I have a recipe that calls for 3 Tablespoons of psyllium powder to thicken 4 cups of blended blueberries.

Is there anything else I could use besides psyllium as the thickening agent?

-Smile

what are you making? cause to thicken a fruit pie i made w/ blueberries, i blended some banana and it worked great after an hour of refridgeraion.

Under the subject 'Raw Transformation' I gave the recipe for Blueberry Dreambars. It's the blueberry portion of that recipe that needs thickening.

Maybe I could try dehydrating the puree a bit to make it more 'jammy'.



What in the heck is psyllium powder anyway!?!?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2007 09:48PM by smilebig.

it's made from psyllium husks. A good fibre/bulking agent. If you put some in a glass of juice, the husks swell (you can make a jelly out of a spoon of it mixed with a glass of apple juice).

It's *almost* tasteless.

You can find it in your health food shop near where they keep the lecithin.

You'll see it as part of many cleansing courses.

i hate psyllium, particularly if i have been eating very "cleanly". I can taste it in foods and it hurts my stomach. I don't see how it's authentically processed raw either, regardless of whatever raw genius annointed psyllium a raw food product. Flax seeds ground up can be used to firm things up and if you are open to a slight semi-cooked percentage in your raw dish many, many raw foodist I know prefer to use agar seaweed flakes in a little hot water as their "gelatin" thickening substitute. Agar is a traditional Macrobiotic ingredient used for healing in a recipe called Kanten, which is esential fresh fruit, fruit juice and agar. You combine it all to make a fresh jello-like dessert that is very alkalizing. Agar only disolves in very hot/boiling water. If you drink hot tea or coffee it needs a temperature like that to disolve well w/o lumpiness.
personally speaking i would rather play with agar than psyllium. psyllium is a cheap fiber bulking agent. When used in its traditional role as a fiber laxative, it causes tremendous abdominal bloating, gas and constipation. Most natural healers I know advise against using psyllium seeds or psyllium based cleansing products for detox cleanses because of these adverse reactions. Given all that, why put it in one's food i say?

irish moss is also used in raw cooking but like agar it is not 100% raw - it can't really be used 100% perfectly raw. but it is natural and is an alternative gelling agent.

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I thought psyllium carried nutrients out of the body... was surprised to see it in a recipe.

Yeah, me too, aqua! I've only ever used it for what it says on the tin :-)

this is where i thought the irish moss might work

Psyllium powder is a natural thickener that is used sparingly in making some raw food recipes such as lemon pudding. Yes, psyllium powder does have a unique flavor, but it helps maintain healthy cholesterol and blood lipid levels.

Those of us living on a raw food diet never want to use any foods heated above 104F degrees in order to preserve the living enzymes, which are responsible for the healing properties of a raw diet. Psyllium does not require boiling to thicken recipes,and when used sparingly is generally undetected.

Ani Phyo has a wonderful "Luscious Lemon Pudding" on page 74 of herbook "ani's raw kitchen" that I use psyllium in, among others.

Reminds me of a funny little private joke. I worked in a small health food store for several years. My co-worker and I used to have this customer who was like a stereotypical lunkhead weight-lifting type (no offense to this ilk, LOL). He would always come in and say: "Where's the FUH-sillium?"