Snacks

  (Nutrient-Rich: Raw, Sprouted & Cultured)  By Nonia Larsen  

A great natural energy boost for lunches and busy days.

Growing nutrition naturally using the earth’s beneficial microbes takes time so start this project about 4 days before you want to eat them.  I know that may sound daunting, but the time you spend on your nutrition is so worth it.

I usually make a large batch to have for a few months.  If you dry them really well they will store for weeks in the fridge, or a cool dry place. You can freeze them for longer storage.

Use any combination of the following:

Oats (whole rolled, organic)

Hulled buckwheat (organic, soaked, sprouted and run through a food processor)

Sunflower seeds (soaked, sprouted, raw, organic)

Sesame seeds (rinsed, sprouted, organic)

Hemp hearts (rinsed, sprouted, organic)

Flax seeds (ground, organic)

Chia seeds (white or black, organic)

Coconut (raw, organic, shredded)

Nuts: Almonds, Cashews, Pecans, etc. (whole, soaked, sprouted, organic)

Cornmeal (organic)

Millet (soaked, sprouted, organic)

Wild rice (soaked for 24 hours, then sprouted for a day in the fridge)

Lentils (soaked and sprouted, organic)

Whole grains (spelt, emmer, einkorn, rye, kamut, teff, wheat, etc., organic)

Sprouting seeds, nuts, grains and legumes.  Sprouting is easy.  Just place the desired amount of seeds in a glass jar and cover with warm water.  Soak seeds overnight.  Strain water.  This water is very nutritious and can be used to water houseplants, in soups, smoothies, etc.

Processing:  Run all seeds, grains, nuts through a food processor, a portion at a time to break them up and make them stick together into bars and easier to chew.  Put in large pan and add the following.  

Seasonings (for added nutrition and medicinal properties): Stevia powder (for sweetness without the sugars), cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, anise, fennel, licorice root, cacao, carob, salt.  Or, garden herb flavors: basil, sage, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme. Taste each herb and put in more of what you enjoy and less of what seems strong to you.

Nutritional Medicinal Herbs, opt. (powdered organic): licorice root, maca root, astragalus, ashwagandha, slippery elm, medicinal mushrooms). Taste the herbs and put in a small amount (pinch to 1/8 tsp.) of bitter herbs and a larger amount (1-2 tsp) of the more mild herbs.

Liquid binders—Any of the following to taste: Apple Sauce (organic), Peanut Butter (raw, organic), Molasses (organic blackstrap), Honey (local, raw), Maple Syrup (organic), Concentrated Apple Juice, Grape Juice, etc. (organic), pureed fruit (organic), grated carrots, beets, squash.  Add just enough liquid binder to make the ground seeds and oats into a stiff dough.  

Mixing:  Knead all seeds, nuts, grains, seasonings, herbs and liquid binders together.  Wet your hands every few minutes so the mixture doesn’t stick as much.  

Culturing Your Sprouted Mix:  

Since ancient days healthy tribes on earth have used culturing practices to increase the nutrition in their foods.  Cultures contain earth’s beneficial microbes, single-cell organisms that work inside of all larger organisms.  They take apart what is toxic and put together what is beneficial for us. When you culture a food or plant, you add a live mother culture start to it.  The mother culture predigests the food and prepares it for our individual body.  Without the cultures, foods remain in a macro-nutrient size, too large for our cells to assimilate.

To make your mixture into a culture, add any of the following to your seed/grain mix: raw kefir (milk or water), kombucha, raw whey.  It doesn’t take a lot of culture to begin the fermentation process, so add a little at a time by taste.  I prefer making mine with goat milk kefir.  Knead the culture into your mixture.  Put the entire mixture in a ceramic, glass, porcelain jar or crock and cover with a lid.  Set on the counter 12-24 hours at room temperature and let the culture start growing. Cultures don’t grow as well in metal or plastic.

Dehydration:    

The next day spread this super-nutrient rich cultured mixture on dehydrator trays with non-stick food dehydrator sheets, cookie sheets, stoneware, or cake pans (no aluminum or Teflon).  Press down together and compact into ½ -¾ inch depth.  Cut into squares with a butter knife.  Put in a dehydrator and set temp to 100-114 degrees F.  This preserves the raw enzymes and nutrients.  Dehydrate until bars are the way you like to eat them, soft or crunchy.  If you prefer them soft, you must refrigerate them.  The cultures will increase their shelf life.  For long-term storage, thoroughly dehydrate or freeze in air-tight bags.