Video transcript
The cannabis plant – Cannabis sativa is cultivated to produce hemp and cannabis. The difference is the level of cannabinoids (chemical compounds) the plant produces.
Cannabis can be grown to produce different levels of psychoactive properties.
Hemp approved as a food source has less than 0.5% of the psychoactive ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. It doesn’t make you high.
The hemp crop is incredibly versatile. It grows quickly and easily. Hemp is harnessed as seed, oil and fibre to produce a range of products.
The U.S. used hemp to make their parachutes in WWII. Its use as a food is only relatively new.
Since November 2017 it can now be sold as a food in Australia – Comes in an oil, as a seed, or as flour.
Hemps seeds are like a nut with a shell, a soft inside and have a mild nutty flavour.
Hemp seeds are nutritious containing:
- 25% protein;
- high in amino acids;
- essential minerals;
- vitamin E;
- rich in polyunsaturated fats with omega 6 to omega 3 ratio of 3:1.
Hemp seeds are now found in breads, breakfast cereals, and spreads. And it’s on a par to rival quinoa and chia. Could it be the new super food?