On 12 November 2017 the sale of hemp seed foods for human consumption was passed by the New Zealand Food Standards Code, however, we are still waiting for domestic laws to change which is very, very slow going. Apparently we are still about a month away from the sign off which hasn’t stopped inventive chefs around the country coming up with wonderful ways to cook with this incredible plant.

Last month I attended a hemp inspired pop up restaurant at Wise Cicada where every dish contained hemp, the food was absolutely delicious, especially the Key Lime Hemp Pie (pictured above) which consisted of coconut meringue, creamy avocado, lime and hemp custard on a Brazil nut, maca, hemp seed and date base. Yum!

After tasting and learning about hemp products from Cam at Plant Culture I came away with a renewed appreciation for hemp hearts which is the inner part of the hulled hemp seed.

Hemp hearts are the most super of super foods on the planet, they are high in protein, have a perfect balance of essential fatty acids 3,6 and 9 (vitally important for healthy skin and hair) contain live and intact enzymes which are easy for the body to digest, have all 21 amino acids and have the highest fibre content of any grain in existence.

When eating a plant based diet hemp hearts are a godsend for their nutritional value and the fact that they taste great with a pleasant nutty slightly sweet flavour they go well in an array of dishes. The only downside in NZ is that the demand is outweighing the supply making them a little expensive and hard to come by.

Fortunately there are more and more hemp crops springing up around the country, this is very good news for consumers and for our air and soil quality too. Hemp plants need virtually no pesticides or fertilisers to grow, they breathe in four times more Co2 than trees, have the ability to restore nutrients back into the soil and can aid with removing contaminants at the same time.

One day soon we will all freely be able to reap the benefits of this incredible plant – until then you can legally purchase hemp seed products for your pets and hemp seed oil for yourself.

You can purchase both hemp hearts and hemp seed oil from us, we sell Green Goddess Hemp Seed Oil 300ml for $24.95 and Organic Hulled Hemp Hearts are $39.99 for 500g.

Watch out for my hemp based recipes in the near future.

Triona x

Thanks to Plant Culture for the top two photos and to Matthew Brodeur for the bottom one.

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