Substitutions in Raw Food
There is not a day that goes by without an email in my box asking about substitutions for ingredients in my raw food recipes. It seems that there are a lot of nut allergies, gluten allergies, or just people who don’t like a particular ingredient. Some people can’t get certain ingredients. What ever the reason, it is a constant issue without a clear cut answer.
Let’s start with nuts. Why do we use so many nuts? Because nuts are a healthier substitution for other more unhealthy ingredients such as butter and flour. We grind nuts to make flour and soak and blend them for beautiful cream sauces. They make fabulous nut-milks. Nuts are very versatile in raw food recipes. But when you want to substitute the nuts, you are actually asking to substitute the substitution.
In some recipes, such as nut crusts, substituting one nut for another is not a big deal. It will not affect the final outcome. You can easily interchange pecans for walnuts, or almonds for macadamia nuts. It will change the taste, of course, but it will still work.
In other applications, substituting is not so straight forward. Cashews are used a lot for their consistency and mild taste and can’t easily be substituted by another nut. You simply won’t get the same results in consistency or taste.
Creating recipes is a bit of a science project. I strive for balance between taste and texture. When you work at refining a recipe, every ingredient exists in an inter-dependent relationship with the others. Meaning, change one ingredient, and you change how everything relates to each other. So, substitutions are just not that easy. Without completely remaking a recipe, and working through each substitution, seeing how it affects the other ingredients and the final outcome, it is a question that is not easily answered.
I would suggest that if you have an aversion to something, whether it be nuts, or grains, experiment! If you have success, I would love to hear about it!
A note on young coconuts I have tried reconstituting dried coconut to substitute for young coconut without success. Dried coconut comes from mature coconuts and has a completely different texture.
Catherine wrote on April 24, 2010
Thank you for the post. It did answer my question about the use of fresh coconuts. I guess living in the wilds has its price. But when I get a chance to visit family “Outside” –the lower 48, I will give these amazing recipes that call for fresh coconut a try. Keep creating!
Kyle Weber wrote on April 23, 2010
So of course right after I post my question, I see that you’ve already written about it! 🙂 So just scratch that above post! 🙂
Kyle Weber wrote on April 23, 2010
I’m not sure if anyone has asked this before or if you’ve ever looked into it, but I’ve heard mixed messages on using Agave. I’ve heard it’s a great substitute, but then I’ve also read that it is one of the last things you should put in your body. I’ve used it for about 2 years now & I love the taste, but I want to make sure that it’s a good substitute.
Tine wrote on April 23, 2010
Thank you for this encouraging post, but really, the great recipes you present on this site give me even MORE courage to give different ingredients a whirl. Also, eating raw has REALLY reminded me what so many foods truly taste like without butter, sugar or overpowering additives and it’s those tastes that are fun to consider and mix.
Mindy wrote on April 23, 2010
LOL, that agave does kind of look like an egg :). I appreciate this post. We can feel so nervous and apprehensive when trying new things. As a not-super-accomplished cook, I have been excited to discover how fun it can be to experiment with raw foods. I can almost always find a way to convert a recipe I find I don’t care much for into something that is at least palatable. I use substitutions all the time. Nowadays, due to time and money constraints and wanting to be more responsible about the way I use gasoline, I don’t consider rushing off to the store for a missing ingredient; and of course, depending on where you live, some things just aren’t readily available, or may not be accessible at all. I’m always aware that the completed dish probably tastes a little or a lot different from the original recipe, but if it’s still good, what the heck!
Interesting how many people suffer from nut phobias. I can’t really afford to mail order in the “Truly Raw” nuts, but in my opinion even the steamed “raw” nuts are far more healthful than the greasy, heavily salted and roasted nuts that most people eat. Old rancid oils and stale nuts (masked by various artificial flavorings and other dubious chemicals) – definitely not health promoting! That’s what most nut averse people were probably avoiding, and should avoid. I recently visited Dr. Weil”s web site and blog. Some time ago I went and learned he doesn’t think the raw diet is a great idea (hmm). He said he had visited raw restaurants, and though the dishes were tasty, he thought the diet used far too many nuts! Here’s the interesting thing. Two posts in the list of recent posts were on nuts! One post was on cashews and one on pistachios, both heavily touting all the wonderful vitamins and minerals (double hmm). Oh well.
Susan wrote on April 23, 2010
Marly, lol…no…it is a bowl of agave. Raw eggs do not fit in my vegan raw site. 🙂 Some raw people do raw meat and dairy but not me!!! And yes, nuts are pasturized. You can read more about it here: http://www.rawmazing.com/articles/raw-food-know-your-nuts/
Marly wrote on April 23, 2010
Great post. Hey, is that a picture of a raw egg in that dish? I was curious if that meant eggs are a part of raw food diets. We’re vegan so we don’t eat eggs, but just curious. Also, I read recently that all nuts purchased in the US have gone through some sort of pasteurization process. Does that mean they are not technically raw? I plan to add more raw foods to my diet. Thanks for your site. It is very helpful on that journey!