I remember seeing something about most cashews not really being raw. I have heard that almonds now are often not truely raw. I told my partner about that and he asked me why cashews are labled as such when they aren't. I didn't have a satisfactory answer.

What other foods are really not raw, or may not always be raw even if marked as such, or appearing as such? Then what about GMOS and irradiated foods? I thought those were supposed to be labled as such by law. But I never see that in the grocery store. There is supposed to be a law about what pesticides have been used on a crop, but that is not enforced. I could be misinformed about if the law ever existed.

Some raw cookbooks mention maple syrup and soy sauce. I know maple syrup is most often boiled. Actually can maple syrup be made raw? Is soy sauce raw?

The part about wine not always being vegan is interesting. I would find that interesting to know what other foods or beverages are not vegan when its not obvious.

Most nuts outside of shells will not sprout. Many seeds won't sprout (flax & sunflower are ok).

The dried goji berries I've bough have been raw everytime I've checked (the seeds within them will sprout). Don't know about other dried fruits.

Mangoes are not raw (if imported).

> Mangoes are not raw (if imported).

Do you mean the dried or fresh?

Mislu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember seeing something about most cashews not
> really being raw.

Most shelled cashews have been machine shelled, and apparently there is a worrisome amount of heat involved in that process. I really don't know how much. I have recently seen hand-shelled cashews being sold, but you pay a premium for all that hand labor.

> I have heard that almonds now
> are often not truely raw.

Almonds in North America are now pasteurized by law. The organic pasteurized almonds have been flash heated. The conventional almonds may have been fumigated instead with a known carcinogen. The pasteurization law can be worked around if you buy European almonds, or buy directly from American farmers (who are pretty much all in California).

> I told my partner about
> that and he asked me why cashews are labled as
> such when they aren't. I didn't have a
> satisfactory answer.

"Raw" has not been legally defined, so like "natural" it doesn't mean much on product packaging. Many products sold as raw are truly raw by the standards of living foods, but you need to decide which manufacturers to trust when they make the "raw" claim. (Many products aimed at raw foodies will explain their process somewhere on the packaging.)

> What other foods are really not raw, or may not
> always be raw even if marked as such, or appearing
> as such?

Pretty much everything. Caveat emptor.

> Then what about GMOS and irradiated
> foods? I thought those were supposed to be labled
> as such by law. But I never see that in the
> grocery store.

There's no such law in the US. I think there may be stricter European rules.

> There is supposed to be a law about
> what pesticides have been used on a crop, but that
> is not enforced. I could be misinformed about if
> the law ever existed.

Many pesticides have been outlawed over the years. Enforcement varies, but most outlawed pesticides are not used much if at all in the US. Produce imported from countries without these laws can sometimes still have these pesticides on them.

> Some raw cookbooks mention maple syrup and soy
> sauce. I know maple syrup is most often boiled.
> Actually can maple syrup be made raw? Is soy sauce
> raw?

Many raw foodists and raw cookbooks call for ingredients that are not raw. Usually this is things that are being used in very small quantities.

Maple syrup is boiled down a great deal. It may be possible to raise the temperature to a raw safe temperature and dehydrate that way, but I think it would take a really, really long time and might be prohibitively expensive. If I saw raw maple syrup being marketed that would be a case where I would want to know more about the company in order to decide whether to trust it.

Most soy sauce is pasteurized. Many raw foodies use nama shoyu (aka unpasteurized soy sauce). There is cooking involved in the process before the sauce's fermentation, but nama shoyu is usually considered incrementally better than standard soy sauce.

> The part about wine not always being vegan is
> interesting. I would find that interesting to know
> what other foods or beverages are not vegan when
> its not obvious.

This is a major challenge for vegans everywhere, as products do not always make it clear. If packaged food is kosher, then it's required to display whether it should be considered meat or dairy for the purposes of the kosher rules. The kosher rules are very strict. If a tool or machine has processed diary, then any other food it processes is also considered dairy regardless of its ingredients. (The same is true for meat.) This is a useful tool, though you still need to watch out for eggs, honey, and fish, as the kosher rules don't address these.

One nice thing about a raw diet is that if most or all of your food is fresh produce, you can happily buy without worrying about animal-based ingredients!

Frances,
Some of those concerns apply to people with allergies. Sometimes the most minute traces of things can be lethal. I remember that a section of the bleachers was swept clean, and declared a peanut free zone for a particular football game. This was because a little boy was going to watch the game, and even traces of dust in the air could bring a reaction for him. I remember it made news, and I think everything went well. I think some people found it 'over the top' as in why should I have to go peanut free for a game? I guess its too much for people without allergies to understand.

Mislu, That's very true. Packaged goods are usually much better about warnings regarding nuts than they are about dairy. This is mostly because vegans are largely considered silly for their concerns while it is widely understood how deadly a peanut allergy can be. I consider myself lucky and blessed not to have allergies, let alone dangerous ones. A cousin of mine died of a peanut allergy when he was 18. He had had a number of scares and hospitalizations before that, but never due to unlabeled peanut contamination in packaged foods. In the end, it was restaurant prepared food - with its far more limited labeling rules.

Frances,
Sorry to hear about your cousin. Was it from using shared equipment? Sometimes whats left on a grill, or whats in frying oil can cause serious trouble. My boyfriends niece has a serious peanut and tree nut allergy, she could go into seizures from it, depending on the level of contamination.

My boyfriend has a hard time digesting dairy, but he likes it, and has it sometimes. What interesting is that he seems to have more trouble with low fat versions of dairy. His sensitivity to it seems to vary. Sometimes its not a problem, and at others he has to avoid even traces. I don't think its silly to void ANY ingredient, for any reason. I know that some dairy problems can be pretty serious.

