Chia seeds

Remember those little novelty things you could buy years ago called Chia Pets? 

Yep, those things.  Well, you can still buy them, there's even a Barack Obama chia pet!

Or, apparently not.  Seems it was pulled from the shelves because it has been deemed to be "racist".  Well, nobody called the Mr T chia pet racist, did they?  Hmmm... anyway.... 

Well, the chia seed is packed with all kinds of scrumptious vitamins and nutrients our bodies need, particularly Omega 3 fatty acids.  I have been adding my chia seeds to smoothies and my morning muesli, I haven't tried soaking the seeds to make a gel yet, I need to be a little more adventurous!

The chia plant originates from Mexico but it is being grown all over the world including the Ord Valley in Western Australia which produced around 750 hectares in 2008.  Apparently the white chia seeds, known as "Salba", are 3% more nutritious than the black seeds and yet they cost TWICE AS MUCH.  No bull.

I bought a 500g bag of chia seeds (mostly the black seeds, very few white seeds were in the bag but were easily noticeable) online which cost me £13.60 (including postage).

I just looked on Ebay for Salba, and some MUG (that is the only way I can describe these bandits!) is selling a container of white chia seeds for £28.96 (including postage)!

That is MORE than double the price of my chia seeds, but only 3% more nutritional value (if that is actually true).  All I would be paying for is the time someone took to separate out the white seeds from the black seeds (unless there is a Chia plant that only produces white seeds, which would make life a whole lot easier!?).  What a marketing dream Salba is, I should buy shares in the company.

I think I'll stick to the black seeds thanks very much.  They are still going to do the same job as the white seeds, it is highly unlikely that I would notice the 3% difference because I haven't got the white seeds.  It will be much cheaper if I just add 3% more seeds to my serving each time.

Here's a recipe using chia seeds:

Orange and Chia Cake - Gluten free.

Ingredients-


2 large oranges
6 large free range eggs
250g caster sugar
250g almond meal
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup of Chia ( black )
Icing - optional
3/4 cup cream cheese
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup icing sugar

Pre heat oven to 175 °C.

Put oranges in a bowl and cover with cling flim. Microwave for 7 minutes on high. Oranges should be tender when poked with a knife.

Put cooked oranges; skin, pith and flesh into a food processor until smooth. Set aside.
Beat eggs and caster sugar until thick and pale. Then fold together the almond meal, baking powder, orange pulp and chia.

Pour into a large, well greased and lined cake tin and bake for 35 - 40 mins on a low shelf.
Combine icing ingredients and stir until smooth.  Spread over cooled cake, sprinkle with more chia.