Red, Orange, Yellow Hued Foods ![eat the rainbow beets]()
When I think about summer, the colours that come up to my mind right away are red, orange and yellow. Maybe influenced by the colour of the Sun and the glow it brings to everything this time of the year? It also happens that in summer I crave cooling food, to balance that heat from the inside out: I up my intake of raw food quite a lot, and all those live nutrients my body loves give me even more energy.
Vitamins in our Foods
The phytonutrients (aka the health beneficial chemicals in plants that protect them, and us when we ingest the plants) associated with red, orange and yellow foods are carotenoids. An interesting fact about these phytonutrients is that the alpha and beta carotenes are converted to vitamin A in our body, but lycopene and lutein can’t. We find the first mainly in orange foods, lycopene in red and pink foods, and lutein in yellow foods. Studies have found that carotenoids are better absorbed when cooked and/or eat it with fat rich foods, so there we have another reason to not being afraid of consuming (good, raw) fats on our diet.
Some red, orange and yellow foods that are available these summer days in Canadian supermarkets are:
Cherries there are two main types of cherries we can find: sweet and sour. And while the sour cherries aren’t strongly sour, the sweet are definitely sweeter! They are nutritionally equivalent but the culinary uses differ a bit. Sour cherries are mainly used in cooking (jams, preserves, pies), while my preferred way to each cherries is right off the stem or thrown into smoothies (pitted, please!)
Peaches the Niagara Region grows some of the most amazing peaches I’ve tasted. If you ever have the chance, I recommend you go around and get some locally, or pick your own! The meat is sweet and juicy and I eat these by themselves, chop and thrown into summer salads, or made into an amazing raw pie like the one I share below.
Watermelon leave a juicy watermelon half and a spoon in front of me, and I’ll work magic: now you see it, now you don’t (it’s all in my belly!). I absolutely love this fruit, that I consume only it summer because to me, watermelon and summer go together. Chop it, freeze, and throw into your water or smoothie for a cool and flavouring effect .
Bell peppers how pretty the farmer’s markets baskets look with the amazing variety of bell pepper colours they bring this time of year: yellow, red, green, orange (and have you seen the purple?) Bell peppers are surprisingly sweet and delicious to eat raw in salads or as vessels for delicious dips.
Beets beets fascinate me, especially in the summer when we can find most of the heirloom varieties in so many different colours: bright red, striped, yellow on orange skin, and even white. You can either scrub them well and leave the skin on or peel them, and chop into your salads or “spiral” them to create colourful no-pasta spaghetti for vibrant summer dishes.
In the meantime try your hand at this Raw Berry Tart – a sweet ending to any summer meal!
Raw Berry Tart with Almond Coconut Crust
For the crust:
2 cup almonds, soaked
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup raisins
– blend in food processor until you have a uniform “dough”
– press out in a tart dish evenly all over and up the sides (there should be enough)
For the filling
2 cups fresh berries
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 fresh peaches
– Blend in a high speed blender until thick and creamy
– Pour the blended berries into the raw pie crust and decorate ad you would like
– Place in freezer for several hours, serve and enjoy!
Content contribution by Is Fernandez
