp seeds as well as with larger nuts: in all cases it's just important to have the nuts/seeds well soaked (and rinsed) first and to start blending with a very small amount of water so that they get ground up rather than just whirling around in the liquid. If you start with too much liquid, you get a big mess too! I put my hand over the top of the jar to minimize splatter.

The same goes for veggies - start with a small amount of liquid and add as needed. 

When making a compound recipe, like a dressing with hempseeds and parsley, say, blend the hempseeds (and garlic, if using) with a small amount of liquid before adding the parsley. Start with just the ingredients that need the most blending, and gradually add the rest.

Although all these processes take longer, there's something I actually appreciate about doing it in stages and allowing the recipe to reveal itself. When you have a mighty monster like a Vitamix, it's tempting just to throw everything in and let it do its business. For now, I have the luxury of time and making small quantities. But at some point, I may be called upon to make more! I look forward to it.

Dehydrating

As for dehydrating, I bought a DeLonghi convection toaster oven (which is all the oven we have room for), which has a 'dehydrating' option where only the convection fan runs, but that's not actually what I mostly use. I bake a lot for Phil and the rest of our little family, and loved the idea that the one little toaster oven could also serve as a dehydrator. In a kitchen where cooking pots and tupperwares double as mixing bowls, multifunctionality is prized! 

But there are a few problems with it, and it turns out I had better options. The first problem is, it's rather noisy. When something has to be dehydrated overnight and you live in a one-room cabin and are sleeping in the loft right above the noisy fan, it's not so good! Also, you can't adjust the temperature of the drying function, and I suspect that initially it's too cool to prevent potential proliferation of undesirables. This can be worked around, of course, by starting the dehydrating right after baking, when the oven is still warm, or by dehydrating for the first half hour or hour with the oven on its lowest setting with the door open. These are all good solutions.

But for most of the winter, our heater is running off and on, and it basically blows hot air out into the room. So I discovered that if I set the dehydrator trays in front of the heater, things get dehydrated very well! I've dehydrated soaked nuts, jalapeno peppers, crackers, energy bars (oh, and boots, gloves, coats, hats at any given time!) In fact, when it was really cold outside and the heater was working hard, it even got a little too hot in front of the heater! In the summer months, as I have mentioned, this cabin is a solar oven because it has so many windows. Last summer I dried nettles and all sorts of things simply by spreading them out in our sleeping loft and running a small fan to keep air circulating. So that will be an option again too! But of course, these options are only workable because the climate is so dry. Dry and cold. If I leave anything out on the counter, it gradually desiccates. Which is far preferable to molding or getting infested, which is what would happen if I left anything out for more than an instant in Hawaii!

Alaska as a Natural Refrigerator

We have been using a similar strategy to make up for our lack of a decent fridge (we have one very small one). The little half-room off of the main cabin is unheated and scarcely insulated, and we've been using it like a walk-in fridge. We are seriously contemplating insulating the windows, blocking them from the light and allowing it to become a year-round fridge (as the sun is out more, it's warmed up some in there too and whereas before we had to be careful that it didn't freeze, now I'm keeping a window open in there). I like the idea of making use of the fact that even in the summer it's never warmer than the 40s at night here to make a room double as a large fridge and save having to buy one… But this isn't yet completely decided upon.