I moved house last week, and this new place has a freezer, so I can make ice-cream. I’ve been wanting to start experimenting with raw ice-cream for a while… Here’s my first attempt at chocolate ice-cream, as always, all quantities are very approximate:

Hemp Milk

• 150g hemp seeds, soaked
• soak water from figs (see below)
• water from young coconut

The rest

• handful figs, soaked (I used about 10 baby figs)
• 4 bananas
• young coconut flesh (maybe 1/4 of a coconut)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
• 1 heaped tablespoon cacao powder
• 3-4 tablespoons cacao nibs
• 1 tsp mesquite meal

First make hemp milk: drain and rinse the hemp seeds, then blend with the fig soak water and some young coconut water. Try not to use too much liquid, but this will depend on your blender. Squeeze through a nut milk bag (or muslin bag / cheesecloth) to make the milk.

Then put the rest of the ingredients into your blender along with the hemp milk and blend until smooth. Place in a container and freeze. With my freezer, it was ready after about 8 hours.

I’m sure there are many variations – if you find something that works well, leave a comment and let everyone know…

Enjoy, love Rob

I went to a potluck yesterday and I made my own version of the Super Duper Raw Chocolate Fudge recipe. First I made coconut cream from one mature coconut – blend the meat dry in the Vitamix and then squeeze through a nut milk bag. I then mixed the cream with the following:

• 4 tablespoons lucuma powder
• 4 tablespoons raw cacao powder
• 1/4 tsp vanilla powder
• lemon juice
• grated lemon peel
• a little grated ginger
• a squirt of agave

Just keep mixing until you have a thick chocolate pie filling.

I made my own base, I soaked lots of sunflower seeds and a small amount of pumpkin seeds for a few hours, rinsed and dried then and put them in the food processor with some nice fresh dates. Processed until a pie base consistency – for me it was not thick enough so I added a tablespoon of lucuma to thicken.

I also made a raspberry sauce to serve it with – I blended two punnets of raspberries from the farmers market with a handful of fresh dates and a squirt or two of agave (more dates and less agave and this could have been raspberry jam!)

And of course it was delicious and everyone wanted the recipe – so here you are!

I spotted this video posted on We Like It Raw and I just had to make it (or my version of it, I used agave instead of honey) and it was so delicious that I need to share with you all:

This video shows how to make the coconut cream. If you don’t have a juicer, I made it in my Vitamix by grinding the coconut up (dry) and squeezing through a hemp milk bag.

Mmm, my favourite honey mangos are back in season, I usually like to eat them just as they are, but I did try a recipe and it was amazing:

• 2 honey mangos
• flesh of 2 young coconuts
• squirt of agave nectar
• 2 tablespoons mango powder
• small amount of the young coconut water

Take the flesh of the mangos and blend with the young coconut flesh, and a little of the coconut water (the amount you use will depend on your blender, but you only need a little). Once it’s smooth, add a squirt of agave and the mango powder and blend a little to mix that in.

It does work fine without the agave and mango powder, the agave adds a little sweetness and the mango powder thickens it and gives it a stronger mango flavour.

I’m sure this mango custard has many uses, I’d suggest pouring it over a bowl of freshly chopped local strawberries would work well…

Enjoy, love Rob