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Charis Cuisine
Sunflower & Hemp
Seed Dip
2 cups
hulled Sunflower Seeds (soaked & sprouted)
1/2 cup hulled Sesame Seeds
1/2 cup Hemp Seeds
1/3 cup Red Onion
1 cup Parsley (chopped)
2 Lemons (juice of)
4 medium cloves Garlic
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Cumin
1 1/2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
--Wash hulled Sunflower Seeds, and soak in water for 8 hours. Rinse
and drain and place in a colander for 2 hours at room temperature
(for Sunflower Seeds to sprout).
--Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth (if the
blender is having a difficult time blending, you can always add 1/4
Cup water to get the blender started.
Hemp Seed Nutrition
Uses for
Hempseed
There are four general methods for preparing foods
From hempseed: using whole seed, using hulled hempseed, milling the
seed, and using the oil directly
In
whole-seed processing
the seed is left intact and incorporated as an ingredient in a
mixture, such as in Mama Indica's seed treats, or is further
processed whole, such as Jamaica Jay's roasted and seasoned snack
seeds.
Hulled
hempseed
is the most significant development in hempseed in centuries. The
hard, crunchy coat is removed, thus improving palatability and ease
of processing. Hulled hempseed can be used in many recipes much like
sesame or tofu. Additionally, raw or roasted hempseed may be milled
into a paste similar to peanut butter, a delicacy long prized in
eastern Europe but currently unavailable in the U.S.
Milling the
seed
is best for products for which one prefers that the seed not remain
whole, and that it not contain solely the oil of the seed. Milled
seed foods may contain noticeable ground seed particulates, such as
Hempeh Burgers or cookies.
Hempseed oil
is useful in fat-based products, such as frozen desserts or baked
goods. However, this is the highest cost alternative, since hempseed
oil currently is in the $25 to $100 per gallon range and seed is
$0.60 to $2.00 (or equalized to relative oil content and expressed
in gallons, seed is $16 to $53). When using oil as an ingredient the
quality of the oil is extremely critical, since if it is of low
quality (rancid) the finished product will have a short shelf life,
with off-flavor and free radical formation.
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Seeds of the
plant cannabis sativa, hemp seed, contain all the essential amino
acids and essential fatty acids necessary to maintain healthy human
life.
No other single plant source has the essential amino acids in such
an easily digestible form,
nor has the essential fatty acids in as perfect a ratio to meet
human nutritional needs. |
Benefits of Hemp
Hemp is
a high protein seed containing all nine of the essential amino acids
(like flax). It also has high amounts of fatty acids and fiber as
well as containing vitamin E and trace minerals. It has a balanced
ratio of omega 3 to 6 fats at around a three to one ratio. This
won’t help correct your omega balance if it’s off, but it gives you
the right balance to start with.
Further the protein content of the hemp seed is supposed to be very
digestible. Many people noted their personal experience of finding
that hemp seed protein did not cause bloating or gas, like some of
their whey, or other protein shakes did.
And, get this, unlike soy which has super high amounts of phytic
acid (that anti-nutrient that prevents us from absorbing minerals),
hemp seed doesn’t contain phytic acid. At the very least, this makes
hemp seed a step up from soy.
Hemp
contains:
* All 20 amino acids, including the 9 essential amino acids (EAAs)
our bodies cannot produce.
* A high protein percentage of the simple proteins that strengthen
immunity and fend off toxins.
* Eating hemp seeds in any form could aid, if not heal, people
suffering from immune deficiency diseases. This conclusion is
supported by the fact that hemp seed has been used to treat
nutritional deficiencies brought on by tuberculosis, a severe
nutrition blocking disease that causes the body to waste away.3
* Nature’s highest botanical source of essential fatty acid, with
more essential fatty acid than flax or any other nut or seed oil.
* A perfect 3:1 ratio of Omega-6 Linoleic Acid and Omega-3 Linolenic
Acid – for cardiovascular health and general strengthening of the
immune system.
* A superior vegetarian source of protein considered easily
digestible.
* A rich source of phytonutrients, the disease-protective element of
plants with benefits protecting your immunity, bloodstream, tissues,
cells, skin, organs and mitochondria.
* The richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids.
Hemp’s protein is in the globulin edistin form it is a superior
source of protein.
“The best way to insure the body has enough amino acid material to
make the globulins is to eat foods high in globulin proteins. Since
hemp seed protein is 65% globulin edistin, and also includes
quantities of albumin, its protein is readily available in a form
quite similar to that found in blood plasma. Eating hemp seeds gives
the body all the essential amino acids required to maintain health,
and provides the necessary kinds and amounts of amino acids the body
needs to make human serum albumin and serum globulins like the
immune enhancing gamma globulins. Eating hemp seeds could aid, if
not heal, people suffering from immune deficiency diseases. This
conclusion is supported by the fact that hemp seed was used to treat
nutritional deficiencies brought on by tuberculosis, a severe
nutrition blocking disease that causes the body to waste away.
[Czechoslovakia Tubercular Nutritional Study, 1955] “
Was it
Historically used as a food?
One thing is clear. Hemp has been grown for a long time. It may even
be one of the first crops. Hemp was used for making paper, clothes,
and ropes and oil for lamps. But was it produced for food, or was it
simply eaten in times of famine?
It looks like it was definitely used as a medicine for a variety of
uses. The Chinese especially utilized hemp seed for medicine. Go
here for some of the historical medicinal uses of hemp seed.
This quote gives a good overview of some of the information I found
about the historical uses of hemp as food.
“The use of hemp for food and medicine may be as old as the human
race itself. Recent interest in the seed arises from the awareness
of the nutritional need for omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty
acids, as well as the need for cheap sources of protein to feed a
burgeoning population in Asia and the developing world. In addition
to its nutritional value, hemp seed has demonstrated positive health
benefits, including the lowering of cholesterol and high blood
pressure.
In the second century, Galen recorded that some people enjoyed
eating fried hemp seeds with their desserts. As recently as the
1950’s in Southern Africa, mothers of the Sotho tribe served the
ground seed “with bread or mealie-pap” to children during weaning.
Human uses of hemp seed for food are naturally found in India where
the oil is pressed to provide a table oil, and in Russia where the
oil is made into a kind of hemp butter or margarine.
In Europe, it was once required of monks that three meals made of
hemp seed were eaten daily, whether in soups, gruel, or porridges. In the belief that the spirits of dead relatives visit every
Christmas Eve, the Polish and Lithuanian people prepared them a soup
of hemp seed which was called “semieniatka”. The Ukrainian and
Latvian people made a similar offering on the day of Three Kings. In
China, hemp seed was consumed by farmers in the north and the seed
were listed as a famine food for the starving multitudes of China
near the end of World War II. Australians also used the seed during
two famines in the nineteenth century.
Today’s hemp seed products are being developed on the working
premise of that which can be done with flax seed and soy beans might
also be applied to hemp seed. Very basic food preparation, and the
processing techniques have been the start of such seemingly
remarkable foods as a hemp seed tofu and a low fat cheese substitute
that even melts and stretches like real cheese.”
If you
to read want more about hemp, visit:
Hemp Seed: The Most Nutritionally Complete Food Source In The World
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