A stupendously healthy “snack cracker”

A few years ago when I was feeling quite flush with income and not nearly so focused on saving money as I am now I observed a new, and fairly pricey snack food at the local grocery store called kale chips. I think it still took a good sale price to entice me into trying them for the first time, as I have pretty much always been frugal by nature. I found them to be quite delicious and eventually sampled pretty much all the flavor varieties. My only complaint besides the cost would be that they were so delicate. Once the kale leaf was dried it got so thin there was almost nothing to it. That got me to thinking about alternatives that might solve this.

(Please note some of the links in this blog post are affiliate links. What this means is that should you click through them and make a qualifying purchase I will receive a commission which I’d certainly appreciate since it helps support this blog project. However, this shouldn’t increase your cost any, and certainly don’t ever feel like I’m pressuring you to buy things through the links I offer or anywhere else. I’m all about being frugal first!)

First though, I read the ingredients list on a favored variety and set about trying to make my own kale chips with my dehydrator. It was messy, but not that hard, and while mine tasted a bit different they were still very good. So good in fact that I tended to snarf them up in such sort order it almost didn’t seem worth all the effort to make. I could only make so much at a time because while fresh the whole leaves took up a lot of space in the dehydrator trays. I’d fill all the trays, dry them fully until thin and crisp, and what I’d have left could almost be eaten in one sitting.

So I tried something different. Rather than making kale chips I went for kale crackers, a thicker, denser version. I wanted something I could really sink my teeth into and use to scoop up humus or salsa. Happily this worked out very well and I’ve made them off and on since. I thought today I’d share the basics of what I’m doing with you, a recipe of sorts.

The essence of the difference is that instead of using the kale leaves whole, with tough stems removed, I’m grinding them up making a kale mash which I am then mixing all the extra flavoring goodness into. I didn’t realize at first how much more advantageous this approach would be. I was just thinking about getting a thicker chip or cracker.

Spreading out a mash mixture to dry can indeed give a thicker cracker but it also means I can use more of the kale. Previously I had to remove the thick stems because once dried these parts became like tough sticks to try and eat. When grinding them all up first this no longer matters. I can use the thick stems. When harvesting from my garden I still tend to select for thick but tender stems, consigning the more rigid fibrous parts from bolting kale to the compost heap. However, having some long fibrous strings in the mix doesn’t seem to hurt things at all once dried. They snap, break, and become perfectly edible once the cracker is fully dried.

That got me to thinking more broadly yet. If I’m grinding up the greens then I don’t really need them to be large leaves either. Could I use plants other than kale? Experimentation has shown the answer to be a big “yes”. I can use all sorts of other greens. I’ve done this now with wild plantain, a green that can be less ideal as a pot herb due to long stringy fibers in the leaves. These fibers cease to be an issue in the cracker form. I’ve also made these using brussel sprouts. The flavor naturally is a bit different, but they worked just fine.

For some reason I drifted away from making these for a while. This spring however, as my greenhouse was being overrun by bolting kale, I began considering things I could make to utilize huge quantities of it. Naturally I landed quite quickly on kale crackers. So I did some photo documentation making a batch with the intention of sharing it here eventually. Let’s begin!

First, here’s a shot of the greenhouse with all the kale taking over. This image is the before shot. I should have taken an after shot, but I didn’t. Suffice to say I cut back all the kale leaving pretty much just thick stalk sections down near the soil bed, expecting they would grow back again, which they have. Currently the greenhouse looks almost the same with the kale taking over and I’ve harvested a huge batch in between then and now too.

What this yielded to me was a mammoth pile of some of the most nutritious food on the planet. In terms of nutrition per calorie dark leafy greens are hard to beat!

Seeing the big pile of greens on my kitchen counter waiting to be processed made me realize this is not only a good way to get a thicker kale chip its a phenomenal way to eat massive amounts of greens, way more than I ever could as a raw leafy salad! Not only that, but by grinding it up first and not cooking it, using a gentle dehydration instead and/or letting it sit for about 40 minutes before applying heat, cruciferous vegetables such as kale, broccoli, and brussel sprouts will develop more sulforaphane, a substance said to be very good for our bodies.

To grind up my greens I use an Omega brand masticating juicer I bought a few years ago. I’ve been using the insert to grind nuts and seeds where it masticates things but doesn’t seek to separate out the juice. This way I get a nice pulped up mass of juicy greens.

For the rest of the mix to add flavoring and bind everything together I vary the ingredients a bit each time but here’s what’s generally involved for me:

– First I’ll use the juicer to also grind up some nuts, often raw walnuts or raw cashews. Maybe a cup or two in total. I never measure.

– I also generally add some ground up cooked beans. I lean toward chickpeas if I can, often using a prepared humus I make that doesn’t have added oils.

– A can of tomato paste. This might be the least healthy thing in the mix, and I only say that because it’s not a whole food since the skins and seeds are removed.

