Raw Food Diet Tools of the Trade - The Sprout Starter

In this article will cover a handy tool used in the raw food diet, the sprout starter.

Sprouting your own healthy seeds in a healthy raw food diet is not only convenient, but also saves money on your grocery bill. Seed sprouting is not difficult, even if you don't consider yourself to have a green thumb. Sprouting your own seeds is easy, healthy, and economical.

Here are a few points to ponder regarding a sprout starter for your kitchen:

* You can sprout many different varieties of seeds, so there's always variety in your raw food diet.

* You can choose a sprout starter that suits your specific needs. There are small single tier models, multi-tiered stackable sprouting systems, or you can use a glass Mason jar.

* You can choose totally organic seeds for your sprout starter.

* Sprouts are very healthy and loaded with beneficial nutrients, digestive enzymes, minerals, protein, amino acids, vitamins, and iron.

* It only takes a few days to have sprouts from your starter.

* The growing season for sprouts is year round, and you can grow them no matter what the climate is where you live.

* Just a few of the sprouts you can grow in a starter include mung beans, green peas, clover, lentils, alfalfa, almonds, sunflower, radish, buckwheat, wheat, cabbage, kale, quinoa, sesame, broccoli, snow peas, and garbanzo beans.

* Fresh organic sprouts go straight from sprouter to table, so you enjoy nutritious sprouts that have not been sitting for an unknown length of time on a grocery shelf. Your sprouts are always fresh, coming straight out of your starter to be rinsed and instantly enjoyed.

Different Types of Sprout Starters

There are commercial sprout starters available or you can simply create your own. Commonly used methods for sprouting include:

* Glass Mason Jars
* Cloth
* Plastic Tubes
* Plastic Mesh
* Clay Saucers
* Plastic Trays
* Hemp Bags

Fresh sprouts are one of the healthiest and most nutritious foods you can include in your organic raw food diet. By growing your own sprouts, you are assured of having fresh organic sprouts handy whenever you want them. You can omit chemicals, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers so the sprouts you grow are 100% organic.

Sprout Salad Extravaganza

Ingredients:

* Fresh spinach leaves
* Diced cucumbers
* Halved cherry tomatoes
* Sunflower greens
* Buckwheat lettuce
* Sprouts grown from a bean blend such as San Francisco or Madison Market mix
* Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
* Oil and vinegar

Directions:

1. Clean and prepare greens, vegetables, and sprout ingredients.
2. Toss together with salt, pepper, and oil and vinegar dressing.
3. Enjoy!

Choices, Choices, What Type of Juicer to Use on a Raw Food Diet

These days there is a kitchen appliance to do just about everything. There are choppers, slicers, dicers, juicers, blenders, and much more. With the availability of all these gadgets and gizmos, raw food preparation can be a breeze, not to mention a lot of fun. Let's explore one of these handy tools of the trade:

The Raw Food Juice Extractor

A juice extractor provides an excellent way to extract the beneficial nutrients from raw fruits and vegetables. A juicer separates the juice from the pulp of the fruit. Anyone on a raw food diet needs to have a juicer as part of their array of equipment.

There are many different juicers on the market in different price ranges. An electric juicer is much simpler and faster to use than a manual one. There are two main types of juicers:

* Centrifugal (least expensive and the oldest design type) - this type of juicer works using a spinning motion at high speeds. The food is inserted into a chute, and the centrifugal motion spins the juice away from the food fiber. The juice is then dispensed into a separate container or leaving the pulp fiber behind in a basket.  With this type of juicer you can only produce 1-2 quarts before you have to take it apart to clean out the pulp. They also don’t juice leafy greens very well, but I have added parsley and cilantro to many of my morning green juices!

* Masticating (more expensive but they extract more of the nutrients from the produce) - this juicer works similar to your teeth by grinding and chewing the food fiber while squeezing the juice from the food pulp. This juicer operates at a low speed and has no centrifugal action, and many think it does a more efficient juicing job. You may also use a masticating juicer with a blank plate insert for raw nut butters or raw tomato sauces. You can also grate your vegetables and fruits by not putting a screen or blank in at all.

There are also manual juicers that are used for citrus fruits and leafy greens, such as orange juice or wheat grass.

Centrifugal juice extractors tend to be a lot noisier than masticating juicers. A masticating extractor also tends to make more juice out of less raw food than the spinning type of extractor.

Consider the health benefits of using a juice extractor:

* It's a healthy way to obtain a boost of energy
* Fresh juice is easily absorbed by your body's digestive system
* Fiber is essential for proper nutrition, and raw food juice is an excellent source of it
* Fresh juice without additives or preservatives provides your body with essential minerals, vitamins, and nutrients
* Extracting your own juice is much more economical than purchasing at a juice bar

Gazpacho Juice Drink Recipe

Ingredients:

* 2-3 cups of diced ripe tomatoes
* 1 peeled cucumber
* 1 celery stalk, washed and trimmed
* 1-2 green onions, washed and trimmed
* black pepper, fine grain sea salt, cayenne pepper to taste
* Tabasco sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Wash and prepare raw food for extraction.
2. Juice the tomatoes, cucumber, celery, green onions, and seasonings.
3. Pour into glass and season with Tabasco if desired.
4. Enjoy!