Raw eating in a modern world is a replica of what nature intended for us, so in essence, one does not need anything, but an abundant garden to thrive on this diet. However, most of us like to be creative and artistic in the kitchen, so here I prepared a list of things that I own and that make my raw “cooking“ experiences rewarding with minimal supplies.
Ceramic knives are a great alternative for the stainless steel ones because they are chemically inert, hygienic, very sharp (like really super sharp), and do not dull nearly as much as metal knives would (they dull just a bit and become not extremely sharp).
A glass cutting board is another commodity that I have been enjoying quite a bit because it looks cool, it does not get scratched as much and, correspondingly, it does not trap particles of food as much as cutting boards made of soft materials do. Moreover, glass does not impart any odor to the food being cut unlike any wooden board from the same price category, and it is easy to wash either by hand or in the dishwasher. The cons are its weight, a sound it makes when you shred something with a ceramic knife, and that it gets slippery when you wash it by hand, so you need to be careful not to drop it on something precious, such as your foot or a pet (the board itself is moderately fragile because it is made of tempered glass, but it still can break if the impact is strong enough).
While on a “good“ raw diet, that is not a non-stop juice festival, you will likely make at least one meal a day consisting of a huge salad, so an advanced-size mixing bowl will be quite useful for washing the greens and then mixing them because of their volume. The drawback of such a large mixing bowl is that it will not fit in every sink, so taking care of it might be non-trivial, so pick the size optimal for your amenities and appetite. Another thing, if you want to be especially peculiar, is that it is made of stainless steel, which, if you use stainless steel utensils might be a point of concern because it can cause your produce to come in contact with stray iron and other metals in the alloy that can shed off of the surfaces from hitting metal on metal. However, by using hands or wooden spoons for mixing you can completely eliminate the risks of getting the shedding of reactive metal particles.
A wash for produce. While other options are available, I prefer to use good old baking soda solution. Baking soda added to the water helps to pull some pesticides and dirt off the produce including leafy greens and hard-to-wash broccoli and cauliflower. In addition, compared to the produce cleaning solutions that you can either spray directly over the hard fruits and vegetables or mix with water to wash greens and herbs, baking soda itself is safe to ingest, should any residue remain after multiple rinses, and it does not leave any aftertaste or smell on the produce. I occasionally use cleaning sprays, when I cannot get wax off of cucumbers for example, but other than that I use baking soda because I had multiple experiences when I would taste the cleaing spray fragrance in my salad even after 5 clean water rinses, so I ditched it for that purpose. An additional benefit of using baking soda is that it is a scrubbing agent, so it is extremely effective for removing stubborn debris and soil from the surfaces of solid fruits and vegetables. It is also very versatile for other types of cleaning. Tip: to wash broccoli and cauliflower, make a strong baking soda + salt solution and let the crowns of these vegetables soak for at least 30 min! Sometimes, larvae and other unpleasant critters live inside of the florets and a hypertonic solution helps expelling the insects and parasites from inside of the crowns.
A good blender is something extremely important to get if you like smoothies, intricate salad dressings, or making complex dishes, mainly to keep yourself tranquil! I used to buy $30 blenders and it was dramatic to use them because their designs are rarely thought through to allow uniform blending and crushing of things: half of the mixture would get smooth and trapped somewhere under the blades, and another half would be suspended above in its pristine and immaculate form that had never seen a blade, so such blenders would be good to use when you have at least 70% of volume being added water (those lightly flavored watery smoothies reminding of the 50/50 juices concept…mmmm). And then, in 2020, I discovered Ninja… I remain loyal to this model because it is probably the best price/performance ratio, as more advanced brands who make blenders with more powerful motors and more resilient build are a huge price gap away from Ninja. And, given the standards of quality control nowadays, I am not sure that the longevity of a more expensive blender would be that great. My Ninjas never died, and the only construction problem with them I was able to identify is talked through in this video (it requires demonstration, otherwise I would describe it).
Of course, if preparing food is something you truly enjoy, a nice dehydrator will become a necessity in your raw kitchen! I had to give away my first Samson Silent dehydrator because I was moving, and as soon as I moved such dehydrator became one of the first purchases I made again. It has a very study build (I unscrewed it apart to clean once and was able to evaluate it and also inspect the electrical parts) and comes in 2 sizes (6 and 9 trays, so you can choose what suits your needs and the dimension of your kitchen). In terms of noise level, it is very quiet, yet not silent as declared in the model name. I would compare its noise with the AC. Sound and ergonomics were the main criteria for choosing this dehydrator, yet there are some drawbacks or compromises that this model has. First annoyance is that the walls have a bunch of notches that trap crumbs and are hard to clean, but if you are careful it will not be much problem. Second issue that you possibly might have, and I will give you the solution for it, is a high pitch noise that travels so well through the walls!!! I started having this issue with my second dehydrator and I read that high frequency noise is a result of the pressure imbalance at the fan caused by poor airflow at the rear wall where cold air is being pulled from. Oh! Another comment is that the solid tray that comes with it is supposed to be used either as a crumb/liquid catcher or as a tray for dehydrating liquidy or dripping things, so use it as a crumb/drop collector only. I tried making “sun-dried“ tomatoes on it once and it got permanently stained with orange, which means that there is some porosity. Instead, diversify and get silicone sheets for making fruit leathers or anything that can drip. There are widely available Teflon options too, but I even didn’t consider getting them. My current stock of dehydrator sheets consists of just 3 silicone sheets from Bright Kitchen. You can check them out. To wash them, keep them on the dehydrator mesh sheet, it will be much easier than trying to manage a free-floating sheet of silicone. Or, you can simply lay a sheet of parchment paper on top of the mesh! In terms of the dehydrator itself, I eventually switched to using Excalibur, but shortly after, I realized that I almost never use a dehydrator anyway, so it sits in my storage. In the video, I explained why, yet it is still a nice appliance to have on hand should occasional culinary inspiration arise!
That’s all I really needed to buy for my kitchen when going raw. I like when things are simple and essential and I always giggle to myself when I walk around Whole Foods and see the tools for preparing EVERY kind of vegetable and fruit there! Today I found a brussel sprout management (I am not sure what word would be suitable for preparing a mini-cabbage) appliance and it was very entertaining to observe where else plastic is being spared towards. So keep it simple at first until you discover what else you might need!
Comments