Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Make Raw Food Ice Cream

A Step-by-Step Tutorial to Turn Nut Milk into Raw Food Ice Cream



If ice cream is one of your favorite desserts, but you’ve been worried about news reports linking dairy to a variety of health problems, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Nut Milk Ice Cream, one of my favorite raw food desserts.  My cookbook Raw for Dessert features raw food ice cream recipes because so many people love frozen treats.

How many? According to the USDA, Americans consumes 21 pounds of dairy-based ice cream per person per year and more than 90% of all U.S. households surveyed say they consume ice cream and related frozen desserts.  But I think if people would try a raw food nut milk ice cream, they’d realize it delivers all the tongue-pleasing goodness of their favorite frozen confections, with lots more nutrition.

Remember, commercial food processing strips away healthy nutrients and adds unhealthy preservatives. Raw recipes allow food to retain more of their natural goodness…without giving away anything in taste.
Raw food ice creams are made with nuts and or young coconut meat instead of cow’s milk and cream. One of the most versatile raw food frozen desserts in Raw for Dessert is Brazil Nut Vanilla Ice Cream. Add mix-ins like fresh fruit, raw nuts, or even a drizzle of maple syrup to go from ‘plain vanilla’ to something really extraordinary.

You can use Brazil Nut Vanilla Ice Cream to make a raw food pie or tart ‘a la mode’ or in this decadent raw food Knockout Brownie Sundae.

But before you can start using Brazil Nut Ice Cream, you need to make the raw nut milk.  It all starts with my Brazil Nut Raw Milk recipe. And that begins with soaked nuts. Let’s go through the process together step by step.

Step 1 – Soak Raw Nuts

In order to obtain the smooth texture necessary for non-dairy ice cream, nuts must first be soaked. Put nuts in jar or bowl of cool water and soak at room temperature for 8-12 hours.
Then drain and rinse them.  That’s it.  This one simple step turns a basic raw food ingredient like nuts into a ‘secret ingredient’ for desserts.
Soaked nuts can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days.  But why wait. Let’s turn those soaked nuts into nut milk!

Step 2 – Make Nut Milk

Place the following ingredients in your blender and process on high until very smooth.
  •    2 cups filtered water
  •    1 cup raw Brazil nuts, soaked for 8-12 hours

Strain the mixture through a mesh bag and you’re ready for Step 3 – making the ice cream!

…Continued on LearnRawFood.com – If you’re ready for Step # 3 on making raw food ice cream, click on over to the my home site’s articles & recipes section – See you there!