5 Reasons You Need Aquafaba In Your Life Right Now!

Cooking with Chickpea Liquid is A New Trend You’ll Love

After 7,500 years lurking in salads… or mashed into a spread for pita, the chickpea has finally revealed its unique power. This power sets it apart from the rest of its family of legumes. It’s the liquid —chickpea water–called aquafaba. Just 3 tablespoons of this golden chickpea liquid is all it takes to outperform 1 mighty egg.

You can count on this nutrient-dense food to deliver if you want to:

• Get stronger
• Boost your immune system
• Think faster
• Detoxify
• Lose inches around your waist

Just a few simple changes, like adding aquafaba into your diet, can help you:

• Put that youthful glow back in your complexion
• Thicken your hair, and bring back the shine again
• Get out of bed without feeling stiff or achy
• Put your clothes on without feeling bloated
• Go for a walk without running out of breath

But to fully understand this awesome discovery in all its glory, you have to ask yourself…

Who’s in your Village?

We all have a drive to survive. The survival of our ancestral tribes depended largely on the wisdom and strength of its members. This meant having a great deal of trust and faith in one another. In modern times, we interpret this to mean following the doctor’s orders to swallow prescription drugs when we’re sick. These drugs are supposed to improve our quality of life, thus, perpetuating our survival.

After all, don’t modern conveniences like prescription medications and frozen dinners save us time and add quality to our busy lives? Of course the answer is a resounding “NO.” But we eat processed and packaged food anyway, because of their convenience. Sure we know about red dye #7, the additives, preservatives, and sugars they shove in to make them more appealing.

But I’m going to introduce you to a different tribe… a village of folks who understand the importance of excellent health in a way that may shock you… but in the end, you’re going to thank me.

First let me explain something

You see…

Numbers Don’t Lie

With science, data trumps human intuition. Science demonstrates that things aren’t always as they appear. For example, research reveals that chronic illness is directly related to the type and amount of food you consume.

The numbers also indicate that 9 out of 10 people with a chronic illness will die from the drug treatments they receive rather than from the disease itself.

A significant study in Finland revealed that changing to a plant-based diet was effective in:

• Lowering plasma cholesterol
• Lower blood pressure levels
• Improving cardiovascular health

This study showed that heart disease is not inevitable and that the disease’s roots are lifestyle related. But trying to halt the progression of cardiovascular disease with medications such as antilipids and hypotensive drugs is ineffective. You could say…

The Proof is in the Pudding

Enter the golden chickpea liquid.

The chickpea, and its liquid called aquafaba, contains saponins that provide long-lasting soft peaks for mousses and meringues. But the true power lies in their ability to react with cholesterol in blood plasma. Saponins prevent cholesterol from being absorbed into your blood. As a result, they lower your risk of coronary artery disease.

And saponins can kill cancerous tumor cells by deactivating the nucleus. Phytochemicals like these are powerful antioxidants that protect us from environmental pollutants in the air we breathe and the foods we eat. Without them we are as vulnerable as our planet is without the ozone layer.

For some time we have known that certain plants have saponins that foam up when mixed with water. Plants like soapwort and Yucca root produce a rich lather used in soaps, shampoos and other detergents. But this class of plants is also known for their potential toxicity and bitter taste. Making meringue out of their phytochemicals would be a bitter experience. Further studies on a wide range of edible plants revealed phytochemicals with powerful health benefits that had foaming properties and were mild tasting.

This opened the floodgate to trial and error. Health-conscious culinary enthusiasts began their quest to find a more organic approach to preparing our favorite foods. We needed taste. We craved texture. And we love the aromas that captivate our senses.

In short, we needed the perfect plant-based way to high-peaking meringue, thick soups and gravy and with the binding power of gluten—but without the gluten.

We needed all this without the slimy, lumpy, hydrogenated tastes and textures associated with the byproducts from protein isolates in egg whites and egg replacers.

And let me tell you…

When “Word of Mouth” teams up with the World Wide Web amazing things unfold

After nearly 4 decades, the quest to find a plant-based egg replacement came to pass in February 2015 with a thread of serendipity and a dash of insight. The news was intercepted from a woman in Indianapolis who mentioned to her husband that she had seen an interesting blog about cooking without eggs on www.revolutionvegetale.com written by Joel Roessel, a freelance surgeon from France.

