We had a big gardening day yesterday and went through the end of season changeover in the veggie patch, pulling out all of the spent Winter stuff to put in what will be our Summer salady bits and bobs. It was a little sad to see the last of the cauliflower and broccoli but I’m getting better at the baton exchange knowing they’ll be back next year. The good thing about pulling everything up is discovering quite a bit more produce hiding amongst the leaves than first imagined. The bad thing is finding colonies of earwigs are no longer hidden. Our latest technique is to put up a makeshift fence and let a few of our chooks do their earwig eating thing over the soil and through the mulch before we plant the next batch of seedlings. Works a treat. I love how seriously the chooks take their role. Bit of a chat first and then swift execution of their agreed plan.

We definitely found more broccoli than I thought we had, which did surprise me because we’ve been completely committed to the broccoli consumption effort this Winter without a doubt. We were past asking “Would you like broccoli with that?” only a few weeks into the season, and it just became a given that we would be having broccoli with that, no matter what that was. Fine by me, I love those little green trees every which way. In particular, I’ve been wanting to try out a raw version of broccoli using the ‘cheesy’ kale chip method to see if that could result in some yummy little broccoli chips, so having a fair share of broccoli that needed using all at once, I thought why not?

We picked a decent amount of purple broccoli and I was hoping that a raw food recipe would help me keep the colour because I’ve noticed cooking it dulls that beautiful indigo violet in moments. And that’s a bummer when you’ve seen it in all its purple glory in the garden, last thing you want is to turn it green again. Not that I have anything against green broccoli, I threw a healthy amount of that into the mix too.

I know the words ‘raw broccoli chips’ won’t get everyone’s appetites in a tizzy but they are far better tasting than they sound, and far better tasting than they look for that matter. Poor little trolls of things when they emerge from the dehydrator, I’ll admit it won’t win the prettiest recipe award but when you think about how easily you could down a head of raw broccoli with pre-dinner drinks, it really is the healthiest thing dressed in fast food clothing. Even kids eat them. Well seasoned, green fearing kids. If you have a dehydrator and more than your fair share of broccoli, definitely give them a go.

Br

Raw & Cheesy Broccoli Chips

2 heads of organic broccoli, purple and green if possible

1 cup organic cashews (soaked 1 hour) 

2 tbsp lemon juice

a good handful of organic fresh dill

1 tbsp nutritional yeast (available in wholefood stores)

1/4 tsp Murray River salt

1/2 tsp smoky paprika

Blend all ingredients, except for the broccoli, in a high speed blender until smooth.

Cut the raw broccoli into thin slices, including the stem.

Toss the broccoli pieces into a mixing bowl and pour the ‘sauce’ over the top. Stir through to make sure all the broccoli bits have a decent coating of ‘cheese’ and then spread out evenly on to dehydrator trays.

Dehydrate for about 15-20 hours, or until dry and crunchy. I was able to pull mine off the teflex sheet and put them directly onto the open trays about half way through the dehydrating time.

I’m planning on doing this way earlier in next year’s broccoli season. Yes sir.