Raw equivilant of boiling down a liquid?

[**jessireebob**]

Hi all. I was getting frustrated at how pricey it was to add agave to all of our smoothies and raw deserts, so I decided to save it for necessary times only, and made date juice. Soaked the dates overnight and then blended them. Poured them into an old agave "sport top" type bottle (squirt cap) and store it in the fridge.

It's awesome for smoothies, but I'm wondering if there's a way to "boil it down" like one would do to thicken a liquid on the stove so that I can use it in other recipes without adding too much extra liquid. Would it work to dehydrate it? Or would that take ridiculously long? I'm wondering if I can get it to a thicker syrup-like consistency.

Any of you fabulous chefs experiment with this before?

[trinity082482]

Could you maybe soak the dates for a short amount of time so they contain less moisture? Maybe that will help thicken your recipe. :confused:

[banana shake]

Not sure, but I think you could dehydrate date paste to make date sugar. No idea about how long it would take, but I know you can buy date sugar in the health stores, and it's just dried dates. I don't know about the raw-ness of the store bought stuff though. I've been meaning to try to make it myself, and when I do, I plan to just make date paste (soaked dates processed with some of the soak water), dehydrate it to cracker consistency, and then process it again (dry) to granulate it. If you try it before me, let me know how it works!

[**jessireebob**]

Wow, banana shake, I've never even heard of date sugar! Sooo smart! Ok, I'll let you know if I give this a try. But in the meantime, I'll say that I dont know why I didn't just think of making date paste rather than date juice?! :rolleyes: Guess I was trying not to lose the sweetness of the soak water.

Thanks for the fabulous ideas guys!

[Ariannah]

Why not just soak the dates and then puree them? I imagine they'd be soft enough to be "syrupy" by then.

I've never used agave or any extract in a recipe, but I imagine that would work just as well.

[cassidy]

OK - this may be dense. Why not just throw a date or two into the blender when you are making the smoothie???

[**jessireebob**]

Well I actually wanted to have something on hand for anytime I needed liquid sweetness. But also, unless they've been soaked, I find that my blender doesn't do the best job with dates. Lots of chunks, and not really an even distribution of sweetness... Guess I could just keep soaked dates in the fridge though...

[RawFoodieMom]

Jess, this is a great idea to try as an alternative to agave. Agave is expensive here, and I can't even get the raw version, so I rarely get to buy it. Were you using the soak water as well as the soaked dates and that's why it was very liquidy? If so, we could try just the soaked dates and see how thick it turns out. :)

[Bobbie]

OK - this may be dense. Why not just throw a date or two into the blender when you are making the smoothie???

That's what I do, but the blender does have trouble with them. I've realised recently that it takes a much bigger quantity of honey to sweeten something, than it does of dates.

If I need a honey or agave substitute rather than just a sweetener, I blend unsoaked fresh dates with water. I never thought of making some in advance and keeping it in the fridge, that's a great idea.

I would have thought dehydrating would "Boil down" the paste.

[mershwista]

What about raw turbinado cane sugar?

[Apasaraw]

I would think dehydrating wouuld work famously. When reducing a sauce on the stove in traditional cooking all you are doing is facilitating evaporation...I think you've got a genius idea here!

[cassidy]

Keep us in the loop - I'm curious to see how this turns out!

[**jessireebob**]

I'm going to give it a try this weekend. I'll let you all know!

[klomasius]

Before I had access to agave (which was only just recently), I used to do the following and it works out fantastically!

Take a huge amount of grapes (deseed if they have seeds).

Blend them to smoothie consistency in the blender.

If you want a clearish syrup with no chunks (as I do) take a cotton cloth (or nut bag) and strain the juice from the grape pulp. Use the grape pulp in other recipes.

Then, as I only have a round dehydrator, I place the juice in shallow saucers in the dehydrator and dehydrate till I get the syrupy consistency I want. If you have a large (higher) dehydrator, I'd suggest doing it in a single dish.

Each time I check, I pool the saucers as the liquid gets evaporated (I wash the liquid of the empty saucers and use it as sugar water). you may need to give the liquid a stir, as it tends to crust at the edges.

When the liquid has reached the desired consistency, I put it into little containers and freeze most of it. I take it out of the freezer as I need it.

Depending on the colour and type of grapes you use, the syrup can be from a light brown colour to a rich dark brown for red grapes (I prefer green grapes).

Delicious!

[Apasaraw]

Oh la la! That's a great idea...a fruit syrup!

[RAW]

I dehydrate mine. If I ever want blender consistency smooth with a thick liquid (creme, dough), I add more water, blend, and dehydrate it out. It is better if the sides of the container are more vertical. There will be a slight residue on the sides; you can mix it back in or not. I also do this for date soak water.

[RawFoodieMom]

I dehydrate mine. If I ever want blender consistency smooth with a thick liquid (creme, dough), I add more water, blend, and dehydrate it out. It is better if the sides of the container are more vertical. There will be a slight residue on the sides; you can mix it back in or not. I also do this for date soak water.

This is a really interesting thread. :) What do you mean by the sides of the container being more vertical? Like a square container instead of a bowl type?

[RAW]

Please bear with my lovely artwork. :D

By putting a liquid in something with vertical side-like a cup- there is less opportunity for stuff to get stuck on the sides. With a wide bowl, useful stuff is more likely to get stuck on the sides. Does that clear it up? :o Sometimes my thoughts come out twisted and interwoven like spaghetti.

[Revvell]

Too much like work. Here's where I purchase agave: http://www.amazon.com/Wholesome-Sweeteners-Organic-11-75-Ounce-Bottles/dp/B000FL08AQ/sr=8-3/qid=1170526233/ref=sr_1_3/103-0104040-2066217?ie=UTF8&s=grocery.

I've paid as much as $12 for one bottle this size.

Revvell

[Blissed]

I've also found www.naturalzing.com to have great prices on many raw food items ... best I've found on many items.

[tanishamarshall]

Too much like work. Here's where I purchase agave: http://www.amazon.com/Wholesome-Sweeteners-Organic-11-75-Ounce-Bottles/dp/B000FL08AQ/sr=8-3/qid=1170526233/ref=sr_1_3/103-0104040-2066217?ie=UTF8&s=grocery.

I've paid as much as $12 for one bottle this size.

Revvell


Thanks Revvell, I like the prices of this Agave.