Raw resources

[julia]

I need to find RAW beans/lentils. Whole Foods market has bins of "raw" nuts, but has not labeled the beans or lentils "raw". How can you tell if they're raw or just dried or uncooked? Please HELP, I'm eager to start my raw foods lifestyle.

[Olive]

I think all the beans and lentils are raw. The real test is is they can sprout. I've bought lentils, garbanzos, wheat, rye and a few other things from Whole Foods bulk section and they've all sprouted!

[askcassyfirst]

I agree with Olive. Knowing whether they are raw & in hibernation, is easily tested by trying to sprout them. Typically beans and peas are just dried after picking, not cooked. If something says parboiled or "instant", like say bags of rice, then it is a tip-off that it is pre cooked and not raw. (incidentally, rice is a refined product anyway, so maybe that was a bad example.)

I loved a quote I read from Dr. Christopher, who once said something about planting it in your back yard to check and see if it grew...He was really supportive of raw foods, the quote was saying something about eating hot water soaked wheat berries, and said that even if you pour boiling water into a thermos with the wheat, and leave it over night, you can still plant it and grow a wheat plant. But if you try that with a loaf of bread....

I liked that image of trying to plant a loaf of bread...! :eek: :eek:

Anway, I have sprouted many things from the bulk bins, including peas, beans and seeds. Have had pretty good sucess. Whole Foods has high turn over of product in particular, so that will help gaurentee quality goods.

Cassy.