Chia Power

Vegan Chia Seed Egg Replacer

My daughter has been baking vegan cookies lately and told me that this works fine. From the website, Vegan Baking:

This recipe makes the equivalent of 1 egg.

3 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon white chia seed meal

You basically mix the two together well and let it sit until the gel forms. Go to the website for more details.

There's no reason not to use black chia seeds, and one of the commentors says you can even mix the chia meal in with your dry ingredients and add water to the whole mix. I'm not so sure about that.

 

Weed Seeds in Your Chia

Have you found these round hard things among your chia seeds?

 

I recently received this photo from a reader who wanted to know what they were. She found them in a 6 pound bag of chia seeds that she had bought online.

I referred the question to Dr. Wayne Coates who says that they appear to be weed seeds from wild amaranth or pigweed. They are not harmful but they may have a strong taste.  He goes on to say, "That is the problem today many companies . . . are selling absolutely poor quality chia.  Either out of ignorance or they do not care."

So buyer, beware! This is animal grade chia and not the best quality.

 

 

Superfood Video Link

This is an excellent and entertaining video summarizing the superfood values of chia seeds.

Food Scientists Study the Gelling Properties of Chia Seeds

Many commercially sold food products use gelling agents to improve viscosity or mouth-feel. Seeking examples, I cruised my fridge and found xanthan gum in salad dressing, barbecue sauce and frozen lasagna and locust bean gum in a stir-fry sauce. Guar gum is another frequently used food additive. Here's an article describing the uses and safety of these products, if you want to know more. For the most part, these additives are soluble carbohydrates that can be mixed with water to form a tasteless thick, viscous edible substance.

Food scientists have begun to evaluate chia seed carbohydrate as a gelling agent in food products. Here is a peer-reviewed article that tests these 5 properties: water‐holding capacity, oil‐holding capacity, viscosity, emulsion activity, and freeze–thaw stability. The authors conclude that "chia seed gel has potential application in food formulation as a thickening agent, emulsifying agent, and as a stabilizer in frozen food product."

Source: Coorey R, Tjoe A, Jayasena V. Gelling Properties of Chia Seed and Flour. Journal Of Food Science. 2014. (Press release.)

 

Eew. Just Eew.

Be careful in consuming whole chia seeds.

A 39-year-old North Carolina man swallowed a spoonful of whole chia seeds, followed by a glass of water.

For two weeks he was unable to swallow anything else, because the chia had gotten stuck at the base of his esophagus and hydrated there into a hard dry ball of chia gel. He needed an endoscopy. His doctor performed one and removed the ball of seeds with difficulty. While inside of him, she took a snapshot with a little endoscopic camera.  View this photo if you dare. Eew.

“It got to be this sort of almost Play-Doh-like consistency, very hard in terms of a liquid but also sort of soft,” says Dr. Rebecca Rawl, MD, the gastroenterology fellow at Carolinas HealthCare System who helped treat the patient. As reported by @MandyOaklander at TIME.com.

Back in 2014, the "Chia Seed Challenge" was an experiment popular among pre-teens like these. The consequences aren't good and could potentially be even more serious than what happens at 3:27, below. Eew. Don't watch.

 

Chia Crunch Cookies

Recipe is here.

Chicago Chinatown Chia?

Hi mom,

Yesterday Becky and I stopped by this restaurant in Chinatown called Joy Yee Noodle. They are famous for their drinks. They have smoothies, frozen drinks, bubble tea, milk tea, etc. a HUGE selection.  I got a litchi mini pearl freeze. It was SO GOOD! But, the mini-pearl didn't seem like regular tapioca, in fact it seemed a lot like chia! Below are 2 links to pictures I found online.

What do you think? They seemed a little big bigger than chia seeds usually are, like the seed coat part was thicker. It was really good when the little mini pearls got in the frozen part of the drink and froze into little ice balls.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulette/4864213265/

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/BMVKZPiG7q5_9m6cQF1Iyg?select=p5oBh239o4dofbVNBwOyHA

-Emily

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Emily, these are BASIL seeds. There is a basil seed drink throughout Asia that is almost exactly like chia fresca.

Love, mom

Chic Energy Bites

Pulse dried fruit, nuts, and chia seed in your food processor and out come these.

Recipe is here.

A 90 second Chia Fresca Video

(Love the New Zealand accent.)

 

Kids Cook USA

I am reblogging this from the wonderful Kids Cook USA blog.

Back in 2010, nine-year-old twins, Georgia and Michael, collected and posted 1000 healthy recipes from children around the country. Here's a healthy raw vegan contribution from the Roll Kids.)

CHIA SEED PUDDING

by The Roll Kids

(Tyler,14 Trapper,13 Mathis, 6 and Jaya, 2)

What's Chia Seed Anyway?

Chia seeds are known to be the "runner" food of the Aztecs. They are packed with protein. This recipe features chia seeds and is a raw vegan pudding that is great brain food. We often make it the night before a school exam. We eat it chilled in the morning for breakfast.

 

Ingredients

2 tbsp raw cacoa powder

4 tbsp raw honey

8 tbsp chia seeds (black)

1 medium-sized avocado

2 tbsp organic coconut oil

2 cups filtered water

 

Directions

Put chia seeds in a small bowl with filtered water stir for three to five minutes until they become gelatinous (like Jello). In a food processor, add chia seed and water mixture, honey, avocado, cacoa powder, and coconut oil. Process for 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Adjust honey and cacoa powder to taste. Pour into individual serving bowls and chill (not you, the pudding). Serve cold and enjoy!

Bob's Red Mill

Oregonian entrepreneur Bob Moore rated an article in the New York Times when he passed away this week.

Back in 2008-2009, Bob's Red Mill hadn't begun to carry chia seed.

When at last he added chia to his line of over 50 whole grains, beans, seeds, flours, and meals a few years ago, Bob posted this informative fact page on his website.

 

 

 

 

 

10,000-year-old Red Bull

Christopher McDougall, author of the best seller, Born to Run, was one of the first to popularize the now famous chia drink, iskiate.  Back in 2009 he dubbed this chia seed drink "10,000-year-old Red Bull."

Kwira Ba

"Kwira Ba" is the greeting of the Tarahumara people. It means "We are one."

It is also the welcome message on a blog by Suzette, in the Philippines.

She writes here about her experience making the Tarahumara running ration: pinole:

Suzette's Pinoy Pinole recipe

1 cup fine grind corn meal
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 Tbsps brown sugar or honey
2 Tbsps chia seeds
Water

Toast the corn meal in a non-stick pan over low to medium heat for 5 minutes or until it turns light brown. Stir often. Turn burner off. Mix in the cinnamon, brown sugar, and chia seeds. Add water as desired.

You can use more cinnamon or sugar if you prefer it to be sweeter. You can also add more water to make it more oatmeal-like.

If you don’t like the pasty texture, you can bake the mixture at 250-300F for 15-20mins to make it into a cookie. This is more ‘portable’ for long, or in my case short, runs. All in all, this is a cheaper alternative to power bars or power gels.

(Republished from 3/31/2010. Suzette's blog is not longer online.)

Good Onya, Mate

The Chia Company is an Australian company with a wonderful informative website, including recipes. They grow their own organic chia seed there in West Australia. And they now also have a presence in the United States.

Australian Chia Video

This has got to be the best chia video out there. Actually see the plants being harvested.