This chapter may seem like a strange contradiction, but this concept is gaining ground as a popular use for dehydrators. The term is a little misleading, as food is not actually cooked this way. It is still a close approximation of this technique though.
The whole premise is that eating raw food is healthier than eating cooked food because heat destroys so many enzymes, proteins, and other chemicals in our food. So, many people have “gone raw” and no longer eat any cooked food. However, they do use dehydrators to “cook” certain foods, providing that their food is not heated beyond 110 F. The low heat and drying action can be used to make cookies, crackers, and a number of other foods that end up similar to cooked food. It is the only way to make a crisp or chewy food without cooking.
Raw food also means any processed ingredients that have been heated are eliminated, such as white sugar. If you are doing any raw food cooking with a dehydrator, you will need a sizeable collection of ingredients that may seem unusual at first. Of course, if you are already eating raw, you probably have all these things on hand anyway.
Although these recipes might not be to everyone’s taste, they certainly show off the wide potential of the simple food dehydrator. You definitely can do more with it than just dry food.
Recipes for Making Raw Food
Most of these recipes are using soft doughs or liquid batters, which do not work that well with the regular slotted trays in a dehydrator. If you are going to try these, you will need to have nonstick sheets used for making fruit leather. Most dehydrators come with them, or you can buy them separately. Wax paper would do in any case.
Although you sometimes can use dried foods in these recipes, they are designed to be made with fresh fruits and vegetables. They need the extra liquid in the fresh foods to make the proper consistency. If you were using dried foods to start with, these would be too dry to make proper dough.
When making crackers, you can either make a large sheet of them to be broken up later or wait until they are partly dried and use a knife or pastry cutting wheel to score the drying dough to make more even cracker shapes.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
As oatmeal is not considered raw, this recipe has been adapted to use quinoa instead. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is a healthy grain.
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 cup pecans
• ½ cup agave syrup (a natural raw sweetener)
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
You need to start this recipe the night before. Give the quinoa a good rinse with cold water, then leave to soak overnight. Drain off any excess water when you are ready to make your cookies.
Use a food processor to grind the nuts until they are powdered. Add in the cinnamon and then the soaked quinoa. Run the processor for about another 30 seconds before adding the agave syrup to the mixture. Keep blending for another minute.
Remove the canister from your food processor, and stir in the raisins by hand.
Drop spoonfuls of dough on either wax paper or the leather sheets that come with your dehydrator. You can place them pretty close together because they will not spread like traditional cooked cookies do. Flatten them out a little, so they are all the same thickness (more or less).
Run your dehydrator at 105 F for four hours. Take them out, remove the cookies from their sheets, and place them directly on the mesh trays of the dehydrator. Keep on drying for another four to five hours.
Mexican Flax Crackers
This recipe makes a zesty and flavorful cracker that takes nearly no time to prepare before putting it in the dehydrator.
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 small onion
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 carrots
• ¾ cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 5 cups flax seeds
• 3 small tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 small bunch of fresh cilantro
• 2 Tbsp. taco spices
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
Soak the pumpkin seeds overnight before you start making your crackers.
When ready to start, roughly chop the vegetables, and then put all the ingredients into your food processor. Blend until pureed, and then spread on your nonstick leather sheets in your dehydrator. Dry like you would a fruit leather except have the dehydrator turned down to 105 F. Dry for six to eight hours, then peel each piece from the sheet, and flip it over. Keep drying for another six to eight hours until it is dry and hard. Break up into cracker-sized pieces to eat.
Potato Crisps
This is a simple recipe and would be enjoyed by anyone, raw enthusiast or not. You can season these any way you like.
• 2 large white potatoes
• ½ cup cider vinegar
• ½ small onion, minced
The seasonings can be anything you want, such as dried dill, garlic, chili powder, cilantro, or just plain salt. The amount can be between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, depending on how zesty you like your potatoes.
To make these, you need to grate or shred your potatoes and let them soak in vinegar overnight. The next day, drain the potato, and give it a quick rinse. Dry it off with paper towel as much as you can, and then stir in the onions and whatever seasonings you wish.
Spread the potato mixture evenly and no thicker than a ¼ inch on your nonstick leather sheets. Dry at 110 F for about 14 to 16 hours. Part way through, you can flip pieces over to dry evenly. When done, you should have a crisp sheet of potato to be broken up into snack size pieces.
Zucchini Corn Wraps
These soft wraps are similar to leather and can be used when making all kinds of things instead of tortillas.
• 2 cups corn kernels
• 3 small zucchini, peeled and diced
• ½ cup water
Combine everything in a blender, and process until smooth. Spread out on leather sheets in a thin layer, and let dry at 110 F for six hours. Flip the pieces over, and dry for another two hours. They will be slightly crisp when they are done, but when they cool outside of the dehydrator, they will soften to the right consistency.
Apricot and Cashew Cookies
You can change the fruit in these if you wish, but apricots do go well with the cashews.
• 2 cups cashew nuts
• 1 cup dried apricots
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 very ripe bananas
Start this recipe the night before, and let your cashews soak in water overnight. The next day, blend everything until you have a crumbled “batter.” Drop spoonfuls on your leather sheets or wax paper and dry at 105 F. Dry for ten hours on one side; then flip them over, and dry until they are firm and chewy (likely another six to eight hours).
