When I think of citrus fruit and especially lemons I think of all the uses it has in my life. From being a cleaner, air fresher, deodoriser, hair lightener, fabric brightener, antiseptic, food, flavour enhancer and this list just goes on. Today I wanted to talk and share about the use of citrus fruits as a dressing in salads.
Citrus fruits hold many health benefits and the acidic taste of them gives sweet and savoury salad a freshness which we have all come to love. Citrus fruits have fragrant and floral notes that can balance out many raw vegan dishes naturally and this would have to be one of the healthiest dressings around for any salad combination too!
When I started this Raw Vegan journey in 2021 I was just starting out my life, with limited funds and only couple of kitchen utensils. I owned a chopping board, knifes & vegetable peeler.I used these tools to first create my BIG SALADS. I loved combining citrus fruit juices or use just one citrus fruit juice as a dressing on these salads and I still do this often today.
The fresh, sweet, bright and acidic taste of citrus fruit is one of my favourite salad dressings. It is also important to note the many health. benefits to citrus fruits as they "..... are rich in multiple nutrients such as vitamin C, flavonoids, and fibre which confer vascular protection, reduce inflammation, improve gastrointestinal function and health, and play an important role in preventing conditions like diabetes, cancer, neurological disease" (The University Of Washington, [2022]). It is good to know a dressing can taste good and hold so many health benefits.
When ingesting only the juice of any fruits (including citrus fruits) they are void of most of the fibre and therefor any of the health benefits associated with that fibre. In saying this I usually add some of the whole citrus fruit into my salads as adding the fruit can add an extra burst of flavour, give you the added digestive benefits and a is a great prebiotic (Wikipedia). If you would like to know more about all citrus can do for your health you should head over to the WebMD website.
The citrus juices I use as salad dressings are:
lemon
orange
blood orange
lime
mandarin
grapefruit
ruby grapefruit
tangerine
pomelo
Now the fun part is that you can mix the above citrus juices to create a many different sweet, tangy, fragrant and bittersweet salad dressings to taste. There are endless combinations you can create as you add different amounts of the citrus flavours above. I mean if you wanted to go all out you could use all 9 flavours in one dressing.
I have been using citrus juice dressings for a year and a half now and I absolutely love combinations such as:
1/2 blood orange x 1/4 ruby grapefruit
1 lime x 1/2 lemon x 1/4 pomelo
1/4 lime x 1/2 blood orange
1/4 lemon x 1/2 orange x 1/2 ruby grapefruit
1 grapefruit x 1/4 orange
1 mandarin x 1/4 lemon
There is so many flavours that can be created with Raw Living Foods. I am showing you just a drop in the ocean when it comes to enhancing your salads with citrus juices. Remember not to be afraid to experiment with different salad combinations and citrus dressings as it can be so much fun.
It is in all of us to heal, thrive and then shine in a life we have always dreamed of. My suggestion to most people as a Raw Foods Health Coach is when going Raw Vegan is to add a Raw Living Foods meal to your life once or twice a week to start. All the salads on this page are filled with my favourite raw foods and topped with one of my favourite citrus dressings. I would definitely recommend making your favourite salad and then using your favourite citrus fruits as a dressing when starting out a Raw Vegan lifestyle as it is simple, easy and citrus fruits are readily available to most people.
I would love to hear your favourite salad and citrus dressing combinations in the comments below. Do not forget to subscribe to the Roar website & Instagram for more great tips, guides, recipes and help for Raw Vegan Journey.