Herbamare for raw foodist?

[SamuelWilson]

Herbamare is an organic seasoning salt and I have seen it listed as an ingredient in some raw food recipes before. I am evaluating this product to see if it meets our "raw or living seasoning" requirements. Here are the ingredients...

Ingredients: Sea salt, celery leaves*, leek*, cress* (water and garden), onion*, chive*, parsley*, lovage*, garlic*, basil*,marjoram*, rosemary*, thyme*, kelp (with trace iodine).

*All herbs and vegetables are organically grown and processed in accordance with the California Organic Food Act of 1990. Certified organicby QAI.

No MSG | No HVP

I have an email off to them, but I still wanted input from members here. I am wondering if the sea salt is "true unprocessed sea salt without additives like celtic sea salt".

Also, what is everyone's view on "steeping" herbs in brine (sea salt water). It appears as though they steep the herbs anywhere from 4 months to one year.

http://www.rapunzel.com/images/seasons_herbamare.jpg

[Sharon in Colorado]

Where have you heard that Celtic salt contains additives? Or do you mean that Celtic salt IS an additive?

I use these mostly in my flax crackers. Trocomare adds a kick.

[SamuelWilson]

Celtic Sea Salt (R) has no additives. I was saying Celtic Sea Salt (R) is true unprocessed sea salt without additives.

It appears as though Herbamare may not use "true unprocessed sea salt". Some companies list "sea salt" as an ingredient to make consumers feel safe and reassured, thinking that when it comes to the salt part of the ingredients, all is fine. However, I don't think Herbamares "sea salt" is fine (when I say fine, I mean unprocessed, healthy, etc.. I do not mean fine ground or anything like that).

At its origin, it may have come from the sea, but;

1. It has been harvested mechanically from dirt or concrete basins with bulldozers and piped through metal conduits;

2. put through many degrading artificial processes;

3. heated under extreme heat levels in order to crack its molecular structure;

4. robbed of all of its essential minerals that are essential to our physiology;
These elements are extracted and sold separately to industry. Precious and highly prized by the salt refiners, these bring more profits than the salt itself.

5. further adulterated by chemical additives to make it free- flowing, bleached, and iodized.

To call what remains "sea salt" would be quite misleading.

In addition, harmful chemicals have been added to the processed, altered unnatural substance to mask and cover up all of the impurities it has. These added chemicals include free flowing agents, inorganic iodine, plus dextrose and bleaching agents.

Standard salt additives: Potassium-Iodide (added to the salt to avoid Iodine deficiency disease of thyroid gland), Sugar (added to stabilize Iodine and as anti-caking chemical), Aluminum silicate.

[jenna rose]

Hm. I'd love to find out the answer to this one. I just bought some of that exact stuff the other day at the health food store. I haven't opened it yet, though. If that ends up not being raw, I guess I'll have to start ordering all my seasonings online.

[Raw_Medic]

Thanks Samuel, I'm interested in what the outcome of this will be. Thanks for sharing the info!

Ursula

[sport]

Samuel
I am waiting for their reply on this as I will be dissapointed if I have to give it up. I use the spicy one. Let us know as soon as you hear anything.
Mary

[rawpriestess]

I don't use anything in any kind of package.

But I know Alissa uses this in her video, so it probably is raw.

We make all of our own spice and herb mixes from the herbs and spices we grow, so we know they are all organic, and fresh.

We have thought about making our own Sea Salt, as we live close to the ocean, and we've thought of making it.

This is our plan, to take a 5 gallon bucket, get some ocean water, and dry it on our deck on top of some glass sheeting.

As the water evaporates, we will screed the salt remains and allow it to continue to dry.

We will see if this works, and if it does we will have our own sea salt.

I imagine that 5 gallons of sea water, will probably make about 1 T of sea salt, but we will see.

It will be a fun experiiment to try.

But we don't really use any salt anymore, so I don't think we will need much of this.

[SamuelWilson]

Hello everyone, I wanted to give you an update. I have not heard back from the company that sells Herbamare, so I don't have anything new to relay to you. It does mention processing at low temperatures, so there is some heat involved. I will post their reply as soon as I get one.

I would like to mention that steeping any vegetable or herb for 4 months to a year is not my idea of "fresh" and I think that regardless of their reply, I will not use this product. The stuff taste great, there is no debate over that. However, Braggs taste great also, and we all know the story on that.

I feel it is just up to the individual. If you use Herbamare, you are still a raw foodist. I mean LIVING ON LIFE FOOD mentions it as an ingredient (both Herbamare and Braggs).

My objective is just to educate myself and others on this product so we know the facts.

[ShantiDass]

Did you ever find out anything more about Herbamare? I have been searching to see if it is really raw.

I'm becoming a little dishearted because there are so many "raw" cookbooks out there saying to only eat raw foods, yet their ingredient list contains food that isn't raw. I wish they had some sort of disclaimer on the items that aren't truly raw.

[dreamrawalwz]

I just bought it because I thought it would be much less salty and I could ease my salt use. No such luck. I thought the baby amount of garlic in it would be ok for me, but nope. It made my stomach SO upset and I woke up puffy in the morning!