Essential Tools and Appliances for Raw Food Chefs

If you’re interested in following a raw food diet, get ready to give your kitchen tools and appliances a workout!

With a raw food diet, you will be preserving as much nutritional content as possible by not cooking or baking anything, and you will be eating natural ingredients without consuming heavily processed items.

But you still will need to do some food preparation!

All of these, and more, will help you safely, quickly, and efficiently prep your ingredients, supporting your healthy diet every single day you’re in the kitchen.

Gourmet quality raw food meals are definitely on the horizon, with the help of the following eight essential appliances and tools!

Here’s what you’ll find:

1. SPICE GRINDER

A fast way to grind up small amounts of whole seeds and spices is by using a spice grinder.

With this nifty appliance, you can create your own spice blends in order to enjoy the freshest and most flavorful food experiences.

Savor the taste of freshly ground cacao beans in homemade chocolate date bars, or that spicy sprinkle of ground chili powder over juicy, ripe slices of mango.

This small gadget makes a big difference from the store-bought pre-ground spices and blends you purchase. When you own a tool like this, you can freshly grind your whole spices as needed for recipes.

And if coffee is permitted in your diet, you can also use your tool for freshly grinding whole coffee beans.

2. KNIFE KIT

The Zwilling Professional 7-Piece Knife Block Set features the basic cutlery you’ll need for kitchen prep work, and they can all be stored in a birchwood knife block.

The collection includes a 4-inch paring knife, a 5-inch serrated utility knife, a 5-inch santoku knife, an 8-inch chef’s knife, kitchen shears, and a 9-inch sharpening steel.

If this will be your first knife set, or if you are finally updating the old and rusty ones you have owned for years, I recommend avoiding discount stores or buying online – at least at first.

I suggest initially going in person to a restaurant or kitchen supply store, somewhere you can see the knives in person and physically touch and examine the quality of the workmanship.

Combined with reading knife reviews and choosing reputable sources, you can use that foundation to then shop online for the best deals.

If you would rather start small, you should at least purchase a set of two knives that will both be important tools you’ll use constantly: a paring knife and a CHEF KNIFE.

3. CUTTER BOARD

As a necessary accompaniment to your knives, the cutting board is another important kitchen item to own in multiple styles and sizes.

Go to any cooking discussion site, and you will find a heated debate on the quality versus the antibacterial properties versus the knife-dulling properties of various materials of cutting boards.

Everyone has a favorite, as well as a favored theory.

There are multiple considerations to keep in mind, in addition to the material you prefer. You also need to understand the necessity of disposing a cheaper board when it becomes heavily gouged, warped, and scratched, or to resurface the more expensive boards when the time comes!

Having worked in professional kitchens for years, I personally prefer the cleaning ease and practicality of a rubber board that can be resurfaced, but do also appreciate the aesthetic and the feel of chopping into a nice solid wooden block.

And, believe it or not, wooden boards often harbor a much smaller bacteria load than a badly mauled plastic board.

4. FOOD PROCESSOR

For slicing, grating, shredding, and pureeing, a food processor will be your best multi-purpose bud in the kitchen.

Sure, you can do it all by hand with a knife or with a box grater… but if you have a lot of mouths to feed, and you often prep large amounts of food, why not gift yourself with an incredibly practical tool to assist you?

If this describes your preparation needs, I advise that you should stay away from the “micro” processors. For the amount of food preparation that you are likely to do, you may risk burning out the motor with a miniature version.

You need a larger version, for sure!

5. FOOD DEHYDRATOR.

A food dehydrator is a useful appliance to own for so many reasons – and they’re all tasty!

The most common reason, of course, is to help preserve your ingredients for long-term pantry storage.

But dried foods are also used in recipes to concentrate and capitalize on the characteristics inherent within the dehydrated ingredient itself.

For example, dried food has an ability to provide punches of pure flavor in relatively small amounts, or to offer a hearty, chewy, and meaty texture, or to act as a thickener when pureeing.

Dehydrators run the gamut from cheap to ultra-expensive; if you can live with a noisier fan and a shorter lifespan, and won’t be using it all that often, less expensive models may serve you perfectly fine.

I hope Anti-Aging Hacks has been helpful for you! If you have any questions or need more information, feel free to send me a message. Hugs!

Essential Tools and Appliances for Raw Food Chefs