Dermatographism is awful, I am having trouble with that now. I think its induced by stress, but also has a food factor. I am avoiding gluten and that seems to be working. But there are other suspected causes, one is eggs, another is dairy. But also nuts, shellfish, and other foods, also dust and mold. Its not supposed to be deadly...but believe me when you have it, it feels like you are going to die, or you wish you had died.
[www.healthy-skincare.com]

The almond thing is an atrocity. From what I understand, "they" have decided to cook almonds, ostensibly for our "safety." THE ONLY ALKALINE NUT! It has amygdalin, otherwise known as Vitamin B17 or laetrile. It is used to combat cancer! I guess it's too powerful and health-giving...I brought this up and someone from CA told me he had some raw almonds for sale. Trader Joe's labels their non-roasted almonds 'raw' and I think I'll contact them to find out if they are truly raw. I think they come from Spain, so perhaps there is still hope.

As for soy sauce, I know that Bragg's is not raw, but you can get Namo Shoyu. I have never seen it in a health store...I wonder if you have to order it?

Banana who,
I don't know if the b17 thing is the hidden agenda behind heating almonds. I think it most likely comes from a serious misunderstanding of how the almonds are produced. The conventional way seems more dangerous, the organic seems better. There is also some misunderstanding or disagreement or different perspective and experience of the immune system for raw foodists and conventional thought.

I realize this is from the price foundation, but this information about almonds is good to know for everyone. Its actually old news for most people I guess. I had been aware of the almond thing for awhile, but I think I never really took it seriously enough. I have been eating almonds, and even soaking them overnight, but it probably didn't improve it nutritionally.
[www.trit.us]

Mislu,

I am a card-carrying conspiracy theorist, tin foiler...I will admit to it! The reason I say this (regarding food issues) is that in the last few years (since raw foods and the benefits of enzymes have gone pretty mainstream) there have been some well-publicized "outbreaks" involving green onions, spinach, and more nebulous ones where tomatoes and jalapenos were implicated and then after Mexico destroyed their supply, the FDA decided that they were not really sure where the contamination came from! Just the other day, I heard about some black pepper alert and cried bullsh*t. Sure enough, the next day I read that it's pepperoni that has been implicated and recalled. Even in cases where lettuce or other produce is infected, it's most likely run-off from dirty factory farms.

The almond thing makes absolutely no sense because it's not across the board. I don't see pumpkin seeds being pastuerized, for instance, nor walnuts, etc. And the other day I was reading a chart listing acids and alkaline items and almonds had the distinction of being the only alkaline nut. So yeah, that got me a'think'...

They already are irradiating herbs (I buy herb at Whole Foods in bulk bins and they are supposedly not irradiated). I wouldn't put it past "them" to try and destroy anything which would bypass the medical indu$try and med$...

banana who,
Thank you for your post. It does sometimes seems like people are just trying to get in the way of public health. The question is, are they aware enough to choose the only alkaline nut? What about other food items which are alkaline? Are those now also being altered? Then there is the question of b17, apricot kernels are supposed to be an even better source. Are those being banned or sterilized?

That is pretty strange about the pattern about the produce outbreaks. I never really thought about it. Isn't it pretty common for produce to at least have some traces of various bacteria? It can't be avoided, or am I wrong about that? I grew up on some food staples which were produced without being inspected. (these were non-vegan items) Someone told me they were not safe to eat. But I never got sick from them.

HOWEVER, I HAVE gotten sick on fda inspected foods with added preservatives which were supposed to prevent illness. It really makes me mad. I think it had more to do with the combination of ingredients and ignorance about how something is produced. Believe me if you personally produce something, you are doing to make sure its produced right. We dried these items pretty purely, and made sure they were very, very dry, and closely inspected them for spoilage. I doubt that mega farm producers would have the time to inspect everything, relying on dipping in some preservative. But even with that, something could get by if its an inherently bad product combination.

Mislu,

I used to work in a health food store in the late '90s/early '00s and the FDA was starting to eff with us. For instance, red yeast rice extract was getting rave reviews from our customers. Their cholesterol numbers were going down dramatically for such a small investment. Sure enough, they demanded we take it off the shelves because statins had to be prescribed! Ephedra was also removed, in the guise of "safety." Of course, China has used the herb for thousands of years and the so-called dangerous products most likely had either caffeine added or guarana, which contains caffeine. Also, standardized ephedra is going to be more drug-like because they concentrate the ephedrine.

I remember how long after the spinach and green onion "outbreaks" there was a fear of possible contamination and you couldn't even buy spinach for a while back then! Also, it was Earthbound Farms that was fingered as the source of contamination. Earthbound Farms is an ORGANIC operation. Things that make ya go hmmm...

This was in the "terror alert" time and I consider this as bogus as those alerts. I simply do not believe anything that "they" say anymore, regardless of the "news." Thank goodnesss I have no longer have tv service or I'd have to de-bee ess myself 24/7!

I found out the organic sunflower seeds in the UK are being pasteurised, when I tried to sprout them they wouldn't sprout so I wrote to the manufacturer who said they were pasteurised.

I dumped a handful of "raw" nuts and seeds from the Whole Foods bulk bins into water to see if they'd sprout. I didn't separate them by species, so there may be some inhibitory enzymes keeping the other kind of nuts from sprouting. I really don't know.

It's only day two, but I'm surprised already with this experiment. The almonds seem to be trying to sprout. There is a pinhead size white dot at the point of several of them. The sunflowers are definitely trying. I 'think' the pumpkin seeds are also starting though it's hard to tell. The cashews have not sprouted, but have shown some activity, that is they have swelled considerably and have now got a purple variegation.