Chia Power

Chia Pet Creator Has Passed Away

Joe Pedott has passed away at the age of 89. (His story of popularizing the Chia Pet was told in the Smithsonian magazine several years ago.)

Joseph Pedott (1932-2023) believed in loyalty, hard work, education, and results. Joe believed in helping those who faced similar life challenges to those he faced as a youth. As a successful businessman (most famous for the Chia Pet & the Clapper) and entrepreneur, he believed in "paying it forward." Joseph has established foundations in California & Illinois that support students who need access, services & means to obtain a college degree. Joe donated funds to help build & complete two Hillels that provide support, services, and offers a "home away from home" for Jewish college students and was in the process of expanding to a third. Read more here.

Separating the fiber from the oil

Why would anyone want to do this??

These two jars will cost you over $30, shipped. This will give you 20 daily doses of fiber (a ground powder to add to smoothies) and 30 daily doses of omega-3 softgels. Here's a descriptive brochure.

I love to do math, so I created a spreadsheet comparing these products with a pound of generic whole chia seed, purchased for about $15.

Here's the bottom line:

So for an extra dollar per serving, this product will give you fewer calories and a little more protein,  fiber and calcium, but only 2/3 the omega-3s.

If you prefer your food in powdered and pill form, maybe it's worth it to you. But not to me!

Clafouti Redux

Back in 2007, we  discovered a recipe for Chia Clafouti posted by Hanna Kaminsky.

(NOTE: Clafouti is a French fruity dessert, based on an eggy custard. Julia Child's recipe is posted here.)

Hanna's clafouti substituted chia gel for the eggs, resulting in a dessert suitable for a vegan diet.

In our controlled experiment, we made two clafoutis, #1: a traditional clafouti with eggs, and #2: the same recipe with chia gel replacing the eggs.

Our recipe(s)
Prepare the fruit: Mix 1 melted stick of real butter and 1/2 cup of sugar, pour it over 6 peeled and sliced apples and bake in a shallow pan at 375 for 25 minutes. Soak some raisins in dark rum. Yum.

Prepare the batter(s): Traditional clafouti-Beat 3 eggs with 1/2 cup sugar. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup white flour and 1/2 cup milk. For the Chia Gel Clafouti make the same batter using 3 ounces of chia gel instead of the eggs.

Remove the fruit from the oven, stir in the raisins. Pour the batter over the apples and return to the oven for 25 minutes until the batter is golden brown.

The result:
Both desserts were delicious, warm, sweet and satisfying. We enjoyed them equally.
However, only clafouti #1 puffed up, golden, rich and eggy. This was the real "clafouti." 

The other dessert, the one with chia seed, reminded us a little of oatmeal, it was mushy, heavy and a rather depressing shade of gray. We think there are better ways to use chia seeds.

In these photos, the chia gel clafouti is on the right:

Our conclusion: Chia is delicious, but you can't make a real clafouti (nor an omelette nor a souffle) without breaking some eggs.

(Edited and re-posted from 5/4/2008)