In the nutrition world, raw food diets are becoming quite the craze. The folks following this way of eating are called Raw Foodies. It's great. I am intrigued by it. There are some fabulous websites and cookbooks (I guess it would be an un-cookbook). The idea is that the enzymes in the food are destroyed when cooking it and by eating raw so much more nutrients and minerals are intact. It's a great theory and I am intrigued by all the crazy raw recipes out there but I also know it's only good for me, for a time and season.
I think summer is an amazing time to experiment and eat raw. My girls love raw food. One example is, I was getting pretty tired of zucchini this summer and trying to figure out what to do with my abundance of it. I really am not a fan of cooked zucchini and neither are my girls. It's great in baked goods but really I didn't want to be inside baking this summer so we started calling them zucchini pickles and my girls gobbled them up raw. I really realized during this week that my kiddos do have a preference to have most of the summer veggies raw. They tend to be a little pickier when the veggies come on warm dishes. Raw they tend to gobble them up. Now I know this will shift now that the weather is cooling down and we are all desiring more warming foods. It's an interesting thing to start noticing what your body is craving and desiring as the seasons change. Also to take a walk at your local farmers market and see how the produce changes as the seasons change.
As for raw food, I think it has a time and place in my opinion. It's great to experiment and add more raw food to your diet but I think as the cooler weather sets in it doesn't do our body a great service by eating all raw, cool foods. As temperatures begin to drop we naturally crave warming foods. Now perhaps if your living in Hawaii this is a different story for you! But I think it's really important to get in tune with the rhythms of our bodies and of nature. Most of us aren't eating summer squash in January nor are we craving hot soups in the middle of the summer. It's good for foods to change throughout the year. That is one more reason why it's so fabulous to support your local farmers market.
So all that said I really started this post to share with you one of my favorite soups I discovered while doing our week of raw food. It was middle of the summer when we did all "raw week" so we ate this cool. In Michigan our temperatures are all over the place lately. We haven't quite settled into the full swing of fall and yet the intense heat has passed. I saw some fresh corn at the market this morning and thought of this soup. When really good quality corn has just been picked it's so sweet and tender you can eat it right off the cob raw. It's light and refreshing. Not to heavy, which makes this soup great paired with a salad or other veggies, perhaps kale chips. My girls enjoyed this as well the second time I made it. The first time I added a bit to much chipotle and it was to spicy for them and my husband!
I found this recipe on Rawmazing.com. Great resource for raw food recipes....especially salads and desserts! I tweeked it a bit and this is what I came up with.
Chipotle Corn Soup
- 4-5 cups fresh corn (approximately 6 ears)
- 1 1/2 cups water (filtered)
- pinch of chipotle (can adjust to taste)
- pinch Himalayan salt (or sea salt)
- pinch smoked paprika (optional)
2. To have a smoother consistency strain through strainer (you may have to assist the liquid through the strainer by stirring it.) (we didn't strain it and I thought the texture was fine)
3. Serve topped with a pinch of the smoked paprika and/or guacamole.
4. Can serve at room temperature or warm slightly on stove if your not concerned about it being truly raw!
Enjoy some of the last little reminders of a beautiful summer!
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