– Milled flax seeds. These are one of Dr. Greger’s daily dozen, good for all sorts of things in terms of our health. In terms of the crackers it also functions as a binding agent. Vegans tend to view milled flax as an egg substitute when cooking.

– A fairly generous amount of apple cider vinegar. I’m using this mostly for flavoring. I suspect other flavored vinegar would be good too. I should try making a batch with some balsamic vinegar sometime.

– Fortified nutritional yeast. This is a deactivated yeast often used by vegans for a cheesy sort of flavor without using dairy. I find it quite a tasty addition to these crackers. I’ve been getting fortified versions that add B vitamins, B 12 among them.

– Any other spices you want. Personally I often give my mix a bit of a kick with some red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper. Usually some turmeric powder for the huge health benefits without changing the flavor much. Maybe some cumin or a general salt free seasoning mix. All sorts of variations are possible here.

– In my last few batches I’ve been using some miso paste. It’s a way to add the salty taste without the adverse effects of straight salt, at least this is what the studies suggest. I’m sure these would be very tasty with lots of regular salt added in, but personally I’m trying to direct my diet away from added salt.

I usually mix all these other things together good separate from the mash of greens. Then I’ll add them together and mix well, until its a fairly even color. I’ll admit it doesn’t look that appetizing.

Once mixed together I begin spreading it out onto the trays my dehydrator has for just this sort of gloppy mix. I think they may have first been designed for making fruit leathers. Anyway, I find a rubber spatula seems to work good for spreading the mix around to form a fairly even layer. I just keep stacking up the trays until I’m out of my mix.

Then I start dehydrating. Personally I’ve been using an American Harvest dehydrator I bought many years ago. It’s electric and so I don’t use it around the winter solstice when my solar system is very short of power. However the rest of the year my panels are producing WAY more power than I normally use so I’m seeking ways to productively use extra electricity. Food dehydration is a productive use in my book! I hope at some point to make a large solar food dehydrator. When I do I’m sure that will become another blog post or two.

Anyway, I set my dehydrator at somewhere between 90 and 135 degrees F, depending on how sunny or cloudy the days are. At night I generally turn it down to the low setting of 90 degrees. I don’t like to tax my battery bank more than necessary and since there is no solar power generated at night I’ll be running completely on batteries during this time.

After 12 or so hours of dehydrating I can usually flip over the inserts I spread the glop out on and peel the tray off, allowing the cracker rings to dry more easily the rest of the way. In general it usually takes a couple days until they are fully dried, depending on how thick or thin I spread the mix out.

Once they are dried I will break the rings up into smaller pieces that I usually store in a tin. They don’t look all that enticing, and if you don’t like kale chips you might not find them that tasty. I however enjoy them. They are especially good for dipping into salsa or hummus!

With my recent quest to alter my food habits, focusing more on whole plant foods and food I grow right here on my property I’ve been seeing these crackers in a new light. I should be able to make them from whatever greens are wildly abundant at any given time. This would offer me a way to use and/or preserve the surpluses that might otherwise go to waste. It’s also a way for me to get more of the most nutritious foods into my diet very easily. While eating them with a jar of salsa I feel like I’m snacking. However, when I really consider it, that snack is almost assuredly the healthiest meal I’ll be eating all day! So there is zero need for feeling guilty aboutit. In fact I should see them as, and make them a meal. They seem like an excellent food for camping too. One more thought, I’m betting I could use vegetables other than just greens for these too. I could see adding in ground carrots or peppers.

For any entrepreneurs out there I’m betting there could be a market for this sort of thing with a bit of fancy packaging. Actually, I’d be surprised if there isn’t something like this already available somewhere.

I could call them a dehydrated salad, but that just sounds weird. So I’ll keep calling them crackers. Whatever they are called this seems to be a big win for my food goals. It utilizes the abundance of edible plants growing on my property. It is stupendously healthy while being tasty to eat. It allows me to optimize my surplus electricity to preserve food for the rest of the year. It saves me a bunch of money and due to all these things lightens my environmental footprint. Yay for kale crackers, or whatever greens I decide to use! If you have the means you might want to try making these yourself.

Studio snippet

After quite some time away from the studio, traveling or getting other homestead projects done it feels good to get back to working some metal again! I was missing the soothing routines of my days hammering. After finishing the last batch of work I didn’t have any vessels sitting around I could grab to start chasing on. So my first task was to get a couple formed up quickly.

Today I took one of them and got this design drawn on ready for chasing. I would have started the chasing today, and I was sorely tempted to. However, I also wanted to get this blog post written for you all. So I plan to start the chasing work on this tomorrow.

I’m happy to have a site where I can again allow comments. (I had to shut them off on my main website because the spam was simply uncontrollable!) So please I encourage you to share thoughts of your own. My general rule about comments though is just to play nice. Differing views are fine, but I’m not interested in engaging in or moderating verbal fights. If I feel things get out of hand, by whatever criteria I decide, I’ll just start blocking or deleting things.