"Raw food" news and stories

Are raw-milk cheeses healthful? Recent findings of Listeria monocytogenes, the bacteria that causes Listeria, in cheeses from Montesano, Washington's Estrella Family Creamery in Missouri's Morningland Dairy unequivocally suggest the contrary. Both dairies, which were inspected by FDA (Food and Drug Administration) officials within the past few months, are going to have a particularly hard time defending their raw-milk cheeses, especially since it's just the latest raw-milk scare. Just last week, health officials found 25 E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to Bravo Farms' raw-milk Gouda being sold at Costco stores in Colorado.

When it comes to raw-milk, the conflict between cheesemakers and the FDA is not new. Many cheesemakers view the FDA as an organization of government officials with little or no experience on dairies. Sunday, the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project released a series of cheesemakers' reactions to the recent recalls of raw-milk cheese. One of them states, anonymously, of course, "I am concerned about any potential surprise investigations, because the investigators usually don't have any experience with farms at all," the cheesemaker told the Cheese Project. "The ones who recently visited here had never even been on a farm before; not a good thing in my opinion." Apart from revealing the incompetence of the FDA, their anonymous responses indicate that the health risks do not involve raw-milk, on its own.

Kale usually brings to mind steaming bowls of Portuguese caldo verde -- the hearty soup that's spicy with chouriço and thick with potatoes and the greens that give it its name. Or a variation I love, with lentils and kielbasa (try this recipe, from Kitchen Daily). But just as you peg kale as all homey and comforting, the greens take a walk on the wild side in this lemonade, from a recipe by Natalia Rose in The Raw Foods Detox Diet.

Fuji apples, celery, lemon and ginger join kale in the blender to create a sweet-tart drink that's refreshing, incredibly healthy, and makes you feel like a superhero. Wonder Woman, we've given you notice. Your Lasso of Truth may have competition.

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With chewy, uncooked dough, raw pie is, at first sight, no one's dream dessert. But if you radically rethink how it's made (no flour, no eggs, no butter), as raw-food guru Ani Phyo did in her Raw Food Desserts, it can be delicious. So says photographer Christaface, who submitted the image of her very own apple pie, above, and Phyo's recipe on her Flickr page (where the bonus is a recipe for raw ice cream).

So what's in that crust? Dates, ground almonds, sea salt. And the filling? Apples, cinnamon, raisins, date purée and an orange. The secret to giving it a softer, less than crunchy texture is to let it sit overnight.

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Every day we're bombarded with encouragement from nutritionists and health food experts to eat more leafy greens, especially the dark green varieties. Low in calories, high in fiber, packed with vitamin A, blah, blah, blah -- not exactly the kind of stuff you get excited about.

But Amy Hamberry may have found a way to change your mind: The Brooklyn, N.Y., mom is selling her own kale chips.

The former commercial illustrator and one-time kindergarten teacher stumbled into this new, unexpected profession when she married the owner of a neighborhood health-food store, New York Naturals.

The store's California kale chip supplier was always running out of stock (um, who would have guessed there was such high demand?), so Amy decided to start making them herself. It took three months of daily experiments before she was satisfied with the results.

"We had to figure out a consistency," Hamberry explained to Slashfood. "It was hard because the kale is different each time we get it. There are a lot of variables involved."

California Salad. Photo: The Skinny Chef

A heat wave has hit the East Coast and I cook every day, sometime four to five hours straight. Unfortunately, as the temperature rises, my small air-conditioning units can't compete with the oven heat. My solution -- I'll bake during the morning, let the oven cool down and go raw for dinner. While eating all meals raw can be a challenge -- I tried it last summer for a week -- eating raw one meal a day can be easy.

The raw diet consists of natural, unprocessed foods that are not heated above 114 degrees Fahrenheit. Most raw foodists eat mainly plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, grains and legumes. They believe that the raw foods provide energy-charged nutrients that are killed during cooking, mainly enzymes that not only fuel the body but can provide other astounding health benefits.

Read more about the benefits of a raw food diet and a cool California salad recipe after the jump.