Flea seeds / Psyllium seeds
"Flohsamen" in German, a direct translation is "Flea seeds." Great name, right?
Hey, maybe because they are so small and look like fleas. Seem rather light for their volume.
Bought a 300g bag in the supermarket today, organic, for 100g 7.7g fat, 6.4g carbs and 16g protein, (sounds like a lot of roughage) daily portion maximum 10 to 30 grams (what does that mean???) Ran a translation to English, came out with http://www.kadampsyllium.com/psyllium-seed.html
yep, Psyllium seed. Looks just like the picture on the link. Brown and tiny like little teeny weeny canoes or boats.
So ran a site search here and find lots of references to Psyllium husks but not seeds. Anybody experiment or use these seeds? Starting a few taste & water absorbing observational experiments. :)
All info welcome! :)
Mini, I've only ever worked with the husks, not the whole seeds. Yes, very high fiber content. Used in some laxatives, like Metamucil. Very high water absorption capacity, too. Forms an even stronger gel than chia or flax seeds. That's why it is a popular ingredient in gluten free breads, where it provides structure and gas trapping capability.
When I make gluten free breads, which isn't often, I much prefer psyllium to either guar or xanthan gums. The bread stays moist and flexible for several days, instead of turning dry and crumbly.
Have fun experimenting!
Paul
no kidding!
I took 10 grams of seeds and added 30g of water, in a few minutes the seeds has thickened up so I moved to another dish and added water to make 100g water (110g total ) and took a picture at about 5 minutes wet time. In the next half hour gave the seeds a few stirs as they tended to settle on the bottom and tightly swell together. Well, there wasn't much water to pour off or go thru a sieve. I left them for 8 hours and they had turned into a solid gel. At 14 hrs later I poured off the viscous water on top and put them onto a scale. Minus jar and extra water, 10g seeds came out at 72g. So 62g is water absorbed or ... the seeds hold roughly 6 x their weight in water.
Another thought... if these seeds are used as a laxative, and some folks react to rye as a laxative, a rye loaf with these seeds might turn out a bit too much for those sensitive individuals. When broken down portion wise in a loaf, there isn't a lot of seeds in a slice of bread.
Psyllium seeds do taste more "nutty" than Chia seeds.
while trying to pour seeds from the bag into my little dish on the scale, the seeds were jumping all over the countertop, like fleas. Apparently the +/- ion reaction to themselves and their bag in movement, the motion of pouring, sends them flying. May have something to do with the origin of the German name.
Mini-o-fleas :)