Hempseed and Flaxseed Oil

[gardenmoma]

from Zoba in Lenten Recipes thread:

Hempseed oil is available but not easily - I work at a scientific institute that produces hempseed oil on semi-industrial scale, that's why I have an easy access to it. As bot hempseed and flaxseed oils are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, I try to use tham a lot in my cooking.

Zoba how do they taste?

I like to use olive oil, but only in certain things...I would not, for example, use it to fry pancakes or any other light texture / light flavor foods.

GM

[zooba]

Flaxseed oil has a bit "nutty" flavor, very good when fresh. Beautiful yellow color - I add it to mashed potatoes and salads.
I can't describe hempseed oil - when I go home today, I'll try it and write. But it is greenish in color so for some salads looks perfect.
BTW, I take one spoonful of flaxseed oil as a food supplement instead of fish oil.

[gardenmoma]

03/13

Zooba,

Thank you for the information. I will look for the flaxseed oil around my stores. I use either whole or ground flaxseeds over salads and in bread...sometimes cooked cereal as well...as a supplement as you do. The oil, if I can find it, would be good for cooking. Now, I use either "Canola" or "Olive Oil."

I doubt if I can find "Hempseed Oil," but I will keep looking. I would appreciate any information you can post here.

Thank you,

GM

[zooba]

I tasted hempseed oil yesterday and still can't describe it. I must admit that flaxseed oil is much better. Lately i put it in a salad made of sour cabbage, fresh carrot, a bit of onion and one apple, oh, plus some fresh parsley (leaves). It's typically Polish and very healthy.

[zooba]

The thing with oils is that you can't use one kind for all dishes - e.g. flaxseed oil is not good for frying, so I use grapeseed oil onstead. I try not to use any refined oil such as rapeseed oil or sunflower oil.
Can you fry on olive oil? I'm not sure so I don't do it. Perhaps you can tell me.

[Jaga]

There is a traditional Polish, or rather Silesian soup called Hempseed soup (siemieniotka):
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemieniotka

here is more in English about it:
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.
www.galaxyglobaleatery.com/NEWFACE/hemp.htm

[Jaga]

I have some information about it on my website:
culture.polishsite.us/articles/art21.html

my family was doing hempseed soup every Christmas. I need to try to do it here once. It has unusual taste

[rdywenur]

Can you fry on olive oil? I'm not sure so I don't do it. Perhaps you can tell me.

Zooba as GM stated above olive oil is not good to use for making pancakes but almost everything else. Italians use it all the time for all their cooking. They buy it in gallon containers. It makes a great salad dressing, and is healthier to use.

Your grapeseed oil is excellent also. I believe it has occidents. I'm going to try finding the hempseed and the flaxseed oils. When i was younger our dad made us kids take a spoonful of cod liver oil. As kids we hated it.

[gardenmoma]

Zooba,

As RDY pointed out, one can not use the same oil for everything

Olive oil has a very low heat/flash point so will begin to smoke and burn at a lower heat (more quickly) than even butter (I believe) or margarine (which is a combination of vegetable oils). I use a little oil olive on salads (but not when I have fruit in the salad!), when I bake or broil fish, and when I fry a little onion, green pepper (capsicum), etc. to make a spaghetti sauce.

Grapeseed oil must be very expensive to use for cooking. Or is it mixed with some other kind of oil?

I will need to make time to leisurely visit a grocery store or market this summer when I am in Poland. In 2005, two friends and I did go into a modern supermarket in a mall, but had only a little time before it closed...enough time to buy food items to take back home as souvenirs ...cookie, chocolate, tea. My sister and husband love this sort of thing, and I have fun collecting interesting items and facts!

Jaga,

When you and Zooba talk about hempseed, are you talking about oil crushed from the seed of Cannabis? Silly question, I know, but I wanted to make sure.

Snow storm tomorrow here in New England and New York...

GM

[zooba]

Grapeseed oil is much more expensive than other inds of oil but it is affordable - it costs 7-10 dollars per liter.
Yes I mean oil from the seeds of Cannabis sativa L., of course pressed from low THC varieties. It is strictly controlled and the oil does not contain psychoactive substances.

[kaima]

hemp has a long history in Alaska, initially being protected by our state constitution under the "privacy" provision. Back around 1985 the application of that provision to marijuana was attacked by the legislature and the provision has gone back and forth between politicians and interest groups since then. Currently the "Bong hits 4 Jesus" case is before the US Supreme court, for a ruling on the limits of free speech for high school students.

Certainly logic, language and religion are involved as well, and the natural tendency of youth to pull pranks and push limits no matter where the limits are defined.

The highest I get is on the almond oil in my kitchen.

www.adn.com/news/government/legislature/story/8684242p-8580806c.html