raw vs living food - miso & sun drying

[Guest guest]

As I was watching the miso thread, I realized there are 2 separate issues, and I

think this leads to a lot of confusion.

 

There is raw food, food that has never been heated to the point it causes toxic

byproducts as the chemicals in the food cells are broken down by the heat.

 

Then there is food with something in it that is still alive, and carries some

life-force that is receive by anything that eats it.

 

A whole raw carrot is both. It is still so alive you can plant it, and it will

grow and produce seeds. The whole thing is alive, its cells are alive, and all

the enzymes, proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates are still intact.

 

Fruit dried in the shade with air never exceeding 100 degrees isn't alive, but

none of the chemicals that made up its cells have been broken down by heat. So

its raw, but dead.

 

Cooked food is past dead and part way towards being broken down to inorganic

minerals.

 

So now we come to miso.

 

Since some of the ingredients in miso were cooked, there are some toxic

byproducts in it caused by cooking.

 

Since there are living bacteria in it (unless it is pasteurized) then there is

life-force in it as you eat it.

 

An interesting question is how much the bacteria have converted the toxic

byproducts (caused by the cooking) into nontoxic raw food. Its unlikely they

have turned all the toxic byproducts into safe forms. Bacteria produce

byproducts of their own, so its unlikely its as nontoxic as fresh, never cooked

food.

 

Personally I think it is a lot easier to be sure I'm eating really healthy food

to just avoid food that ever got heated at any point since it grew.

 

An easy way to be sure about this is to use whole raw ingredients that are still

alive. Then you know how much heating you caused during processing before eating

it.

 

You can cook a food by:

Blending it too long.

Grinding too much, too fast, too long.

Sun drying on a hot day.

 

I know sun drying is better than food dried with forced air that is 180 degrees

F, but sun drying can still lightly cook the food.

 

Here is a simple test that will give you an idea of how hot sun dried food might

have gotten:

On a clear day where the temperature gets into the 90's.

At about noon, lay a dark brown sock on some flat surface in full sunlight, out

of the wind.

Put a thermometer in the sock - use a cheap thermometer because it might get

damaged by the high heat.

After its been there for half an hour, take a look at the temperature.

 

When the fruit is fresh, the evaporating water will cool it to some degree.

However as the fruit nears the level of dryness needed to prevent spoilage

during long-term storage at room temperature, there will be negligible cooling

from evaporation. Almost all fruit turns a dark color as it dries, and this will

absorb the heat from the sunlight just fine.

 

So while sun dried fruit is lots better than fried food, there is a good chance

it isn't raw. Drying with temperature controlled forced air is the only way you

can dry food and be sure it is still raw.

 

Since very rarely producers certify the temperature they dry their fruit at,

this is a very strong argument for drying your own food - then you know what

temperature it was dried at.

 

May your day be filled with clarity, grace, progress, and warm laughter,

Roger