The Raw Chef Blog | Raw Food Recipes – Raw Food – Raw Chef Russell James

The Raw Chef Blog | Raw Food Recipes – Raw Food – Raw Chef Russell James
I just discovered an amazing raw chef and checked out his blog today for the first time. Lo and behold isn't he collecting raw water and he posted a few fun vids on collecting spring water. Enjoy!

Sprouting

Since I live in a place where I can't grow things outside except for in the summer, I thought what better way to have fresh, living greens year round, than sprouting. Last week I went to a sprouting class given by Marie from Toronto Sprouts. It was awesome! The thing I worry about with sprouts is mold and mildew but with this method of sprouting there should be little chance of that problem.

Jar Sprouting Method

The secret to this method is sanitizing everything, even the seeds. Marie recommended fiberglass screening because this type of screening better facilitates sterilizing. The lids you can buy for sprouting are quite often made with metal screening which will rust. So sterilize your screening and elastic bands in boiling water and swish boiling water in the jar(s) you are going to use. Make sure you use a jar with a wide mouth to facilitate removal of the finished sprouts. To sanitize the seeds you use 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide, which is available at most Health Food stores or online. Put your seeds in the jar, then water and finally the hydrogen peroxide. Or use a hydrogen peroxide solution that you have premixed. The ratio to use is 1 unit hydrogen peroxide to 10 units water. Let your seeds soak in this solution, covered, for 10 minutes. Then put the screen on the jar with the elastic (the wide elastics that are quite often used on produce work well), drain and rinse well 3-4 times.
The next step is to soak the seeds to get rid of the enzyme inhibitors. You can use this soak water to water your plants. Fill the jar that has the sanitized seeds in it with water and soak overnight 6-12 hours. Generally 8 hours soaking works for most seeds but no more than 12 hours soaking. Drain the water out through the screen and and make sure there are no fold in the screen where bacteria can collect. Put the jar on an angle in a dish rack and rinse at least 2 times a day but more often if you can. In 3-5 days your sprouts will be ready. Alfalfa sprouts take 3 days. You can use them as is or spread them on a plate and put them under a grow light for 2-3 days to green them up for use in smoothies and sandwiches. Be sure to spray them with water so they don't dry out. To use them as is just put them the grow jar in the fridge with the screen lid in place to allow air flow so that they don't mold.
For anyone living in Canada who doesn't have access to a Health Food store (or just likes the convenience of online shopping) you can obtain high quality seeds for sprouting and food grade hydrogen peroxide from Upaya Naturals. They sell Mumms seeds which are the seeds that Marie recommended to us in the sprout class.

The Ringing Cedars Series

Wow!! I'm reading the Ringing Cedars books after coming across a deal through Angela Stokes' site. I received the whole set from The Raw Food World website. I'm going through all this preamble because these books are so awesome. I'm looking forward to using her hints for gardening come spring. Basically Anastasia states that the plant kingdom is (indeed all of nature) provided for Humans well being. When planting seeds if we give the plants information about ourselves they will provide us with optimum nutrition. This is achieved by holding some of the seeds in our mouth for a few minutes and then planting them without any other supplemental watering for a few days. Also rinsing our feet first thing in the morning and watering the plants with this water is recommended. These two methods give the developing plants information about our state of health. They can then procure from the soil all that is needed for our individual bodies health. How exciting is that? Of course being with your plants in a loving way everyday is beneficial for all.
Nature is so amazing. Here I am looking out my window at the leafless trees in my back yard with a bit of fresh snowfall from last night, and within a couple of months there will be leaves on the trees again and there will be new growth everywhere. What a joyful thing it is to be a citizen of this beautiful gem we call earth. Let us all cherish her and enjoy our time here.