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Freezing Raw Ingredients

I read somewhere that is is possible to freeze things like raw nuts. I never thought of this before. I thought raw nutz would go rancid if you thawed them out and they were wet after.

So, is this true? If so, how many do this?

I am looking for a way to buy cheap raw nuts in bulk (esp pine nuts!)- how would I store them? (my guess is that they will get used up quickly so maybe I wouldn’t have to freeze them but that is an interesting idea). How long do most nuts last when sitting out? I never had a chance to find out because I use them up so quick right now.

What other raw items (expect produce) would be OK freeze? Ccocnut oils? Grains?

What would not be OK to freeze? I would think that something wouldn’t be necessary to freeze.

Comments

  • drgonflydrgonfly Raw Newbie

    I would love to know this too! Can you freeze almond pulp?

  • BluedolfinBluedolfin Raw Newbie

    What about vacuum packing the nuts? I wonder if they would last longer that way and still retain their vitality.

  • MOTHMOTH Raw Newbie

    Can you freeze young coconut meat? Cause I’m gonna…

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    MOTH – yes, you can freeze young coco meat.

    And almond pulp.

    here’s some good info on how many enzymes are killed by freezing. you can make the decision!

    http://debbietookrawforlife.blogspot.com/2008/0…

  • germin8germin8 Raw Master

    Enzyme activity is slowed down when freezing… but I don’t know what is the lowest temperature for each enzyme (if there is one).

    However, nutrients are lost when freezing. It’s an average of about 5% according to a link someone posted about. It was a very good link… but, I can’t find it right now… maybe I’ll come back and repost it.

    It’s interesting what Debbie did… I like her post. What about doing the same for dehydrated food? Do you think she/we would get similar results? If she did, when why dehydrate either?

    Obviously, freezing and dehydrating preserve food for longer term… so, this is very useful even if some enzymes are denatured or some nutrition is lost.

  • clr-1976clr-1976 Raw Newbie

    I froze the rest of my durian tonight. I read on a recipe here ‘a frozen durian pod’ as a smoothie ingredient so figured it would be ok.

    I de-seeded it first & put it in a box to try to keep it from smelling (it makes my boyfriend retch!:-) )

    Has anyone tried that before – do you think its ok??

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    my bf said it is bad to “re-freeze” things that were frozen before. So, like the durian, if you got frozen durian, would be bad to refreeze after thawing it once. Otherwise, if it was fresh durian, that is OK. Durian is usually frozen when shipped overseas anyhow (at least here in the states we can only get frozen).

    I would think it a bad idea to freeze dehydrated things – also probably unneccessary because dehydrated things, as long as they stay dry, can last a looong time. When they thawed out, they would be all wet and you have to re-dehydrate them.

    I think that you can freeze most fruits and fresh things like coconut meat/water. It may loose nutrients.

    I worried about doing nuts or seeds though – it seems unlikely that it would be a good idea. Maybe just refrig?

  • germin8germin8 Raw Master

    queenfluff, what I meant by dehydrating is, what if you took a sprouted nut/seed/sprout and dehydrated it. Would it still grow if you added water to it later and tried to grow it? Additionally, if you food-process it and make a dehydrated nut bar… it’s obviously not going to grow more. But, I think (total guess here) the damage done in dehydrating could be comparable to freezing. If you do one, why not the other… or why not neither?

    But you got me thinking, if there is no water in dehydrated food to rupture cell walls when frozen… then, maybe dehydrating before freezing is a better idea! But like you said, what’s the point if dehydrated food lasts long anyway? Well, I guess this process could be useful if it were for preserving for even LONGER than dehydrated food.

    Nuts and seeds should be fine in the freezer. Just think of all the dormant seeds in the winter time. They enzyme inhibitors help them survive freezing temperatures. Of course (given debbie’s post, some seeds may only be able to survive mild winters… hehe) As for freezing geraminted nuts/seeds… well, you are back to water in the nuts/seeds and possibly rupturing cell walls.

  • i have such a hard time with juicing because of all the left over pulp! it just seems to wasteful to just toss (compost) it. i’m going to start freezing the pulp and seeing what recipes i can come up with. i guess losing some nutrients is better on my soul than just wasting a bunch of edible food. :)

  • daniefondaniefon Raw Newbie

    I have taken the pulp and mixed it with something to help bind it like almond flour, ground raw oats or flax and then piped it into pretzel shapes and dehydrated, they are great. I’ve also made little dots to use as croutons. I put the mixture into a ziploc and cut the corner off. If you use the leftover almond pulp from making milk, you’ll have totally leftover pretzels!

  • CarmentinaCarmentina Raw Newbie

    maihio, I started making crackers out of my leftover veggie pulp cuz I didn’t want to waste nor lose out on the phytonutrients. Type in “pulp” on the recipe bar and you’ll find loads of good recipes. See my cracker recipe: http://www.goneraw.com/recipes/4126-Pulp-crackers

    :)

  • clr-1976clr-1976 Raw Newbie

    I made some chocolate cream oreo type cookies out of my leftover nut milk pulp and cacao, cashews, etc… I’ve got the pics – really need to get around to posting the recipe!

    They were really good, my other half, who isnt raw, polished most of them off!

    Cant stand to waste it either!

  • thanks for all the ideas! i’m going to try some of these – the crackers sound amazing. i actually did make a zucchini pasta with my left over ‘Tomato Fusion Juice’ recipe on here… i’ll post the pics soon. it was great, and best of all, i felt happy to be using up all that wonderful food. :)

  • beanybeeganbeanybeegan Raw Newbie

    Back to freezing. I grow quinoa. After threshing and cleaning. I freeze it. Even after 2 years of being in the freezer, they will still sprout.

  • germin8germin8 Raw Master

    Thanks for sharing that beany. It’s good to know those enzymes were still preserved in the freezer while still in their dormant (i.e. non-germinated) state.

  • clr-1976clr-1976 Raw Newbie

    I froze some cocount cream in ice cube trays last weekend, anyone knwo how long it might last?

    I’m adding them to smoothies etc after carmentina’s ‘coconut smoothie’ recipe – yum!

  • germin8germin8 Raw Master

    I would guess it depends. Coconut seems to last long in its raw state… but, typically 6 months is an average (estimate). However, some enzyme “activity” (or maybe it’s oxidation) can occur when frozen and cause things to brown some – like greens, bananas, and my mango cheesecake. In that case, if you are going for color, it will last less time… a week or so.

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