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| Agricultural Hemp Hemp use dates back to the Stone Age, with hemp fibre imprints found in pottery shards in China and Taiwan over 10,000 years old. Legend credits Ts'ai-Lun, a Chinese eunuch in the emperor's court, with inventing paper about 105 AD. Specimens were found in the Great Wall of China which date back 200 years earlier. These papers were made from hemp. These ancient Asians also used the same fibres to make clothes, shoes, ropes, and an early form of paper. Hemp cloth was more common than linen until the mid 14th century. The use of hemp as a cloth was centered largely in the countryside, with higher quality textiles being available in the towns. Virtually every small town had access to a hemp field. Ref: Stafford, Peter. 1992. Psychedelics Encyclopedia. Berkeley, California, Ronin Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0-914171-51-8 Hemp seeds are grown legally outside of the U.S.A. U.S. Federal law still requires that imported seeds must be sterilized by heat to prevent germination. Fortunately, sterilization has very little effect on nutrients in hemp seeds. There is naturally no THC (the buzz chemical) in hemp seeds, sterilized or viable (live). Hemp seed foods are wholesome, drug free and delicious. Whole hemp seeds have a nice nutty flavor somewhere between sunflower, sesame and pinion nut. They may be eaten whole raw, tamari toasted as a snack, mixed in or sprinkled on top as a garnish to many foods, and pastries (see our recipe book for great ideas). They may also be soaked and juiced to make hemp milk and tofu. One ounce (a good handful) of hemp seeds provides 10 grams of hemp seed oil Hemp seeds contain all the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary to maintain healthy human life. The seeds can be eaten raw, ground into a meal, sprouted, made into hemp milk , prepared as tea, and used in baking. The fresh leaves can also be eaten in salads. Products range from cereals to frozen waffles, hemp tofu to nut butters. A few companies produce value added hemp seed items that include the seed oils, whole hemp grain (which is sterilized as per international law), hulled hemp seed (the whole seed without the mineral rich outer shell), hemp flour, hemp cake (a by-product of pressing the seed for oil) and hemp protein powder. Hemp is also used in some organic cereals, for non-dairy milk somewhat similar to soy and nut milks, and for non-dairy hemp "ice cream." Within the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has treated hemp as purely a non-food crop. Seed appears on the UK market as a legal food product, and cultivation licenses are available for this purpose. In North America, hemp seed food products are sold in large volumes, particularly from Canada to the USA, and typically in health food stores or through mail order
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| ~Hemp Food Stores~ Recipes and Books Hemp Food Storage The shelf life of hemp foods can be extended by following proper procedures for storing. Once nature’s package (the hull) is removed from the seed, its natural protection from light and oxygen is gone, leaving the seed to go rancid quickly unless it is vacuum-packed or stored properly. Hemp foods should be stored in dark packaging and in a cool, dark place. Any hemp food, including oil, is best frozen to extend shelf life. The greatest destructive agent is light because it produces free radicals in oils. Oxygen is the major cause of rancidity. The following are approximate recommendations for properly stored hemp foods: - 24 months – for whole hemp seed from the date of harvest.
- 12 months – for hulled hemp seed from the date of hulling.
- 12 months – for true cold-pressed extra virgin hemp seed oil from day of pressing, if sealed and kept cold in an oxygen free environment.
- 9-12 months – for hemp ice cream, if kept frozen.
- 6-12 months – for hemp seed bars, sprouted breads, or other products that have been cooked at low temperatures for a short period of time, store in a cold, dark place.
- 1-3 months – for roasted hemp seeds, but the fresher the better.
- 5-7 days – for freshly baked hemp flour-based bread.
- 1-2 days – for freshly produced and untreated hemp milk.
- 2-4 days – for other cooked hemp foods not heated above 105°F for 20 minutes, then refrigerated.
Hemp Seed Substitutions
Hemp seeds can be substituted for the following: - Mild: flax, pine nuts, sesame, and sunflower seeds
- Pungent: caraway, celery, fennel, and mustard seeds
- Coarsely ground nuts: almonds, Brazils, cashews, hazelnust, macadamias, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, walnuts
- Oils: grape seed, olive, pine nut, pumpkin seed, rape seed, sesame, and walnut oils
| | Interesting Facts In an article from Popular Mechanics magazine dated February 1938 spoke of hemp as a cash crop soon to be worth a billion dollars. [See the Popular Mechanics article For more than a thousand years before the time of Christ until 1883 AD, Cannabis/Hemp was our planet's largest agricultural crop and most important industry for thousands of products and enterprises, producing the overall majority of the earth's fibre, fabric, lighting oil, paper, incense and medicines, as well as being a primary source of protein for humans and animals alike. The war between America and Great Britain in 1812 was mainly about access to Russian Hemp. Napoleon's principle reason for tragically invading Russia in 1812 was also due to Russian Hemp supplies! The word 'linen', until the early 1800s meant any fine fabrics made from Hemp or flax. Cannabis oil was mentioned by name in the Bible. Apparently, etymologists at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, confirmed that 'kineboisin' (also spelled 'kannabosm") referred to cannabis used in a holy ointment. N.B. King James mistranslated the word as 'calamus' in his version. Hempseed oil is said to burn the brightest of all lamp oils, and has been used since the days of Abraham. Scythians used to purify and cleanse themselves with Hemp oil, which made their skin "shining and clean". Our forests, what is left of them, are being cut down 3 times as fast as they can grow. Further, hemp fibre has been found to be a lighter, stronger alternative to fibreglass. Hemp offers a valuable and sustainable fuel of the future, "growing oil wells". Hemp has an output equivalent to around 1000 gallons of methanol per acre year (10 tons Biomass/acre, each yielding 100 gal. methanol/ton). Methanol used today is mainly made from natural gas, a fossil fuel. Methanol is currently being studied as a primary fuel for automobiles. Henry Ford dreamed that someday automobiles would be grown from the soil. The Ford motor company, after years of research produced an automobile with a plastic body. Its tough body used a mixture of 70% cellulose fibres from Hemp. The plastic withstood blows 10 times as great as steel could without denting! Its weight was also 2/3 that of a regular car, producing better economy. Henry Ford was forced to use petroleum due to Hemp prohibition. His plans to fuel his fleet of automotive vehicles with plant-power also failed due to Alcohol prohibition. Hemp grain does not contain the anti-nutrient trypsin inhibitors as found in soy milk. Hanf in German, Canamo in Spanish, Chanvre in French, Konoplya in Russian, Kender in Hungarian, Tal Ma in Chinese, Hemp is fully international! DEA Seeks to Ban Hemp Food Sales "The DEA's charade of supposedly protecting the public from safe and nutritious hemp food has to end. The DEA has sought to ban hemp food products because trace amounts of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, are found in hemp seeds. Hemp proponents argue that the miniscule amounts of THC found in hemp seeds are insignificant and non-psychoactive, and that the nutritional value of hemp food products are overlooked by the agency's prohibitionist crusade. | |
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