The survivalist's dream food, chia seeds! (farming, wheat, grain, water)
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-Has a shelf life of about 5 years
-Pests hate the oil they contain, so very few pest problems period.
-VERY high level of Omega 3, and massive other amounts of vitamins and minerals including high protein.
-Is very neutral tasting and can be put in just about every kind of food imaginable.
-Makes a wonderful flour
-Holds 10 times its weight in water and can be very hydrating, but requires a lot of water while eating the seeds for this reason.
-Seeds can be germinated and make fine greens.
-For these very reasons, they would make one fine barter item in a shtf scenario.
I am sure I missed more facts, but you get the idea. If you are looking for something to keep you healthy, while eating your canned goods...the chia seed is the way to go.
No problem. If you don't wash for awhile and let a little grime build up, and possibly glue some seeds on your head...instant hair!
I am planning on farming some down the road and have completed a lot of research on the wonderful little seed. They are very hardy overall and because of the anti-insect aspect of the oil, they are very easy to grow organically. The only drawback is their tiny size, so harvesting is a pita. I bet these would be great to mix with other crops, due to their anti-insect nature. Might assist in organic gardening, especially here in the tropics.
AA
Last edited by Alaskan_Adventurer; 10-28-2011 at 07:57 AM..
Reason: ui
Um... wheat is a seed, is actually edible and lasts 20 years in storage... Rice too, and Quinoa and Barley... just so everyone knows.
It is not just the length of storage time that makes the chia seed a great survival tool, it is its overall nutrition level, including anti-septic properties of the gel.
Wheat germ is the only part of wheat that is nutritious and it has a horrible shelf life. It has to be ground or milled in order to actually be beneficial, and it still doesn't even compare to the overall health benefits of the chia. I will agree on quinoa and to an extent barley though.
A little more information about this dandy seed. These quotes were taken from Healthy Holistic Living.
"Did you know that Chia Seeds are 16 percent protein, 31 percent fat, and 44percent carbohydrate of which 38 percent is fiber? And that, according to the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 20 (2007), most of its fat is the essential omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid or ALA? That's some powerful stuff.
And there is more. Chia Seeds have twice the protein of any other seed or grain, five times the calcium of milk, two times the amount of potassium in bananas, three times the antioxidant strength of blueberries and three times more iron than spinach. They also have boron, which is a trace mineral that helps transfer calcium into your bones, omega 3 and omega 6 which are essential oils for the body. Wow, all that in one little seed, who knew?"
Wheat germ is NOT classified as a super food, while the chia seed it. Still all good to have though, I suppose.
Check out Flax sometime. Pretty much all the benefits of your Chia seeds, but also makes very nice cordage and linen.
Flax seed oil is also being used for bio diesel fuel as well as for wood preservation and as a food suppliment.
Flax needs very little water to grow, and will volunteer seed itself even in a climate as harsh as the one I live in.
Chia would probably be a better choice for the tropics where irrigation water and rain are not an issue.
I'm still working on ways to eat them. They don't blend well in the blender and I've tried letting them soak into a gell. They have a weird consistency. It's worth the trouble, though. I get headaches when I get dehydrated so I love the idea of something that helps me hold on to water.
I'm still working on ways to eat them. They don't blend well in the blender and I've tried letting them soak into a gell. They have a weird consistency. It's worth the trouble, though. I get headaches when I get dehydrated so I love the idea of something that helps me hold on to water.
Yes, the hydrating attribute makes it pretty awesome. It is a double edged sword though, make sure you drink a ton of water while eating the seeds. If you don't, it can dehydrate you very quickly because they absorb the fluids in your body.
My favorite way of eating them is to let them soak, and make some awesome smoothies out of them. Just sprinkling them on your food also works well, and you really don't taste them much.
Another refreshing drink would be to add them to lemonade. I want to try and add them to coconut milk and see how that tastes. It is an amazing food for diabetics as well and is also known for lowering blood pressure. The gel also has soothing properties and is great for soothing sun burns, just like aloe vera.
Anyone here knows if acorn is a good survivalist food too?
I've got a ton of oak trees here and gazillions of acorns thus amazing numbers of fat squirrels & birds (I can get my DD to shoot them for meat pies and such).
You can eat acorns, but you have to leach the tannic acid out of them or they are super bitter. If I remember right, you need to put them in water overnight, change the water, and do it again about 3 times before they become usable.
Indians used to grind them and make flour for firebreads.
Not a lot of them in my neck of the woods as there are few hardwoods here in the dry frozen north, but there are a few oaks grown by people inside city limits, so I don't have a lot of experience with them.
Pine nuts are more my speed
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