Hemp Seeds are full of nutrients such as protein and essential fatty acids.

There’s been discussion, lately, about airlines banning peanuts because of allergy concerns. But could you imagine what would air travel be like without those single serving bags of honey roasted peanuts?

Well, Richard Davis can. According to FlashNews, Mr. Davis has created hemp nuts, and he thinks they might have a future in the air travel business.

Richard Davis of hemp-based snack company, Blue Sun Corporation, has just created Honey Roasted Hemp Nuts, little packs of hemp seeds that taste similar to seasoned beer nuts.

With recent talks of airlines possibly banning peanuts due to allergies, Davis is hoping to offer Hemp Nuts aboard airplanes as an alternative to the classic in-flight snack.
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Davis is currently pitching the peanut substitute to Southwest and Alaska Airlines.

Whether or not the airline industry takes Davis up on his idea, I’m still stoked to try these hemp nuts. Corn nuts and soy nuts have become widely popular snack items, so I can only imagine how tasty hemp nuts would be.

A problem that vegetarians face when it comes to getting enough protein, is getting a complete protein. While meat contains complete protein, many vegetarian alternatives need to be combined with other things to get a complete protein — such as lentils with brown rice.

But hemp seeds offer a great source of complete protein, and in a particularly high concentration, as well. As columnist Rhonda Beckham for the Tahoe Daily Tribune points out:

It turns out that hemp — which has many uses including fuel, building supplies, textiles for clothing and housewares — is a complete protein in itself. And no, you won’t get the giggles or munchies after ingesting the seeds grown for food.
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Here is what Rocky Mountain Grain Products of Alberta, Canada, has to say about “nature’s power food:” “If you eat the contents of this bag (2 ounces) for breakfast with whole fruit or raw vegetables, you can expect abundant energy and no hunger for many hours, sometimes all day. You can save the cost of hemp hearts many times in reduced grocery bills and supplements, more productivity and less health care.”
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Two ounces of hemp hearts contains 314 calories, 25.9 grams of fat (87 percent omega, more than fish), no cholesterol, 6 grams of carbohydrates, 20 grams of protein, and 36 percent of your daily need for iron.

So hemp seeds are not only a great source of protein, but of iron, but omega fatty acids as well. They also contain all 10 essential amino acids.

Hemp seeds have a nutty flavor, are similar to sesame seeds in texture, and great in shakes/smoothies, over salads, or mixed into any other dish or desert.

If you want to give them a try, but are having trouble finding them at your local grocer, you can order them online from Manitoba Harvest. All their hemp products are organic, and their selection is quite vast.

It seems that there’s yet another hemp-food merchant in the marketplace. Health food manufacturer, Bob’s Red Mill, has announced a new line of hemp-based products. They will be selling hulled hemp seed and hemp protein powder. The website PortlandFoodandDrink.com has the press release:

Portland, Ore. – December 9, 2008 – Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods announces the launch of Hemp Protein Powder and Hulled Hemp Seed, both derived from one of the world’s most nutritionally complete food sources.

“The hemp seed may be one of nature’s most perfect foods,” said Bob Moore, Founder of Bob’s Red Mill. “And like all of our hundreds of products we wanted to provide our customers with something that is fully nutritious and delightful to eat.”

The press release goes on to cover all the health benefits and nutrition to be gained from incorporating hemp seeds into your diet.

More importantly, however, I think that a mainstream company such as Bob’s Red Mill moving into the hemp food market is indicative of future growth. Not only must Bob’s Red Mill see a market demand, but having a brand name such as this marketing hemp products will undoubtedly raise awareness which, in turn, will stimulate additional demand.

There is more to the benefits of hemp seeds than just your health. They are also great for those who have trouble digesting soy. As the VegEater points out:

For the soy-sensitive vegan (it aggravates my eczema), Hemp is the holy grail. I don’t know what I would do without it. Drink yucky rice-milk? — bleh! Hempmilk is nutty and creamy and goes great in coffee and smoothies, and even bakes well. Hemp protein powder also works great in my morning smoothie, to give me an extra boost of 13g of protein per serving, and 8 g of fiber, as well as omega-3’s to boot! Hemp oil makes great salad dressing, and hemp seeds make great topping. And it has all 10 necessary amino acids, a complete protein!

