The tools of trade

Eating more raw food doesn't have to mean spending heaps on expensive kitchen appliances. You can easily get carried away with all the enthusiasm, but there are really only few essentials you need.

Juicer

This is a must if you want to include green juices in your raw food journey. There are 2 main types of juicers: masticating and centrifugal. Masticating juicers "chew" slowly fruits and vegetables, releasing more nutrients and juice will contain less oxygen, giving it longer shelf life. Centrifugal juicers work by using cutting blade on the bottom of rapidly spinning basket, centrifugal force forces the juice out from the cut pieces. The juice is less nutritious, and contains more oxygen, which means more frothy juices and short shelf life. Centrifugal juicers also struggle with juicing of leafy green vegetables and cannot juice wheat grass. So it's worth to invest into a good masticating juices, mine is called Oscar 900.

Blender

Most households already have blenders, these range from inexpensive to extravagance and is a must for smoothies. It's good to invest into one that can break ice as chilled smoothies are much better! When my old blender broke, I needed something quickly and bought Philips blender from Argos. It has 5 star serrated blade which is good for icy smoothies, but motor is not the most powerful one. On the other side of the price scale are Blendtec and Vitamix blenders, which are highly valued amongst many raw foodists, but not affordable for everybody. Definitely worth the investment as these will last forever and are very durable, so one of these will be on my birthday wish list!

Food processor

There are so many food processors out there so I don't even know what to recommend. I'm still doing some research to find one that appeals to me, so any suggestions are welcome. Blendtec and Vitamix blenders can be used as food processors, so I might try to combine these. At the moment I'm using an inexpensive hand held mixer and it does the job for small patches of nut cheeses, dressings and pates. But I'm definitely looking into getting something bigger and more powerful which will be needed if I want to experiment with more raw food recipes.

Mandolin and spiral slicer

It's not a necessity, but it helps you to create good looking salads and slices fruit and veggies very thinly. There is a variety of  mandolins out there, just take your pick! If you start to get really into raw food, then a spiral slicer is a great buy, as it allows you to make raw courgette spaghetti.

Knife

A good and sharp knife is a must in any kitchen but absolutely essential in raw food kitchen. Chopping, cutting and slicing of raw fruits and vegetables calls for an investment of at least one high-end kitchen knife and good sharpener. I invested years ago into a good Japanese kitchen knife set which also includes a cleaver (great for opening of coconuts).

Dehydrator

Absolutely not an essential, more of a luxury item but great to make convenience foods such as raw crackers, cookies, bars and breads amongst many other things. Excalibur is most popular dehydrator and apparently very easy to use.  Apart from preserving food for later use, dehydrating using a food dehydrator can also preserve the nutritional value of the produce due to the low temperature they can operate at. Cooking food at temperatures above 118ºF (48ºC) destroys the enzymes and essential nutrients contained in the food.  I don't have a dehydrator yet, and don't plan to get any in near future, if I fancy a raw snack then I have Planet Organic whole food shop just around the corner of the work, and there is an array of raw food snacks to choose from.

Need some sleep now, my eyelids are drooping and are hitting my lower lip any minute, so I better go to bed before I fall asleep here at the sofa. I promise to write more soon!