I recently found out that raw almonds aren't really raw. Neither are cashews. Are there other items that people think are raw but really aren't?

Agave comes to mind.

Well you can order HAND SHELLED CASHEWS from glaserorganicfarms.com, they are big and soft!




Um what else..

?

Oh! Alot of seeds/nuts in supermarkets are heat dried over 118 degrees. Like the kind by the produce section prepackaged.

Raw Olives, I cannot see how they are raw, or Lara bars, they may be raw but not LIVING.

Wild rice

OMEGA GOOD ONE

Maple syrup...honey bought in stores, anything bottled...packaged for more than a week...

sucanat..american almonds, spices..mangos from India. Papayas from hawaii..imported durian, imported thai coconuts.. all irradiated with electrons





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2008 05:37PM by suvine.

Is irradiated the same as cooked? I know it alters molecular structures, which is reason enough to avoid it. In which case, most out-of-season conventional greens are probably irradiated. Or will be soon. LivingNutz has truly raw almonds, btw. It's great how the FDA and the USDA are allowed to process stuff without notifying the public. Is this the case in the UK and elsewhere, I wonder?

I think SOMETIMES items labeled as raw aren't raw, but, as in the case of cashews and almonds, sometimes it's true; sometimes it's not. There is no universal answer. Food differs by region/where obtained, etc.

suvine Wrote:
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> Maple syrup...honey bought in stores, anything
> bottled...packaged for more than a week...

Hi there Suvine. On what do you base your opinion that anything packaged for more than a week is "not raw"?

Cheers.

Well, if you get something sitting on shelves for a very long time, its not alive anymore. I consider something raw if there are enzymes..the life force.

With the exception of nuts..

Hope you have a nice day

suvine Wrote:
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> Well, if you get something sitting on shelves for
> a very long time, its not alive anymore.

Yeah, how do you come to that conclusion?

> I consider something raw if there are enzymes..the
> life force.

But how does sitting on a shelf (or in the fridge) deactivate enzymes). I made some saurkraut in 2007 that I just ate a few weeks ago & it tasted pretty lively. I've sure if you analyzed it it would be full of life.

> With the exception of nuts.
>
> Hope you have a nice day

It's been a better day that I imagined it might be, thanks. You too!

Leuconostoc, lactobacillus, and Pediococcus are not eukaryotes, though, which is probably what most people have in mind when they think of "living" things (the good, true (eu) nut (karyon) that has a nucleus, membrane-bound organelles, etc.).

I wasn't talking about fermented foods.

But yeah I agree.

communitybuilder Wrote:
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> But how does sitting on a shelf (or in the fridge)
> deactivate enzymes). I made some saurkraut in
> 2007 that I just ate a few weeks ago & it tasted
> pretty lively. I've sure if you analyzed it it
> would be full of life.

The cabbage is dead. The bacteria are alive.

I now have sources for both truly raw, organic almonds and hand-shelled cashews. I just recently worked out a deal with a U.S. farm for the almonds to keep prices more reasonable and with free shipping directly from farm to you. They're shelled, whole, unpasteurized. Some are thinking of putting together group orders. For really large groups, 50 lb is even cheaper than the prices listed now. Anyhow, hope this helps.

[dimondhealth.com]

p.s. I can only sell in bulk to keep the prices low.

Simple Raw Recipes & Health Tips

suvine Wrote:
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..mangos from India. Papayas from hawaii..imported durian, imported thai coconuts.. all irradiated with electrons


---what...? i heard about coconuts being radiated... but why are papayas and mangos irradiated....???

---i love eating papayas, and there are absolutely no organic papayas existent (in sweden), so i eat inorganic papayas..., now that you say they are treated with irradiation...., i am worried... why...?

---what really happens with a fruit nutrient properties when it is treated by irradiation...? is there a possibility that nutrients are transformed by radiation treatment in to anti-nutrients..., similarly to when a protein becomes dirty-protein at heating...

would be good to know, so i might need to reevaluate my choices from now on...





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2008 06:19PM by justin1.