As great of a foodstuff as soy is, it has it’s drawbacks. For instance, the manner in which it is farmed often leaves it full of synthetic hormones that can seriously disrupt your endocrine system over time. Hemp, on the other hand, rarely requires pesticides or fertilizers, leaving you with a much safer way to enhance your health. And as WH Foods points out, the nutritional content of hemp seeds abounds:

Hemp seeds and hemp oil are found in an increasing variety of food products and have also been fairly well studied in terms of their nutritional content. Seeds from this group of plants- like most plant seeds-are a good source of essential fatty acids. Linoleic acid, the omega-6 essential fatty acid, accounts for about two-thirds of the essential fatty acids found in hemp seeds. The other third comes from alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the omega-3 fatty acid that forms the starting point for production of all other omega-3s in the body. There are also amino acids found in the protein portion of hemp seeds that can make important contributions to daily protein requirements.

In fact, the health benefits of hemp seeds are so substantial that you can even apply it topically. Hemp seed personal care products are available to help you improve the look of both your skin and your hair. It really is a shame that hemp foodstuffs aren’t more widely available on the market, and more affordable where they are.

Hemp seeds offer a number of health benefits, and healthy people often make for better looking people. It’s no surprise, then, that hemp seeds are also used in skin lotions. As the Lotion Source Blog recently explained, the hemp seed’s unique balance of essential fatty acids makes it an excellent thing to use both within and without your body:

Hemp is quite simply, nature’s beauty secret – and the secret is in the seed. Hemp seed oil and extract offer many benefits useful in personal care products. The reason hemp is so effective is largely because of the essential fatty acids (EFAs) it contains. More than 75% of the EFAs in hemp seed oil are poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), known for their excellent emollient and lubricating properties.

Hemp seed oil contains what is considered to be an ideal ratio of Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids- 3:1, perfectly matching the needs of the human body. In addition to the EFAs hemp seed provides, it is also one of The Earth’s richest sources of amino acids. Along with the EFAs, these two components are responsible for keratin formation, the primary protein that gives your hair structural integrity.

Although the main purpose of the blog post seems to be to direct you to the Lotion Source hemp product page, it’s not exactly a puff piece of ad copy. After the above two paragraphs, the article goes on for about another 10 paragraphs on the health benefits of hemp seeds (and how they relate to personal beauty, of course), an then even provides an overview of the how hemp has been used throughout history. Of many of the historical facts it provides, here’s one that even I haven’t heard before:

In 1563 A.D., as part of the economic and military buildup of the time (80 years war), Queen Elizabeth I orders all land owners with 60 acres or more to grow Cannibus or face a £5 fine.

Overall, it’s nice to see a reseller of vanity products taking the time educate their potential customers on the benefits of their products’ ingredients beyond how those ingredients enhance the product that they’re selling. Granted, it obviously fits into Lotion Source’s marketing strategy to educate the consumer and elicit their trust, but it is nonetheless an effort that helps spread awareness about the versatility of this plant. The more that that happens, the more of a market demand is stimulated for hemp products, the more capital investment that hemp production attracts, the sooner the world can start reaping the benefits of replacing many products with much more eco-friendly hemp options.

A blog called Raw Toddler Alex, which is about a 3 year old who has been a “raw vegan” all his life has posted a recipes for a dessert called Hemp Balls. Here it is:

2 cups hemp seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
6 pitted medjool dates
Place hemp seeds into your coffee grinder to make them into a fine powder. Add to a food processor with the medjool dates and blend until well incorporated. Add the dried cranberries and pulse to incorporate. (I like to have them somewhat whole)
Take the batter and roll into bite size pieces. Roll the Hemp Balls into whole hemp seeds and chill until firm.

All in all, Raw Toddler Alex seems like an interesting journey through raw veganism, and I’m sure there are plenty other recipes there, so I encourage you to check it out.