Dehydrator

Savory Nut Crackers

  • 1/2 cup soaked walnuts
  • 1/2 cup soaked pine nuts
  • 2 cups sprouted sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup Jerusalem artichokes (sprinkle with lemon juice)
  • 1/2 cup carrots
  • 1/2 cup parsley
  • 1 garlic clove
  • dash of Celtic sea salt or Nama Shoyu
  1. Rinse the nuts and seeds and drain. Process all ingredients through a Champion or Green Power juicer with the blank in place.
  2. Feed the ingredients through a Green Power juicer utilizing the pretzel-making attachment.* As the dough comes out of the machine, it will be in the shape of a long, continuous breadstick. Place this dough gently on a table. Then you can cut it into breadsticks, or you can braid two of them together or create other interesting pretzel shapes. Place the pretzels onto a mesh dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 95° F for 24 to 48 hours.
  3. Mix well with a spoon or your hands. Form into round, flat patties and place onto mesh dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 95° F for 1 to 2 days.

Makes 18 crackers. When thoroughly dry, they will keep a long time at room temperature. I keep mine in a bowl with a muslin cloth on top.

NOTE: If you can’t find Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunchokes), substitute with more carrots.

Rye Pretzels

  • 4 cups sprouted rye
  • 2 cups sprouted sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup soaked or sprouted caraway seeds
  • 1 tbsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. Celtic sea salt
  1. Measure all ingredients into a bowl and with a large spoon mix them.
  2. Feed the ingredients through a Green Power juicer utilizing the pretzel-making attachment.* As the dough comes out of the machine, it will be in the shape of a long, continuous breadstick. Place this dough gently on a table. Then you can cut it into breadsticks, or you can braid two of them together or create other interesting pretzel shapes. Place the pretzels onto a mesh dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 95° F for 24 to 48 hours.
  3. Yield: 14 braided pretzels. When thoroughly dried, they can be stored at room temperature. The Pretzels can also be dehydrated to the chewy stage. These must be stored in the refrigerator.

*If you don’t have the Green Power juicer, you can make the dough in a Champion juicer with the blank in place and then shape the dough by hand into pretzel shapes.

Pear Fruit Roll

(A Fruit Leather)

  • 3 pears, coarsely chopped
  • 2 apples, coarsely chopped
  • 3-6 dates, pitted
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Powder or 1-inch piece of vanilla bean, cut into tiny pieces (check the Glossary for Vanilla Powder)
  1. Puree pears and apples (with seeds and skins – do not peel) in blender, adding a little water only if necessary. Add the next four ingredients and blend well.
  2. Pour onto dehydrator trays, lined with Teflex (see Glossary). With the back of a large spoon spread out to 1/8 to 1/4″ thickness. Dehydrate for approx. 12 to 15 hours at 95° F, or until fruit peels away from the Teflex sheet easily. This is the fruit leather. Makes 2 sheets approx. 12″ X 12″.
  3. With a sharp knife cut leather into 2″ X 3″ wide pieces. Then roll pieces.

NOTE: This recipe can be used as the basis for Chewy Fruit & Nutcheese Crepes (see Recipe Index).

Plantain Chips

  • Take any amount of ripe plantains,* peel and cut diagonally into thin slices. (Just cut down on an angle to create oblong slices.) Lay the slices on a mesh dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 95° F for 24 hours.

NOTE: These are wonderful! Serve as an accompaniment to any Latin style dish, or as a snack.
If you dehydrate them longer, they become crispy. At the 24-hour stage, they are chewy.

*For ripe plantains – wait until the skin gives a little when you push with your finger. The skin will be from halfway to almost all black. At that point, the starch, which is hard to digest, will have turned to sugar, which is easy to digest.

Rice Crackers

  • 1 cup brown rice, soaked and sprouted
  • 1 cup walnuts, soaked overnight
  • 1 tbsp. slippery elm powder (see Glossary)

filtered water for soaking rice and walnuts

Believe it or not, brown rice, if it’s not too old, does sprout. I have taken pictures of it because no one wants to believe me. I learned the secret one hot, humid, summer day in New York when some previously soaked rice, much to my surprise, sprouted. I surmised from this that rice, in order to sprout, needs to have some warmth.

  • Soak one cup of brown rice for 24-36 hours, changing the soak water 2-3 times. Then rinse and let sprout for 2-3 days, rinsing 2 times per day. Sink water is OK for the rinsing.
  • When the rice is ready, put the rice and the drained, rinsed walnuts into a bowl and mix them. Then put the mixture through the Champion (or Green Power) juicer, with the blank in place. The reason you mix the rice and walnuts together in the bowl first is because, as you put the mixture through the machine, the walnuts, which have more moisture, will help to grind the rice, which has less moisture. This way, you don’t have to add any additional water.
  • Once the mixture comes out of the Champion (or Green Power), add in the slippery elm powder and mix well. With your hands, form into round, flat cookie shapes, and dehydrate at 95° F for approximately 20 hours.

Makes approximately 12 crackers. When thoroughly dry, this stores very well at room temperature in a cotton or muslin bag. It lasts a long time.

Aromatic Pecan-Rice Crackers

  • Using the same recipe as above, substitute 1 cup of pecans (soaked 1 hour) for the walnuts and add 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice.