Not many people know that Hemp seeds have been used as a source of food throughout Asia and parts of Russia for generations. People grew up hemp in their fields and used as oatmeal, made oil and butter. In Russia, hemp butter was used as a condiment by the peasants. People made hemp milk for kids for generations. Unfortunately, people forgot about hemp benefits our day. Hemp was Russia’s primary trade crop in the 18th and 19th centuries. Soviet Union was the biggest exporter of hemp in the world until 1961, when they joined convention against hemp.
Hemp is one of the purest, most complete plants on Earth. No other single plant source can compare with the nutritional value of hemp seeds. They are rich in vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and are a highly nutritious source of protein. Hemp has 3 unique nutritional factors. It has an ideal balance of Omega 3 and 6 for sustainable human health, it has a full amino acid spectrum meaning it provides complete vegetable protein, and it has a massive trace mineral content. Hemp seeds are the only edible seeds with gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). Truly one of nature’s superfoods.! Hemp seeds do not contain THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana, so don’t worry. 😉
I could not find raw hemp seeds in Japan for long time until my cockatoo Lola came to our home! As you probably know, birds eat seeds a lot and I always buying a mix of seeds for my parrot. One day I realized that only one kind of seeds is her favorite. I decided to search a little bit more about seeds and found she loves Hemp seeds! I could not recognize hemp seeds because they are unshelled, whole! Please see photos of whole and shelled hemp seeds!
Whole, unshelled hemp seeds
Shelled hemp seed アサ（麻、Cannabis）
Now you can find unshelled whole hemp seeds in Japan very easy online. Whole hemp seeds are very cheap here. There are big choice in Rakuten or Amazon, all of them are birds, but don’t afraid to buy them, people in Japan don’t know about hemp seeds and flax seeds as well, so both of them you can find in pet shops 😉 Also you can find whole raw oats in Japan in same way, they sale them for birds 😉 All of them are not organic unfortunately…
Well, usually people eat hulled hemp seeds, which come by quite a few names like hemp hearts, shelled hemp seed and hemp nut. The hulls of the hemp seed are quite crunchy and contain a lot of fiber, so we are not used to eating this kind of item. Hulled seed was created essentially to make eating hemp seed more appealing and easier to eat. When you bleach wheat to achieve white bread, you essentially are removing all of the nutrients. Why do it then? Simply, white bread is softer, more palatable and more visibly appealing. It is not more nutritious then it’s whole grain counterpart. This same analogy can be used for the difference between whole seed and hulled seed. When you remove the hull of the seed you are causing several detrimental effects to the nutritious whole seed. The main detriment is that you lose the hull, an excellent source of minerals but more importantly, a rare source of insoluble fibre, something that we get very little of in our modern diets. You can use the hull of the hemp seed to gently cleanse your colon and flush toxins from your intestinal tract. Another good source of insoluble fibre would be soil, something not commonly consumed. 😉 Whole hemp seed is also an excellent source of minerals and is much more stable out in the air then hulled seed. All in all, we feel that even though the seed is small, very crunchy, and may get stuck in your dental work, the benefits of the added fibre in your diet significantly outweigh the detracting factors of the hull.
Anyway, I found it’s not easy to eat whole unshelled hemp seeds, therefore I learned how to remove the shells 😉 It’s something our great-grand parents did by hands 😉 Read how to shell hemp seeds. I should tell you it is a long process to shell hemp seeds at home, so I prefer to make hemp milk! Please read and watch my video how to make hemp milk. 😉