I made two thick, nut-based puddings with my prep 3. Even after letting it blend for a long time, it still didn't have that smooth feel. The raspberry pudding still had distinct seeds, and the carob/chocolate pudding didn't feel smooth either. What did I do wrong?

Lollipop Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------
> What did I do wrong?
You need to add enough Water for the mixture
to move rapidly in the Carafe. Keep adding water until you
get the proper consistency.....WY

Well, I must admit that I wasn't up to the highest speed on the blender, but if I add more water (which I can see is definitely a GOOD thing to do!), how do you make it thick? I'm wanting to make a smooth cheesecake too, but if I add water, it won't be able to hold it's shape.

Lollipop

Sometimes a raw vegan must accept compromises in the textures & tastes of a raw food that they are trying to create..

Many, if not most, of the cooked, manufactured foods that are available for purchase in our grocery stores are difficult, if not impossible, to replicate in a raw vegan form..The same holds true for the majority of the cooked foods available for purchase in restaurants; regardless of whether the restaurant is a commercial fast food franchise, or a Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant..

The reasons for this difficulty / impossibility in replicating taste, texture, form, color, & smell are many..It is a fundamental principle of cooking that heat, especially high heat, changes the elemental structure of raw ingredients..The primary means that effects these changes is caramelization..There is no denying that when foods become caramelized they become MUCH more appealing to the human nose & taste buds..

IMO, this is probably the MAIN reason that humans started eating animal flesh thousands of years ago..A wild animal caught, killed, & cooked in a forest or steppe fire probably smelled incredibly appetizing compared to the raw nuts, fruits, berries, barks, roots, insects, etc. that comprised the bulk of early humans diet..

One only has to take a quick look at the average raw vegan recipe book to realize that trying to replicate cooked animal foods, for example a chicken nugget, requires an incredible amount of food prep machinations & TIME compared to the techniques & time required to make the cooked animal version of the same food..

In the case of your nut based puddings, you are trying to substitute blender pulverization for the softening & breakdown that would naturally occur while the pudding was being cooked..

If I was going to make a cooked pudding using nuts that I wanted to be perfectly smooth I would first chop the nuts to a fine meal in a food processor..Then, I would cook the ingredients until the nuts were VERY soft..Then, I would strain the pudding base through a chinoise several times (3-4) until the desired smoothness was achieved..Then, I would return the mixture to the stove & thicken it using one of several heat-reactive thickeners (cornstarch, arrowroot starch, eggs)..Then, the mixture would be poured into the serving container of choice, covered tightly with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming, & chilled to set the pudding up..

Trying to achieve the same texture & taste in a raw vegan form is, IMO, extremely time consuming & difficult; if not impossible..

In order to get the pudding to be as smooth as possible I would first use a food processor to chop the nuts as finely as possible before putting them into the blender..Then, I would put the nut meal into the blender with the remaining ingredients & sufficient liquid(s) to allow a vortex to EASILY form when the blender is turned onto it's highest setting..This will necessitate a fairly runny mixture at first as without creating the vortex in a very liquid mixture; the nuts WILL NOT pulverize & break down into a smooth consistency..

As the nuts break down into smaller & smaller particle sizes, they will thicken the mixture up somewhat, but NOT enough to create a cooked pudding consistency..I would not attempt to strain the mixture to achieve smoothness as you would then lose much of the flavor in the pudding..I would not use things like ground flax seeds or any of the other commonly used "raw" thickeners..All of the things that raw vegans use as substitutes for heat-reactive thickeners IMO substantially change the texture & taste of the foods being thickened..

Unless a runny texture is acceptable, the only other alternative, IMO, is to incorporate a fruit that is high in pectin into the recipe..Blue berries, for example, have an incredible amount of pectin in them..I recently made too much smoothie (approx. 50 oz. worth) using a pint of blueberries..I drank all but 16 oz. of the smoothie, which I refrigerated tightly covered & forgot for 24 hours..When I opened the glass, I ended up with a glass-shaped blueberry smoothie jello mold..

If a nut-only raw vegan pudding is your goal then, IMO, you are going to have to accept one of the following compromises..

First, if made the way that you describe above; the pudding WILL NOT be as smooth as a cooked, strained pudding, although it will have a cooked pudding's thickness..As you have already discovered, without creating a free-flowing vortex in the carafe, the blender's blades WILL NOT be able to achieve super-fine pulverization..

Second, use more liquid to create a proper vortex that will achieve the smoothness that you desire, & accept a runnier, less pudding-like texture..

Third, use more liquid to create a proper vortex that will achieve the smoothness that you desire, use one of the commonly accepted "raw" thickening agents, & accept the changes in taste & texture that these thickeners will bring to the pudding..

Fourth, incorporate a fruit that is high in pectin into the ingredient list & accept the changes that the high-pectin fruit will bring to the pudding..

Good luck in finding the compromise that will please you..

Bruce

Great suggestions, I'll certainly be keeping all of this in mind! Thanks for educating me as well - I like to know they "whys" behind things!

Bruce I just have to say... I LOVE your posts. They are always so fascinating and comprehensive.



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