Hard shell but soft heart: hemp seeds in the kitchen

Seems like I’m just jumping from one vice to another.

Last time I was encouraging you to smoke more in the kitchen, and now I’ve progressed to the intake of hemp!

Geelong has just hosted the first talk fest on all matters relating to the growing, processing and marketing of industrial hemp, with plans to conduct this “Go To Hemp” event biannually.

Experts from overseas and all parts of Australia, from various universities, including our own Deakin and the CSIRO, came together over two days to focus on a wide variety of topics relating to the growing and development of industrial hemp.

The point of difference between industrial and medicinal hemp is newsworthy right now as it was only in November last year that legislation changed to allow for the sale of low THC hemp products.

While it is a boutique crop in some ways, we are probably unaware of just how much is grown in Australia.

This new legislation allows for the sale of hemp products, grown from the cannabis sativa plant – seed, flour, oil – for human consumption.

It seems that Australia is late to join in the party on edible hemp. Hemp has been around for centuries, and for many years now the seed has been available in the UK, Canada and USA. It is only recently that the food value of hemp has been acknowledged, and so we are seeing the introduction of the seeds into breads and breakfast cereals. It will be interesting to see how hemp seeds compete with the other recent power foods such as soybeans, quinoa and chia seeds.

The fact is hemp seeds are a fantastic source of Omega 3 and 6 oils, and are a great source of protein, vitamins and minerals.

The moniker industrial hemp doesn’t exactly get the taste buds bouncing, but it is of course very important to distance this edible (and indeed very versatile) hemp for human consumption from the other “party” illegal hemp and indeed from medicinal hemp.

This industrial hemp crop has extremely low levels of the psychoactive ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and for legal human consumption this THC level must be less than half a per cent.

Now that industrial hemp has been approved by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, it may be necessary to establish a screening process to ensure this THC level is monitored.

Hemp products include fibre for clothing and papermaking; hemp hurds are being used in buildings; organic feed for stock; soundproofing material; and when roasted it can become a biofuel to replace coal and the residues can be turned into a biofuel.

Wow. All that from one plant and then some for the kitchen.

Hemp seeds are actually a little nut, with a crisp shell and a soft heart. They can be eaten raw, sprouted, or ground.

The oil oxidises quickly and therefore should be purchased in small amounts, in a dark brown glass bottle and kept out of the light. Hemp seed products are readily available in the supermarket.

You can add them to your cereal, in soups, salads or include some in your baking of bread, muffins and so on.

In a nod to my friend’s recent conversion to healthy smoothies for her breakfast of late, I’ll include here a delicious and super healthy recipe to try.