mushroom, corn, potato chowder

[theresaann]

made this for dinner tonight. couldn't decide if I wanted corn or potato chowder or cream of mushroom soup so I put it all in together. WOW! SOOO good:

1/2 cup raw tahini
1/3 cup olive oil
3-4 stalks celery
meat of a young coconut
pepper to taste
2 tsp sea salt
vegetable seasoning
2 cloves garlic

blend these, then add corn kernels, a potato diced small (I used a small, peeled Idaho) and finely sliced mushrooms (I used shitaki), chopped parsely and I added raw spinach leaves, torn. Warm just until it feels warm to the touch-not hot.

wow, did this hit the spot!!

[theresaann]

forgot to say to add water too-you probably could figure that out!

[cdepalmer]

Do you guys have a dehydrator? Is this soup good cold or only hot? Sounds great?
Cindy

[theresaann]

I actually warmed mine on the stove top at a low heat and really monitored it every couple of minutes to make sure it wasn't getting too hot. I never thought of doing that until last week when my friend, who is also raw, showed me how she did it.

[JennaBoBenna]

mmmmm sounds delicious!!

[Shivananda]

We do this at the restaurant all the time, and people love it, especially when the weather is cold or wet.

Two tips:

1) If doing it on a regular stove, put the soup in a pan, then put the pan into a larger pan containing hot water. Heat that pan if necessary. Commonly known as a double boiler or water bath method, this allows control over a delicate process so the soup in the inside pan doesn't get too hot.

2) Use an insta read digital cooking thermometer to monitor the temp of the soup that it doesn't get too hot. You can get a decent one today for $7 or 8, and a truly excellent one by Pyrex, with a programmable temperature alarm (to watch the soup so you don't have to) and a 2 ft long flexible probe (PERFECT for checking actualtemperatures inside a dehydrator or oven) for $20 at Bed, Bath & Beyond and other dealers. I think "raw cooks" who don't use them are pretty much flying blind without one.

[rawpriestess]

You can also warm things by the finger test method.

you do really need to be there though, this is how you do it,

you put something on the stove, and you put your finger in it, if it is too hot for your finger, it is too hot for raw.

so, I just warm things while continually stirring to finger warm.

[karenisraw]

I think this is one I might try. I like the chowdery idea.

k
:)

[Shivananda]

You can also warm things by the finger test method. Sorry, that just isn't a viable test method in restaurants. So I always have a digital thermometer in my apron pocket, and I use it constantly. And anyway, when I have checked out other's ability to estimate what is temp safe for raw food enzyme retention, 9 out of 9 missed by 10 degrees or more. Some too high, some too low.

At $7 I think everyone can afford one, and they are much more accurate than guessing.

[karenisraw]

Shivananda,

Do you run a restaraunt? Could you tell me more about it and what you do?

k
:)

[RawTruth]

When warming by ANY method, the key is to keep stirring. It's easy to keep the thermometer in one part of the food while another part is getting too hot. Does everyone know what is the highest "safe" temperature to preserve most of the enzymes without killing them off?

Hmmmm .... I don't see any hands waving.

[theresaann]

raw truth, is it 105, or 110 degrees?

[RawTruth]

That "safe" temp also varies depending on who's doing the talking!! Little agreement about the exact "low" temperature. One says 112, another says 118. Let's not even get into one that says start the dehydrator at 140 and then turn it down!!! :eek:

I say 105 is safest.

p.s. Theresaan, you get an "A" for today!!! Hey, if I'm handing out grades I'm just gonna give everyone an "A" every single day. Yipeee!!

[Shivananda]

Let's not even get into one that says start the dehydrator at 140 and then turn it down!!! :eek:
Why not? That's what Excaliber says their tests showed this approach to be best, and Gabriel Cousens agrees, and my own testing shows the same. The internal temperature of my burger patties, for example does not rise to 100 until they've been in a dehydrator at a setting of 145 for several hours, because the escaping moisture keeps cooling the inside down way below the air temperature. But then they start to heat rapidly, so I turn the dehydrator way down to avoid overheating. That's why I love the Pyrex thermometer with the flexible probe and the alarm. Set it for the temp you want and forget about it until the alarm goes off. No more guesssing.

If you think about what happens with conventional oven cooking it may help you see why this actually makes sense. Put a turkey in a 350 degree oven and the meat temperature inside the bird doesn't get up to 160 for 3 hours or so. So why should raw vegan food in a dehydrator be any different? Answer: It isn't. They both act the same way.

And from a food safety standpoint, the faster dehydration times you get from elevated air temperatures is a very good thing, because harmful food organisms thrive in moist food that is 80, 90, 100 degrees, so we risk fermentation and contamination. So the goal is to get through the moist stage to dryness as quickly as possible. Otherwise we'd just put everything out on the counter to dry whenever it could.

Anyway, as to the exact temperature when enzymes start being destroyed, Dr Howell ( who started the whole thing) says 115-120, and Cousens says 110-115 is practical and what he uses at Tree of Life. That's good enough for me.

[Shivananda]

Shivananda,Do you run a restaraunt?
No, sorry, you misunderstood. I run IN a restaurant. With scissors. Terribly dangerous habit, I know, but I'm addicted to it and just can't stop myself. :p

Ennaway (as they say here in N.E.), I've been spending a lot of time in several raw food establishments recently, learning some, teaching some, eating some, creating recipes, inventing procedures, staying out of traffic.

It's a life.