I love juicing vegetables. I am fully addicted to it and love how I feel when I start my morning with a big glass of veggie juice. Whenever I juice though, I’m left with all the fibrous pulp from the vegetables and I hate throwing it out. My friend Jody Bergsma taught me how to make “Raw Crackers.” There are a lot of different types of recipes on the internet to make raw crackers. The reason I like this one is because it gives me something to do with the veggie pulp.
I use Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Flax Seeds and Chia Seeds but you can use any seeds so long as you have either Chia Seeds or Flax Seeds. Both of these seeds help to form a gelatinous goop that holds the crackers together nicely.
- 8 ounces (by volume) veggie pulp from juicing
- 1 oz. flax seeds and/or chia seeds
- 2 oz. other assorted nuts
- 6 oz. water
- Salt, spices, soy sauce
ONE: Add the 3 ounces of nuts to a container and pour 6 ounces of water over the nuts
TWO: Let this mixture sit for a minimum of 4 hours (or overnight in the fridge). You’re doing two things here – you’re sprouting the seeds and nuts and you’re allowing the flax and chia seed to take on a huge amount of that water and turn into a faux egg white mixture to hold your cracker mixture together.
I made a short video to show you the consistency of the Nuts after 4 hours of sitting. Do you see how gelatinous they are?
THREE: Blend the water and the nuts together. I use a Vitamix and it does the trick!
FOUR: Add the veggie pulp and blend some more. If it’s too thick, add some more water. This is where the spices come in! I did 1 Tablespoon Braggs Amino Acids (which are basically a soy sauce) and 1/2 tsp Salt and 1/4 tsp Black Pepper. But, spices and herbs are great in here too. If the blend doesn’t taste good “raw”, it won’t taste good as a cracker so keep tasting until you get to where you want to be. I have noticed that the dehydration process makes the spices and salt be less spicy and salty so if you got a teensy bit overboard in the raw mixture, that’s okay.
FIVE: Pour your cracker mixture into a dehydrator. I have special cracker sheets but parchment paper works if you don’t have any. Note: Amber cooks her Crackers in the oven on low (200F for about 2 hours) on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
This is what my crackers looked like after 6 hours on 105 degree heat in the dehydrator.
SIX: When the crackers are firm enough, release them from the flat sheet they are on to ensure that both sides dry evenly.
If fully dried out, these crackers will keep for 5 days on your counter or longer if they are in the refrigerator. If they are in the slightest bit wet, they are prone to molding (speaking from experience).
Jamisen LOVES raw crackers. This is what he says when gets them – every single time. “Ah yah yah yah” which, in baby speak means, “Man, these taste too good to be healthy!”
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My coworker brings in his juicing leftovers and I feed them to my composting worms. They LOVE it! Which is good because all that worm poop is going to feed my garden this year. 🙂
I have raised composting worms before and YES, they would sooooo love those extra veggies. =) Your garden is going to be so happy this year.
Wowza! I just got addicted to juicing after Christmas… now I need a dehydrator!!!
Sometimes I add a bit of carrot pulp to my juice, and it makes a raw soup. Off to shop for a dehydrator, any suggestions?
Hi! Wow-What a great surprise running into this recipe! It was one of those AHA! moments– I’ve often wondered what else to do with it! Without feeling guilty, and throwing the pulp out, I will add it to meatloaf, or meatless loaf, with additional liquid. But your chips sound great! Looking forward to trying them!
Thanks!
Laura 🙂
Meredith Design Group
Thanks for this great recipe. I made them right away since I had some pulp still in my juicing bin. They are a hit with my family. I love how Jamison noms his cracker pieces, it made me smile. I’m also going to try the tea/broth idea.
This is sooo cool and clever (and healthy)! It also might help me convince hubby to get a juicer because we’d be able to use all the edible components of the juiced fruit/veggie this way.
Sounds delicious! I started composting because I couldn’t bear to throw out all that wonderful veggie pulp. Now I can make crackers instead <3
Great idea to use the leftovers. I make homemade almond milk and use the leftover almond meal to make crackers. Soooooo yummy! Love homemade crackers 🙂
I am obsessed with homemade crackers now too! I have some nuts sprouting right now in the fridge. =)
Thanks for posting things to do with all this pulp! I recently started juicing and also don’t know what to do with all the pulpy leftovers! I saw the other post about making veggie broth and am going to try that first… then crackers if I can find my dehydrator…
I’ve also seen people call it ‘Veggie Tea’ and literally drink it all day, like flavored water.
You can bake the crackers in the oven on low. There’s some theory that the crackers won’t do as good because nut oils can go rancid at such low temps but since you’re eating them so fast, I doubt it’s a real concern.
Dried onion and garlic powder, BTW, won the taste test in our office over the salt/soy sauce version.
I think I also heard him say, “Oh Mommy, thank you for feeding me such good healthy stuff!”
Aw, aren’t you sweet? I try to sneak kale or spinach into 2 of his meals daily. I know he will thank me for this when he’s like 35 and finally realizing that no, he can’t really eat pizza all day and be healthy! =)