As fate would have it, the news landed in the hands of Mr. Goose Wohlt, an American software engineer, vegan, and author of Goose’s Vegan Cookery (no foul jokes, please). Thus, he began to harness the power of this perfectly “saponified” chickpea. He found that when soaked and cooked in water, chickpeas release a golden broth that will emulsify, stabilize, fluff, aerate and hydrate. This golden broth does this all while delivering a health shield of key nutrients and phytochemicals that reduce your risk of chronic disease.

The chickpea accomplishes all this in the form of pure decadence. Whether you have a sensitive constitution or a slight penchant for food with culinary flare, you will be stunned by its versatility. The almighty unassuming chickpea became the winner at surpassing the egg white and all of its culinary potential.

In our world of meatless, meat-looking substitutes…

How Does a Veggie Blog Create Bliss Among Vegetarians?

So glad you asked!

Within a month, a virtual community was born of a single blog. There are now 50,000 contributing members in this Facebook group, Vegan Meringues – Hits and Misses!

You see, our inherent desire to feel connected to others fuels this movement. It’s the perfect opportunity to be part of an exciting journey that satisfies on 2 distinct levels:

1. Our need to belong and connect with people and possibly cultures around the world.
2. A person’s desire to be healthier and move away from animal proteins and the gristle and fat and meat-born illnesses that come from them.

By joining in you’ll see what usually interesting and always healthy concoctions people are cooking up in faraway places, such as France, Wales, Australia, Ethiopia, and Denmark.

In these exclusive groups, you can try the recipes, give your feedback, ask questions, test new ideas and get feedback from others.

I call it a “living laboratory” that’s in the midst of researching and developing a paradigm shift that offers the hope of happiness and awareness to safeguard us from chronic illness.

Join me now and…

Watch the Chickpea Liquid Transform… and Perform its Magic

There are 3 reactions involved in this process:

• The whipping unfolds the proteins.
• They then bend to form new bonds trapping air bubbles in the process.
• Dissolved starch holds the bubbles together and saponins act as an emulsifier, like fruit cocktail suspended in Jello.

Three crucial steps:

1. Drain a can of room temperature chickpeas, retaining the bean liquid, or aquafaba. Heat and reduce the aquafaba. Simmering removes excess water and creates a thick foam when mixing.

2. In a bowl (we used a Kitchen Aid, but any mixer will do), mix aquafaba on med/low to trap the most air bubbles and yield the highest peaks, making it light and fluffy. You’ll see!

3. Don’t forget the potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar). It preserves its shape during the cooking process. Keep the temperature to 120F or less. Otherwise, it will quickly shrink like a deflating bounce house. Initially, it’s pretty cool to see, but the rest is anticlimactic.

Now we’re ready for the good stuff…

Kick it up a Notch with Mousse

• Pinterest

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

• 1 cup aquafaba (room temp)
• 1/8 tsp cream of tarter
• 1 tbsp. coconut sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 6 oz. dark chocolate

Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate carefully so it doesn’t burn. Remove it from the heat.
2. In a separate bowl, start mixing the aquafaba and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form. (5-15 min)
3. Add coconut sugar and vanilla and whisk for another minute.
4. Drizzle in chocolate and gently fold into meringue.
5. Pour into glasses and chill for 4 hours.
6. Garnish as desired.

Chickpea Chocolate Ganache Cake

Ingredients:

• 

  • Pinterest
  2 tbsp. flax meal
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup of chickpeas
• 1/3 cup cacao powder
• 6 tbsp. aquafaba
• ½ cup rice flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Line pan with parchment paper.
3. In small bowl combine aquafaba and flax meal; allow 5 minutes to thicken.
4. In a separate bowl combine almond milk and vinegar cup coconut sugar mix and allow to curdle.
5. In a large bowl, combine coconut sugar, rice flour, cacao powder, baking soda and salt.
6. Add aquafaba mixture and almond milk mixture to dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes until toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Go to gretchensbakery.com for a rich delicious Vegan Swiss Buttercream Recipe.

The Health Benefits of One Piece of Cake

Imagine a piece of moist dark chocolate cake filled with creamy ganache and topped with a light and airy mousse.

Go on… take a bite. It’s sprinkled with cinnamon and topped with fresh blueberries. You just took in 50% of your daily dietary fiber and lowered your cholesterol with every bite!

