If you are cooking you can add flax, either as ground flax seed or whole to just about anything you are preparing. Ground flax seed gives your food a nutty texture and a yummy taste. But ground flax seed is not just about tasting good. These oval seeds add texture to your food as well as additional nutrients that keep your body healthy.

Ground flax seed is ideal for a nutritionally wise addition to breads and all kinds of baked good products. Flax has been around as a food supplement for quite some time, often added to cereals high in various grains and even snacks. The nutritional benefits of whole or ground flax seed are found in its fiber properties, the lignans it contains, its protein and its fatty acids. You can add this reddish brown nutritional supplement either whole or as ground flax seed. Be aware that flax seed meal can be better absorbed by the body than whole flax.

 

Breads and other dough products such as muffins, cookies and pancakes may call for whole flax seed. If sprinkled on top before you bake your food the flax seed gives it the crunch and makes it decorative as well.

To convert whole flax to ground flax seed the ideal is a grinder that you generally use for coffee beans. Ground flax seed is easy to add to just about any food product including beverages. We offer pure organic flax seed meal in 2.5 pound packages.

Ground flax seed, because its properties are highly oil based, can even replace shortening or cooking oil in a food recipe. If, for example, you were supposed to add one-third cup of cooking oil to a recipe you would instead add 1 cup of ground flax seed. In other words the ratio is 1:3. Keep in mind, however, that if you are baking something in which you have substituted ground flax seed for shortening or cooking oil, you baked good is going to brown more quickly than usual.

You don't want to store ground flax seed for very long at room temperature. The better way to do that is to store it as whole flax seed or refridgerate flax seed meal. This you can do for up to one year.

Flax seed is easier to find whole than ground. You can buy whole flax seed at just about every natural food grocer or health food market or store. It's a little more difficult to find it already ground, unless you find it on the Web and have it mailed to you. We buy direct from the mill and will ship your flax seed USPS priority mail.

Strict vegetarians and vegans who don't eat dairy products use ground flax seed as a substitute for eggs in food like muffins, cookies and pancakes. For this substitution you generally would use one tablespoon of ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons of water to replace one egg. You'd first have to combine the ground flax seed with the water and let it sit for a minute or two and then add it to your recipe.

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