Sorry, but you need a dehydrator for all the recipes in this section. A dehydrator is like a raw-fooder’s oven; it heats things at a very low temperature, so they are still technically considered raw as they are still enzymatically active, but foods get dried out enough to change them from soft doughs and batters to firm loaves and crispy crackers. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can still make most of these recipes in a fan oven, on the lowest setting, although they probably won’t be raw that way.
Makes 60 crackers
10 mins, 12 hours presoaking, 18 hours dehydrating
Blender, dehydrator
Flax crackers are a raw food staple. They make a cool snack because they go with anything, they add that extra crunch to any dinner, and they’re infinitely variable. Simply soak flaxseeds in water, add any flavoring you choose, sweet or savory, and dehydrate until crispy. Here we’ve put them with barleygrass to make the healthiest crackers on the block.
2 cups (250 g) flaxseeds, presoaked 12 hours
4 cups (1 liter) water
1 red onion
4 Tbsp barleygrass powder
2 lemons, juiced
Soak the flaxseeds in the water for 12 hours. When it’s ready, put the flax and water mixture in the blender. Peel and quarter the onion and put that in too with the barleygrass powder and lemon juice. Blend until you have a puree, with no seedy bits or onion chunks left. Spread over three dehydrator trays and dry for 12 hours. Score into 20 crackers to each tray, flip, and dry for a further six hours. Store them in an airtight container and they’ll keep for two to three months.
Makes 60 crackers
10 mins, 12 hours presoaking, 18 hours dehydrating
Dehydrator
Eat these and be burning up with magical powers! If you’re a big chili fan, you can slice up a red chili pepper and add that into the mix too for extra fire.
2 cups (250 g) flaxseeds, presoaked 12 hours
3 cups (750 ml) water
1 tsp purple corn extract
1 Tbsp Thai vegan curry powder
½ tsp crystal salt
2 lemons, juiced
1 cup (100 g) bee pollen
Soak the water in the flaxseeds overnight. When it’s ready, the seeds will have absorbed all the water and be one gloopy mass. Stir in the remaining ingredients by hand, until the purple corn extract is evenly distributed in the flax and the result is an amazing purple colour. Spread over three dehydrator trays, and dry for 12 hours. Score each tray into 20 crackers, four across by five down, and flip them over to dry through on the other side. Dry for a further six hours. Store them in an airtight container, and they’ll keep for up to eight weeks.
Serves 12
15 mins, dehydrating 12 hours
Blender, dehydrator
If you have a nut allergy, or are catering for someone who has, you can still make a “nut loaf” using flaxseeds instead. Flaxseeds are a great binder, and make a chewy, bread-like dough. You don’t need to put suma in this if you don’t have any, but it gives it that extra love factor.
2 cups (250 g) flaxseeds
3 (250 g) carrots
2 red onions
2 (250 g) beets
1 ½ cup (150 g) goji berries
½ cup (50 g) sun-dried tomatoes
1 Tbsp purple corn extract
1 Tbsp suma
1 Tbsp cumin powder
1 Tbsp tamari
2 Tbsp goji berries
2 Tbsp shelled hemp seeds
1 tsp purple corn extract
Grind the flaxseeds. Prepare your carrot, pepper, onion, celery and beetroot for the blender by removing unwanted seeds and stems, and chopping into pieces small enough to work your machine comfortably. You need to peel the beets. If you have a high-power blender, use this, otherwise a food processor will do fine. Put all the veg in first, with 150 g (1 ½ cups) goji berries, and the sun-dried tomatoes and blend for a few minutes until it’s as broken down as it’s going to get. Add the flaxseeds, purple corn extract, suma, cumin and tamari, and process again until you have a dough. Remove the dough from the mixer and shape onto a dehydrator tray, about 5 cm (1") high. I like to make it into a heart shape, but you can make whatever shape you choose. Decorate with goji berries, a sprinkling of purple corn extract and hemp seeds, radiating out in a concentric pattern. Dehydrate for at least 12 hours. Store in the fridge in an airtight container, and it will keep for up to a week.
