The 'miracle' of chia seeds

” One of the reasons people might believe the hype is because as with any good miracle – or magic trick – the success lies in smoke and mirrors. With miracle foods, while the magical health food salesman is conjuring a few extra coins out of our pockets, we’re left bamboozled by scientific terminology." Duane Mellor - Professor of Dietetics

I've been meaning to do chia seeds for some time now - well they seem to be everywhere don't they? They're one of those 'miracle' health foods that the clean eating, vegan, paleo, etc. people love. The picture above is from Wikipedia and is obviously a bit of a closeup. But I have to say they are rather beautiful - a bit like quail's eggs really. And incidentally - only eat the black or white ones. Never brown as these are unripe and can be bitter and have no nutritional benefit.

Chia seeds date back to around 3500BC and are yet another one of the modern day goodies from Central and South America - in this case - Central Mexico and Guatemala, homeland of the Aztecs. According to the Spanish Jesuit priests chia was the third biggest staple food crop after corn and beans - in front of amaranth. Today, would you believe, Australia is one of the largest commercial producers - the others being various Latin American countries, although I'm guessing that America is catching up. In Australia it is grown in the Kimberley region where an enterprising wheat farmer named John Foss was fed up with growing wheat that was made into all sorts of unhealthy things. Well that's his story anyway. He may just be a canny businessman who saw the next big trend. Anyway his Chia Co. now exports both the grain itself and various products all over the world. And all power to him. It looks a bit like a field of grain, but it's actually a salvia - salvia hispanica - which is part of the mint family - sage is a salvia too.

But back to the Aztecs. Not only was it a valuable food crop but it was also given as tribute to the rulers by the people who grew it. Obviously they knew little about its supposed healthy credentials - to them it was just food. And there is no doubt that it is versatile.

The seed is small but it is capable of absorbing 10-12 times its weight in liquid. Indeed I saw one article that suggested it might be unwise to eat it dry, as, if you then immediately followed the seed with liquid it might expand in your oesophagus and you would choke. Apparently this happened once and the woman died I think. However, I'm guessing this is a very rare event as it seems to be often used to just sprinkle over the top of things. The other thing to note about this capacity to absorb liquid is that when it does so it becomes rather gelatinous. So much so that I have seen at least two recipes for jam, that do not include sugar or pectin. Here is Donna Hay's

Blackberry and vanilla chia jam for example. The chia sort of takes over the function of the pectin and also the sugar in the sense of sugar bulking out your jam and turning it into a jelly. Not in sweetening it - you need to rely on the fruit itself or something like honey or maple syrup to do that. For chia itself does not appear to have much taste. I did not see anyone trumpeting its umami characteristics for example. It seems to be more a texture thing - crunchy - if eaten raw or ground up, or gelatinous if soaked in something. I saw somebody say it was a bit like tapioca pudding, which I have to say was not at all a tempting thought to me. Frog spawn we used to call it at school.

No it's main miracle things seem to be Omega-3, anti-oxidants, protein and fibre. Well if you are a vegan or vegetarian then the Omega-3 and protein might be useful, but apparently the Omega-3 in fish is much more easily absorbed by the body. All sorts of health claims have been made for chia - including losing weight, but so far there has been no 'real' convincing scientific evidence for all of these claims. It doesn't appear to do any harm though - unless you eat a raw seed followed immediately by water.

"So although the EFSA [European Food Safety Authority] allows manufacturers to claim that their products are rich in antioxidants – because they are – manufacturers are not allowed to claim any health benefits." Duane Mellor - Professor of Dietetics

Moreover, according to the same professor:

"Linseed and hemp seed are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, so chia is not unique and should be enjoyed more for its effect on texture rather than any particular health effects." Duane Mellor

But it seems to be everywhere doesn't it? The latest Coles Magazine, for example, has one recipe which really features chia seeds - for their gelatinous qualities - Raspberry chia overnight oats - a sort of Bircher muesli really, and there are probably other recipes elsewhere in the magazine in which chia is an incidental ingredient.

And on the shelves in your local supermarket - whichever one it is - you will find chia seeds themselves - white, black or mixed plus various products that include chia seeds in their 'healthy and nutritious' mix.

I'm not particularly tempted myself. I think there are probably other tastier seeds and nuts, and I think I get all those other things - Omega-3, protein, fibre, various vitamins elsewhere. And I really don't like those gelatinous things, which having now looked into it, seems to be the major differentiating factor. I mean why else would you eat something that had no taste and does not have a really different and proven health benefit. The Chia Co. apparently sells a fairly expensive product called chia pods which is basically chia seeds mixed with a liquid such as coconut milk and some flavouring. Choice recommends making your own for a fraction of the price. And here are two ways you can do that (as well as the Coles oats recipe above).

Donna Hay, first of all, who actually has rather a lot of recipes for chia seeds - well she would - not only is she stylish and elegant in presentation, but she is also very up with trends. And how more trendy can you get than Chia, matcha and coconut apple pudding - three 'superfoods all in one dish, that looks amazing. Well if you look closer it looks a little bit like green frogspawn. The coconut is very pretty though.

And then Jamie, who is willing to try anything and who raves about chia seeds which he discovered whilst exploring alternative 'healthy' diets. What he seems to have got from this exploration is much the same as Donna Hay's apple pudding and Coles' raspberry oats.

"It’s an amazingly simple recipe that can be thrown together the night before to make breakfast time a breeze – and when you have a family rushing out the door that’s a must! Made with almond or soy milk, these delicious puddings are more like having a tapioca to start your day, and I see no problem with that.

A maple syrup-kissed, velvety pudding, adorned with a luxuriously sweet cherry compote touched with star anise and topped with toasted almonds is an easy, healthy, and beyond awesome breakfast to begin your mornings! Who am I kidding? I’d eat this anytime of the day. Vegans – you’re on to something here." Jamie Oliver

It's called Overnight chia seed pudding with star anise cherries and you can really see the frog spawn effect here. I, unlike Jamie, have enormous problems with tapioca. I am seriously not tempted. I don't quite know what I was expecting of chia seeds, but it certainly wasn't frogspawn. I'll stick to salmon thank you.