products and have a better gauge of how the product will dehydrate.”
That opinion is shared by Hopkins, whose unbaked granola bars
are dehydrated. “There are natural ways we try to maximize the shelf
life with ingredients such as turmeric and lemon.”
In order to maintain shelf life, many of the raw foods available
today are either dried or dehydrated. According to Hopkins, “Dehy-
dration itself is one of the oldest food preservation techniques
“I“In the end, raw foods are superfoods. Food eaten in the raw, at the peak of its nutritional value, of- fers the greatest benefit to the consumer.”
known.” In many cases, the ingredients that go into on-the-go raw
foods have been sun dried and stone ground to ensure that they are
both raw and stable. In addition, other methods used to create ready-to-eat foods without exposing the nutrients to heat over 118 degrees
include freeze drying and cold pressing.
While some raw food companies sprout nuts and seeds, it’s not
often recommended for packaged goods as the moisture limits shelf
life and can lead to food safety concerns. As with any ingredient, make
sure to get details from your supplier on exactly how the product was
processed and at what temperatures. For example, some “raw” cashews
are boiled in oil or scorched in fire in order to condition the shell
prior to cracking and speed the process. There are others, however,
who use special knives to manually crack the shell, and then dehydrate
the nuts to remove the skin.
The process of drying fruits at the
source prior to shipping is one that
certainly helps to maintain shelf life,
and it also increases the nutritional
value of many of the fruits in question. Bananas are a good example. A
one-ounce serving of fresh banana
has 100mg of potassium, 1.4mg of calcium, and 0.1mg of iron. The same
serving of raw sun dried banana has
359mg of potassium, 5.5mg of calcium, and 1.37mg of iron.
Why the discrepancy? “Fresh” bananas are harvested weeks before they
are ripe in order to ensure that they
hit that perfect yellow color on your
local grocer’s shelf. Sun dried bananas are allowed to ripen on the
plant, continuing to draw valuable nutrients for up to a month longer. They
start off with more minerals so they
will still have more minerals when
they reach the consumer.
Barley Blue Green Algae Cacao Camu Camu Carob Chia Chlorella Coconut (Butter, Oil, Shreds) Dates Other Dried Fruits (Figs, Bananas, Raisins, Cherries, etc.) Fruit Pastes Ginger Goji Golden Berries Hemp (Seeds and Oil) Herbs Honey Kale Popular Raw Ingredients Try using some of these ingredients in your formulations to create an enzyme and nutrient-packed product.
Kamut
Lucuma
Maca
Mesquite
Mushrooms
Olives
Salt (Sea Salt and Himalayan Salt)
Sea Vegetables
Seeds (Sunflower, Flax, Papitas, etc.)
Spices
(Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Turmeric, etc.)
Spirulina
Stevia
Teas (Mate, Matcha, etc.)
Vanilla
Wheat Grass
Yacon
Raw Superfoods
Since consumers look to raw foods
as a way to promote wellness, the
more nutrient dense you can make
your product, the better. “We make
products appealing to consumers who
are closing the gap between health
and food,” explains Hopkins. “Our
line of raw granola bars features su-
perfood ingredients that are meant to
deliver a powerful punch of phytonu-
trients. Some have even ascribed heal-
ing benefits to them.”
“Our new Matcha Bar is made with
the Japanese green tea of the same
name,” says Hopkins. “Doctors are rec-
ommending Matcha to reduce blood
pressure. And our Ayurvedic Bar is
formulated with turmeric, which is
high in antioxidants, and Ash-
waghanda, which is gaining recogni-
tion for its stress relieving influence.”
Baumgartner also recently put out
a new Snakaroon using his favorite su-
perfoods. “Goji berries, cacao and
maca—I think they are the superfood
trifecta.”
Maca’s history goes back to the an-
