Okay, this question sounds a little bit silly to me, but sometimes the silliest-sounding questions bring amazing information, so here I go...

Is it important to dry-grind flax seeds *before* blending?

I've been just throwing the whole seeds in my smoothies and they get pulverized that way, but then I started wondering if there was some important reason for doing it the other way. I've seen lots of smoothie recipes calling for grinding beforehand.

Thanks,
Emily

pradiata Wrote:
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> Is it important to dry-grind flax seeds *before*
> blending? I would think it depends on the
blender. Grind them beforehand if you have a low-power
blender. I always use 2 Tbsp. of whole Flax Seeds in my
Green Smoothies (when I use Flax Seeds) and let the
blender do the grinding.....WY

Emily,

I think this is a darn good question as a matter of fact. So much so, I posed a similar issue on the main forum not too long ago. Look for a thread titled "Flax Seeds vs. Flaxseed Oil" if you're interested.

Before going raw I always read that it's a good thing to add Flaxseed Oil to smoothies so for the longest time I bought the best brand I could at Whole Foods. Roughly at the same time I chose to eat raw I discovered Fax Seeds - obviously, much less expensive than the high tone oil.

Now I add maybe 3-4 tablespoons of Flax Seeds to my morning smoothie and with my Waring blender it seems to get them fairly well ground up. Every once in a while I'll find myself chewing on some sort of seed post smoothie but I don't know if it's a Flax Seed or one of those little black things on the outside of a strawberry!

I believe you have a pretty powerful blender as well but if there are any doubts buy one of those $20 Krups coffee bean grinders and use it to turn the seeds in to fine powder. To me that just adds another step and one more thing to clean.

Great question however!

David

WY and David -

thanks for your replies. i am using a waring with a vm carafe, and the seeds are completely pulverized by the time blending is done. i don't want to get tied up in knots over something as simple as grinding flax seeds, but you never know!

David - also thanks for the link to the other thread. quite informative, and also points out the many, many different opinions we all have.

cheers!

emily

i just soak them and put them in whole along with the soak water. these are the only seeds/nuts i don't rinse. if you have a reasonable blender it should be no problemo

I have found that I need to grind them in the small personal blender first because they never get properly ground in the VM or Waring or Blendtec. Yeah I know I have too many blenders.

Cheers,

Sam

Hi, on the same vein, what about hemp seeds and chia seeds? Do they need to be soaked, ground before eating? I have some on order and am anxious to start eating them!!! Thanks!
Rawmichelle

pradiata

One of the great things about owning a more powerful blender is it's ability to pulverise seeds without having to grind them in a previous step with a coffee bean grinder..

After getting my Vita-Prep 3 I seldom found myself picking strawberry or blueberry seeds from between my teeth this summer..

My Oster Osterizer would not pulverise these seeds no matter how long I let the blender run..

OTOH, the Vita-Prep 3 only needed from 45-60 seconds (on average) to crush the ice in the smoothie & completely eliminate any discernable evidence of seeds..

Wanting to get the phyto-nutrients out of the seed kernal was one of the primary reasons for my deciding to purchase the Vita-Prep 3..

Bruce

Hi.

There are circumstances when no blender will blend some of the flax seeds.


I recommend the following steps:

1. Make sure that the container AND the lid are completely dry;

(If are wet, some seeds will stick (to container AND his lid) so good - like glued, hard to remove even after blending. Some will eventually get lose during the blending or at the end of it - and here we are, this is why we got unblended seeds - and we cannot blame the blender for this issue).

2. Throw in first any small sized seeds (the low moisture and not the oily kind) AND blend them;

3. Add the oily/juicy/high moisture kind next and blend again;

4. Add the rest of ingredients.

5. Add the water or any liquid you want to use as carrier.


Just my 2 cents.

Pls. excuse my English - foreigner.

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