Test 1: Measure Enzymatic Activity

This test measures enzymatic activity by using the digestive enzyme amylase to convert a starch mixture to maltose. Created by Viktoras Kulvinskas.

1. Sprout rye for about 60 hours. Blend 2 cups of sprouted rye with about 1 cup water, to pancake batter consistency. Spread on Paraflexx sheet, and dehydrate to a cracker.

2. Cook some rice. Blend 2 cups of cooked rice, with very warm water (temperature should be less than 105°F) Blend to pancake batter consistency.

3. Taste both the rye crackers and the rice batter. Neither of them should taste sweet.

4. Take 1/2 cup of ground rye cracker, and blend into the 105°F rice batter.

5. Let sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes, and then taste the batter. If the batter tastes sweet then the enzymes are active. The amylase enzymes within the sprouted rye crackers will have converted the rice starch into sweet maltose. Therefore the enzymes were not destroyed in the dehydration process.

Test 2: Peroxidase Enzyme

This test uses the enzyme peroxidase (found in plant foods) to catalyze the transfer of electrons from hydrogen peroxide to a colorimetric indicator. Peroxidase is an indicator enzyme frequently used by laboratories to measure enzymatic activity when freezing, blanching, and heat-treating vegetables. This test was recommended to us by Dr. John Whitaker, a world known enzymologist and a former dean of the Nutrition and Food Science Department at UC Davis.

1. Dehydrate a batch of vegie burgers. Vegie burgers work well because they are made with various plant foods and will contain a high level of peroxidase.

2. Place a fully dehydrated vegie burger in 8 oz. of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution and let it rehydrate for several hours.

3. After at least 2 hours filter out the solubles using a fine strainer. A nylon or paper towel will work well if you don't have a strainer.

4. Check the color of the hydrogen peroxide solution. If the peroxidase enzymes are active they will catalyze a chemical reaction with the hydrogen peroxide and turn it to a brown color. This will also show that the enzymes were not destroyed in the dehydration process.

Prior to coming to the 2002 Raw Food Festival Excalibur conducted these two experiments to determine at what temperatures enzymes become deactivated. For test 1 three samples of rye crackers we prepared in Excalibur Dehydrators and dried at different temperature settings. After drying, all three samples were identical in appearance. Sample one was dried at 105°F dial setting, sample two was dried at 125°F dial setting, and sample three was dried at 145°F degrees. When mixed with the rice batter the results of all three samples were equal. However, even though sample one was high in enzyme activity, it went sour during the drying process because it took longer to dry than the other two samples dried at higher temperatures.

For the second test we used three samples of raw vegie burgers dried at the same three temperature settings as in test 1. We used vegie burgers because of their high concentration of the enzyme peroxidase. Again all three samples provided identical results after rehydrating them in the hydrogen peroxide solution.