I wrote a few days ago about the importance of increasing the consumption of salads and raw foods in summer to help our body feel fresh and light. Today we will see some of the benefits of the pressed salad.
Eating salads is one of the simplest ways to include vegetables in our diet, but not everyone can enjoy them. There are many people who feel bloated after taking a simple lettuce salad, and it can even affect their rest if having it for dinner.
A simple way to include raw and refreshing vegetables in our diet is by preparing them pressed.
Pressed salad is widely used in macrobiotics; we prepare it both in summer and winter, and it can be prepared with almost any kind of vegetable: zucchini, cucumbers … that grow in warm weather, or carrots, cabbage, radishes …that grow in colder seasons.
Pressed salad offers many health benefits:
- It is much more digestible than raw salad, since the effect of salt on the vegetables kind of cooks the vegetables facilitating digestion.
- When we press the vegetables with salt, we help them eliminate the liquid they contain, and this is especially interesting for people who suffer from water retention and swelling.
- While pressing the vegetables a fermentation process starts, and the effects of this process is very interesting for our digestive system:
- A pre-digestion process starts, that will facilitate the assimilation of food.
- Like any fermented food, it provides beneficial bacteria to our intestinal flora.
Let see the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 grated carrot
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
8 to 10 radishes, thinly sliced
1 handful of raisins (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 salad press or 2 salad bowls the same size
Preparation:
Once you have cut the vegetables place them in the bowl.
Add salt and knead gently until the vegetables begin to release water and you notice they are getting wet.
If this does not happen you may need a little more salt.
Now add the raisins.
Raisins give a sweet and soothing flavor to the salad. Furthermore, since the vegetables continue releasing water will help to hydrate raisins and these will be easily digested.
Now put the other bowl over the vegetables and put some weight on top.
You can use a stone, if you have any at home! Otherwise beans or cereal packages will do the same work.
It is important that you put sufficient weight to help expel water.
Let it sit at least half an hour.
You can leave it for longer, even overnight.
When you are ready to serve, just drain excess liquid and … enjoy it!
