Flax goo. I really hope this is not a stupid question.

[Jodi]

Please forgive me, everyone, if I ask some annoying or stupid questions. I returned from Walmart with a new food processor to replace my dead Cuisinart and worked on my first ever Flax Crackers. (by the way...my Walmart did not have Cuisnarts, I am so bummed. I had to settle for a Black and Decker which is not nearly as good.)

Anyway....I put my soaked Flax seed in the processor and processed it...but was totaly unprepared for all the Flax goo it creates. I also learned that cleaning up your food processor that is full of flax goo is really difficult.

Is there any easy way to deal with flax goo?

Also...with the Flax crackers. Do most of the seeds stay whole? I really could not get them to prcoess...they just stayed mostly whole.


(you can all begin laughing now! :D _

Jodi

[rawpriestess]

Dear Jodi,

(smiling, but not laughing -- exactly)

Well, I'm sorry that you were unable to get a Cuisinart, I love mine, Costco has them, but Alissa uses the Black and Decker, and says it's great, so it must be.

Anyway, the food processor will not chop up your flax seeds, soaked or unsoaked, and YES, flax seeds are very musilaginous, which means they get gooey.

This is a good thing, as the gooey stuff is what holds your crackers together.

So, what I do is I soak a bunch of flax seeds in a really big bowl, I mean really big big big bowl.

And I process all the stuff I want to put in with them, then I add the processed stuff to the big big big bowl of flax crackers, then I stick my hands in and mix together, ooooooohhh what creepy, slimey fun, if you have children in the house, this will keep them busy for a few minutes.

Then I take them and spread them on a teflex sheet on top of a mesh sheet and pop in the dehydrator.

Hope this helps.

On Alissa's DVD, she shows you how this is done, and (I believe) explains the whole gooey flax seed issue.

But flax crackers are super good for you, and crunchy, and crispy, and last a long time, and you can make them all different ways.

By the way, if you choose to have your flax crackers more crackery, and less whole flax seeds, you can take some flax seed and put them in either a coffee grinder, or spice grinder or Vita Mix, and grind them to a fine powder, and use this in with your crackers, and the rest of your ingredients and this will make a smoother cracker, personally I like mine kind of chunky, because I like a lot of texture in my food.

Glad you were able to get a new food processor.

have fun making crackers just add all of your spices, and veggies, and herbs and onions, and have a great old time, I make about 20 different kinds when I make one batch, I just keep adding stuff. Grated carrot, chopped cilantro, parsley, basil, oregano, cayenne (yum) onion, or all of the above.

[Jodi]

Thanks for all the tips! They sound very good and look forward to trying them.

I do not think I will put the flax in my processor again...it was a mess to clean up. If it doesn't chop up the seeds, then there is no point. I guess I assumed the processor was suppose to mush them up. Since I have neither made nor ate them before...I don't really know what to expect.

Either way, they are in my dehydrator now. I kept my first batch fairly plain. Just sprinkled a little salt on top. As I get more experience, I'll try and be more creative.

(and really the only difference between the Cuisinart and Black and Decker is the weight. My old Cuisinart was much heavier then this new B&D.)


Jodi

[NoGMO!]

I love both types of flax crackers, whole seed or fine grind or even a combo of the two mixes, so I use both methods:

I use a coffee grinder (my champion juicer just left the seeds whole) to turn unsoaked flax seeds into a fine flour then proceed w/ your recipe...

Alternatively, I soak flax seeds 5-7 hours or until water turns to a thick gel, then stir in spice/salt, etc. - and finally just pour mix onto teflex sheets and smooth batter out to the edges of the tray.

[anthony11]

Well, I'm sorry that you were unable to get a Cuisinart, I love mine, Costco has them, but Alissa uses the Black and Decker, and says it's great, so it must be.
Maybe she has a different B&D model than the one I see in stores here - that's one's so flinky I think harsh language would shatter it. I've been thinking about the 11 cup Cuisinart -- I need to see if Costco has it, and for what price. Just for grins I looked in Wal-Mart and saw a GE model for ~$40 that looked a bit sturdier than the B&D, but they didn't have a display model so I couldn't be sure.

[Autumn]

Bed, Bath and Beyond sells Cuisinarts-quite a few models in my local store. If you check your mail, they usually send 20% off coupons once a month.

[VeganVixen]

I recently got an INCREDIBLE Hamilton Beach 14 cup ,"big mouth" (meaning the shoot is large enough for whole tomatoes) food processor from target , I think it was on sale for 70.00 ,but its a workhorse , has 4 speeds and a pulse option and VERY powerful .It has even replaced my blender!

[deedub]

yeah I got the GE model from WalMart and it works great it is 450 watts. I have never used a Cuisenart or however you spell it, and don't know how many watts it has so I have nothing to compare it to but I just made a pine nut cheese in it and it turned out. I also had my first occasion to grind flax seeds, unsoaked, in my blender which is a Osterizer and they ground to a fine powder. Also just want to add that I used the ground flax seeds in a recipe for nuggets and they were really bad I mean really bad.

[Ginger]

You sound like me the first time I made flax crackers!! ROFL!! I thought there was something wrong with them because there was so many globs of "snot" lol!

[rawpriestess]

I got my 11 cup brand new fancy shmancy Cuisinart at Costco with two bowls, and 4 disks in a holder, video and a recipe book and a partridge in a pear tree for $169.

I love it, there are many models, but this is the "costco" one.

I am sure that there are others that are just as good, but I've always been the kind of person who buys the "biggest, most expensive, newest, improved model" of anything (except cars and houses, I like classics there)

So, like I said Alissa says the B&D is great and inexpensive. all I know is my Cuisinart is heavy, and works well, hasn't let me down once, and I've had it for about 4 years, and use it almost every day, and I really USE it alot.

We grow almost all of our own produce, veggies fruits nuts etc, so it goes all day long (right now) during strawberry season, raspberry season, blackberry season, grape season, almond season, hazelnut season, tomatoe season, etc. etc. etc.

[Wendy]

And of course, you can never go wrong with a Vitamix! I have had mine for about 9 years and it gets used daily.

[Revvell]

I've had the Cuisinart 11-Cup for quite some time. It's clogged up a few times and I've had to cut recipes in half and do them in parts more times than I care to count. I was teaching a class one night and the *&#*@ thing wouldn't even run ~ 'til I got it home again.

IF I were to get another, I'd give the Hamilton Beach 14-Cup a try since VV loves hers so much.

As far as the original question, as long as you wash immediately, it's not a problem. IF you don't wash immediately, let soak for a few minutes, then rinse. It "should" come out easily. I've used my processor numerous times for flax crackers ~ after soaking the flax. I use a Cuisinart mini for grinding.

Revvell

[annieH]

This is very interesting becuse i have been putting my soaked flax seeds in my cuisanart and had NO trouble cleaning it at all.... i just use a kitchen brush and warm water and everything gets clean immediatly...no trouble at all.
The reason i put my soaked flax in food processor is becuse i like to add garlic and things to flavor it and it seem to blend well like that but i guess you could blend all that separately and then just stir it into the goo. HA!!! its really funny but its SOOO gooey it reminds me of okra.