Omega Wrote:
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> The cabbage is dead. The bacteria are alive.

How is the cabbage any "deader" than when it's sitting in your fridge or on your countertop.

At what point in a fruit or vegetable's lifespan does it go from "alive" to "dead".

The words "alive" and "dead" thrown around randomly is part of what gives rawfoodists a bad name.

Well, the truth is that if you were to take some cells from a relatively fresh fruit or vegetable out of your fridge (something fresh enough for you to eat and not dehydrated or salted or anything like that) and look at them under a light microscope you would see some activity, there are still some metabolic processes taking place, and some cells will still be dividing. You could conceivably harvest a part of your food plant that has been in your fridge for days that could be used to make a new plant with cell culturing methods.

So technically, yes, your apples, oranges, pears, pomegranates, lettuces, and onions, etc. are still alive, if they are good enough to eat, and even as they start to rot there is still some life left in the better parts. But given enough time, these wind down and stop.

Also, it probably isn't so much that the food is still alive that makes it "better" for you, but that the vitamins and phytochemicals and fibers are more or less intact.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2008 03:55AM by arugula.

The thing about food being alive is that there's a good chance it hasn't rotted yet, and as we all know, rotting produces toxins that are not good to ingest.

In some sense, fermented cabbage has already begun the rotting process, that is, bacteria are eating nutrients in the cabbage.

For some people it may be enough to eat raw, whether or not it is 'living'. Eating only raw and living foods may be difficult to someone new on the raw journey, although it does seem that the majority of individuals progress to this over time.

Sunflower
Raw Food Chef and Writer
Comfortably Raw
[www.comfortablyraw.com]

communitybuilder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Omega Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> ----->
> > The cabbage is dead. The bacteria are alive.
>
> How is the cabbage any "deader" than when it's
> sitting in your fridge or on your countertop.

Let's use carrots as an example because it's simple.

Carrots (without tops) could be sitting in your fridge for a few weeks, and yet they can still sprout new greens at the top. Why? The carrot is alive, even though it was harvested weeks ago.

That carrot, if planted in the ground, would likely grow into a mature "carrot plant" with full green tops.

Now take that same carrot, and ferment it (whole) in a batch of sauerkraut for a few weeks. Will that same carrot, which has bacteria breaking it down, grow if planted? I (highly) doubt it.

That's the difference between dead and alive. If the carrot still has the life force in it, it will grow if planted. If the life force is gone, it will not grow.

> At what point in a fruit or vegetable's lifespan
> does it go from "alive" to "dead".

Good question. If you took a single large cabbage leaf and let it sit on your counter, I would say that when the leaf feels completely limp, it's dead. (I realize that that's not very scientific.)

If you put an entire cabbage, or any other vegetable, on your counter and let it sit, I'd say that when it's completely limp, it's probably dead.

At what EXACT moment does the vegetable goes from "alive" to "dead," I could not tell you.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2008 03:32AM by Omega.

Quote

Let's use carrots as an example because it's simple.

Carrots (without tops) could be sitting in your fridge for a few weeks, and yet they can still sprout new greens at the top. Why? The carrot is alive, even though it was harvested weeks ago.

That carrot, if planted in the ground, would likely grow into a mature "carrot plant" with full green tops.

Now take that same carrot, and ferment it (whole) in a batch of sauerkraut for a few weeks. Will that same carrot, which has bacteria breaking it down, grow if planted? I (highly) doubt it.

That's the difference between dead and alive. If the carrot still has the life force in it, it will grow if planted. If the life force is gone, it will not grow.

So the moment you chop up a carrot for your salad or take the seeds from you orange it's dead?

Quote

Good question. If you took a single large cabbage leaf and let it sit on your counter, I would say that when the leaf feels completely limp, it's dead. (I realize that that's not very scientific.)

If you put an entire cabbage, or any other vegetable, on your counter and let it sit, I'd say that when it's completely limp, it's probably dead.

At what EXACT moment does the vegetable goes from "alive" to "dead," I could not tell you.

By that definition sauerkraut is alive because it's not limp.

I agree with OMEGA and BRYAN