Kristen Suzanne: Ultimate Raw Vegan Hemp Recipes
Review of a Cookbook Full of Tasty and Easy Superfood Dishes
Oct 2, 2009
Hemp, if anything, is a superfood, boasting a massive amount of vitamins and minerals, a great fatty acid profile (including plenty of omega-3 fatty acids and GLA). It is also a so-called complete protein. Unlike e.g. soy and many nuts, hemp rarely causes allergies or intolerances. And unlike most soy products, it can be eaten raw.
At just over 100 pages, Kristen Suzanne's ULTIMATE Raw Vegan Hemp Recipes (Green Butterfly Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0981755694) is a fairly short volume. The first 40 pages are dedicated to information about raw food in general, a section also included in her other cookbooks too, and the nutritional benefits of hemp.
Despite the size of the book Suzanne has managed to fit in dozens of interesting and for the most part very simple recipes. Besides the superb nutritional content, one great thing about raw "cooking" is the easiness and simplicity - you can often make a soup in less than five minutes. One doesn't have to be a vegan or a raw foodist to enjoy the tasty nutritional powerhouses!
Contents
The book contains many different kinds of recipes: dips, snacks, spreads, drinks (from smoothies to cocktails), salads, dressings, soups, "pastas" (made with spiralized zucchini), breakfast foods and a tantalizing collection of desserts. Most are made with hulled hemp seed and/or hemp oil, though a few use hemp protein powder.
The recipes in the brief breads and crackers chapter require a dehydrator, but the rest of the recipes do not, including the cookies and brownies in the dessert chapter. Other desserts include ice creams, tarts, truffles and several raw cheesecakes.
The recipes are extremely nutritious and would be fitting for most special diets. They are free of soy, practically all are gluten-free and because of the use of hemp seed, most of them are also free of nuts (unlike many raw food recipes).
Most ingredients are basic and easy to get, although a few recipes ask for more exotic things like goji berries or rice protein powder. Information about possible substitutes and adaptations might have been a nice inclusion.
Review
Raw ingredients are full of flavour, but Kristen Suzanne isn't stingy with her spices, either. Many of the recipes read like the amount of spices might be excessive (or the flavour combinations odd), but they turn out just fine, like Suzanne's award-winning spinach thyme soup with its orange juice and 1.5 tablespoons of both dried thyme and basil.
The hemp "nacho cheese" dip was also tasty (perhaps a bit low on salt if made according to the instructions), but the reviewer was not particularly fond of the Italian stallion bisque. Luckily there are so many very different recipes that everyone is bound to find something they love.
See Also
Kristen Suzanne's Easy Raw Vegan Desserts
Kristen Suzanne's Easy Raw Vegan Sides & Snacks
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