Lemon Cookies
These are only lightly flavored with lemon, so they are sweet rather than tart. The banana adds a mellow touch and makes these delicious.
• 2 cups cashew nuts
• ½ cup lemon juice
• ½ banana
• ¼ cup honey
• 1/3 cup agave syrup
• 2 cups dried shredded coconut
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Soak cashews for about four hours (overnight will be too long), and then drain them thoroughly. Combine the ingredients and blend in a food processor until smooth. Drop spoonfuls of batter onto your dehydrator nonstick sheet, and dry at 115 F for about eight hours. Flatten them to about ½ inch thickness once they start to dry to help keep things even.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
To keep this recipe strictly raw, you will need to use raw oats, which can be hard to find. Cacao nibs are also a bit exotic, though many bulk food stores carry them. An easier option is to use traditional rolled oats and regular chocolate chips instead if you are not following a strict raw diet.
• 1 cup zucchini puree
• 1/3 cup agave syrup
• ½ cup coconut butter
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 ½ cups rolled oats
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
• ½ cup cacao nibs
In a food processor, blend zucchini puree, agave, and coconut butter until smoothly combined. In another bowl, stir the oat flour, cocoa powder, and cinnamon together, and then add the wet ingredients to the bowl. Stir in the rolled oats, nuts, and cacao nibs. Mix until you have a good batter and everything is mixed.
Put spoonfuls on a dehydrator sheet, and dry at 115 F for about six or seven hours until you have a chewy cookie.
Chewy Banana Bites
These treats are a mix of sweet fruit and crunchy seeds.
• 4 bananas
• 2 cups almonds
• ½ cup flax seeds
• 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
• 10 large dates
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Soak both the almonds and the flax seeds overnight before you start this recipe. Drain the nuts, and then mix them with the other ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until you have a chunky batter.
Drop spoonfuls on a nonstick sheet, and dry at 110 F for about eight hours. If you like them chewier, then continue to dry your cookies until they are the consistency you prefer.
Veggie Chips
These make a healthy alternative to crackers or potato chips. You can be creative with the vegetables and adjust this recipe to suit what you have on hand.
• 1 small onion
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 small bell pepper (green or red)
• 1 tomato
• 1 large carrot
• ½ cup green peas
• ½ cup sesame seeds
• ½ cup corn kernels
• Seasonings to your own taste
These can be seasoned with garlic, basil, chili, dill, or whatever you like. How much you use will depend on the spice; so, plan to experiment a little bit.
Combine everything in the food processor, and run until you have a thick and chunky mixture. Spread thinly on a leather sheet and dry at 105 F for about eight to ten hours or until crisp. Break up the pieces into bite-sized chunks, or cut into squares while drying.
Cheez-It Crackers
There is no cheese in these crackers, but the spicy taste is a lot like the commercial cheese crackers you can buy in stores.
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup Brazil nuts
• 1 small tomato, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• ¼ cup ground flax seed
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp. taco seasoning mix
Soak seeds and nuts for about four hours, and then drain any excess water. Combine the nuts and everything else in a food processor until it is a smooth batter. Spread thinly on a fruit leather sheet or wax paper. Dry at 110 F for ten to 12 hours or until your crackers are dry and crispy.
Falafel
If you are not familiar with it, traditional falafel is a food made with a chickpea paste that is then deep-fried to make it crispy on the outside. It is a popular food among vegetarians, and you can make a good copy of it with your dehydrator.
• 1 cup chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans)
• 1 cup sunflower seed
• 1 Tbsp. garlic, mince
• 2 cups fresh cilantro, chopped
• ½ cup tahini (sesame paste)
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• ½ cup onion, chopped
• ½ cup lemon juice
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 ½ tsp. cumin
You can either use canned chickpeas (not strictly raw) or soak your beans overnight. Either way, drain off any excess water, and then mix the beans together with everything else in a food processor. When you have a good paste going, form into balls, and press flat onto your dehydrator sheets. Dry them at 90 F for around eight hours. The outside will be crunchy, but the inside will still be moist.
Soaking and Drying Nuts
This is not a recipe as much as it is a technique that raw food enthusiasts use to improve the nutritional quality of their raw nuts.
Nuts of all types have some natural compounds in them that make them somewhat hard to digest. It is not great for your body and can give some people stomach upsets when they eat too many raw nuts. So, you can soak your nuts (typically overnight) or give them a good rinsing to remove all the unwanted enzyme inhibitor and then dehydrate them to make them crunchy again. The result is a crunchy nut without the enzyme problem.
To dry soaked nuts, set your dehydrator at 110 F, and then dry until the nuts have re-crisped. If you are not concerned about them remaining truly raw, you can turn the temperature up to 120 F for a quicker process. It will take at least 12 hours to redry your nuts, and it can take up to 20 hours. Small seeds such as sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds also can be soaked and dried this way. They take six to eight hours to redry after soaking.
This usually is done with raw nuts, but even roasted ones can benefit from a soak and rinse as well.