It’s a rich taste that nourishes your body by delivering nutrient-dense food for long lasting energy too…

Observe:

• The selenium prevents inflammation and improves liver function.
• Folate repairs DNA and prevents cancer cells from forming.
• Choline helps you sleep, repair and build muscle tissue, improve memory by speeding up neurotransmission. Choline also helps the cell membrane with the absorption of fats and reduces inflammation.
• B6 helps regulate hormonal function, which helps you feel happy, repairs kidney function and helps alleviate carpal tunnel syndrome and more.
• Manganese will create enzymes needed to build and maintain healthy bones, lowering your risk of osteoporosis, as well as increasing your metabolism, so you can stay lean.
• Potassium enhances electrolyte function, necessary to keep all organ systems working together.
• It rehydrates your body while replenishing your calcium channels, helping your muscles to contract, sharpening your thinking by speeding up neuro transmission and keeping your hormones in check.
• You will supply your body with essential amino acids that you need to build muscle, and speed up your metabolism.

But wait… there’s MORE!

Need Mayonnaise?  Make Some Fabanaise.

Check out Sir Kensington’s mayo recipe! What’s the allure of veganism? If you don’t believe your eyes then just listen to your taste buds!

Fabanaise Phase 1

Mix these ingredients together in an immersion blender:

• ¼ cup aquafaba
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• ½ tsp fine salt
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp dry mustard

Fabanaise Phase 2

1. While blending, slowly drizzle ¾ cup of sunflower oil in a thin stream.
2. Blend at high speed for 3-4 minutes.
3. As it emulsifies it will thicken.
4. Stop blending when it reaches the consistency of mayonnaise.

Voila! You have fabanaise!

As we’ve observed in Home Cures That Work on many occasions…

Hippocrates once said, “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food…”

If the “Big Idea” behind food is that we eat to feel good, then living in a culture that goes to great lengths in manipulating nature’s simplest is a double-edged sword.

Adding chemicals, enriching products by removing live grains, and adding corn syrup exhausts our insulin supplies, saps our energy, and leads to chronic health disorders.

It’s no wonder we can get confused about what and what not to eat and why we have to take probiotics and enzymes and fiber capsules if we want wellbeing.

No matter where we are in our lifespan, knowledge is strength and power. And that knowledge is best acquired in joining a number of like-minded folks.

Check out Aquafaba.com and see the staggering numbers of bloggers across the globe helping each other shift old habits, adopt new ones, and share ideas so we can break free from the dangerous mindset that food is food… and it doesn’t matter what we eat.

As I said, this is a real-time research and development, a living laboratory of epic consequence for our lives. It’s fueled by enthusiasm, care, empathy, and was set up to nurture our very heart and soul. It shines as an example that the interconnectedness of humanity can work just as it did for the survival of our ancestral tribes… and it can all start with a simple chickpea. Delicious, versatile, and nutritious… packed with good Karma.

 

Hunting for vegan recipes? Check out these pulses, perfect for busy weeknights. And if you’re into aquafaba but still want to get your healthy fats, check out the avocado recipes and nut milks to help you out.

Sources:
New World Encyclopedia.org Chickpea
Nutrition.UCDavis.edu/Phytochemicals
Food Chemistry vol 7, issue 1, July 1981,19-40
Food Research International
www.organicfacts.net/healthbenefits
www.nutritiondata.self.com
Daily Values for Food Labels, courtesy of FDA
Aquafaba nutrition analysis courtesy Aquafaba.com
Facebook.com Vegan meringue
RevolutionVegetale.com
Cooking NewYork Times.com
Todays Dietician, vol 14No 12, Pg 32-50
Cancer: fighting cancer with what you eat, Nematian, Elika, Nutrition 411, Oct 2013
WHO (World  Health Organization), programs and projects .1 The global burden of chronic Disease
Lipschhitz, David. Breaking the Rules of Ageing. Lifeline Press, 2002.
American Journal of Epidemiology Copyright © 2001 by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health All rights reserved 854 Vol. 154, No. 9 Printed in U.S.A. Performance of Comorbidity Scores Schneeweiss et al. Performance of Comorbidity Scores to Control for Confounding in Epidemiologic Studies using Claims Data Sebastian Schneeweiss,1,2 John D. Seeger,2 Malcolm Maclure,2,3 Philip S. Wang,1,2 Jerry Avorn,1 and Robert J. Glynn1,4 Comorbidity is an important confounder in epidemiologic studies. The authors compared the predictive performance of comorbidity scores for use in epidemiologic research with administrative databases.
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 2012 Feb;46(2):169-75. doi: 10.1345/aph.1P592. Epub 2012 Jan 17.
Adverse drug reaction deaths reported in United States vital statistics, 1999-2006.
Shepherd G1, Mohorn P, Yacoub K, May DW.

Recipes
www.crazyvegankitchen.com
www.mycocosugar.com