Grinding Seeds and Nuts

shykins

i have a magic bullet which i actually bought at a boot sale for £20 brand new

its invaluable for all sorts of gridning but acts as a liquidiser, blender, ice crusher etc as well. i even mix my omelettes in it

if u are going ot have something like this it might as well be multi-use rather than just a grinder

happy shopping

NiteRider

goonlord wrote:

Does anyone know why you are supposed to grind seeds? Is it simply to make sure you get all the nutrients out of them?

My nutritionist just said that the seeds were digested more easily.

tawnyowls

My local branch of Lidl had some handheld graters which might work. They're not listed on the website and unfortunately I didn't take note of the price. They were a sort of metal cup with three interchangeable metal grating discs and you twist the cup like using a pepper mill.

Ted_Hutchinson

Amazon have this
Krups Coffee mill by Krups (Kitchen & Home) for £14.97

It's a similar model to the one I use for linseed and it's fine.
I do think it's worth your while buying one and keeping it for linseed and spices.
There is a world of difference between Cummin & coriander that you whizz in the grinder and the stuff that you bought ready ground. The same goes for cinnamon & cardamoms. I never buy ground spices they never have the bite to them that you get if you buy whole spices and grind them immediately before you use them.
With linseed it will keep for a couple of years as whole seed so you can buy a big 5kg bag for £5.75ish from anyone who sells SUMA stuff. and providing you keep it in a mouse proof container you can just grind a weeks worth at a time.

It isn't just a case of the seeds being " digested more easily." the fact is if you don't grind linseed and examine your stools you will find the whole seeds completely intact. They pass straight through without being digested AT ALL. So you are totally wasting money eating unground linseed. But ground it is even more beneficial than I previously thought as although the conversion rate to EPA isn't terribly efficient what does happen is the metabolic pathway is shifted towards EPA so your digestion is pointed towards seeking other sources of EPA and in total the benefit is greater than I had previously thought.

So my grinder really does earn it's keep and is well worth it's cost.

thriftlady_2

If the things have no nutritional benefit if eaten whole, why aren't they sold ready ground ? Or is it a scam to keep coffee grinder manufacturers in business

Ted_Hutchinson

thriftlady wrote:

If the things have no nutritional benefit if eaten whole, why aren't they sold ready ground ? Or is it a scam to keep coffee grinder manufacturers in business

1. They are cheaper whole. I pay £5.75 for a 5 kg bag of whole natural linseed (suma)
2. They last longer whole (up to 2 yrs no problem if the mice can't get them)
3. Once ground they start to go rancid.
4. You only need 1 or 2 tablespoons each a day so a small potful of the ground meal keeps in the fridge a week without any deterioration in quality.
5. If you bought ready ground linseed meal it would cost more and probably not taste as nice.

See Mayo advice

Tesco Wholefood Brown Linseeds 250g £0.69 thats £2.76p kg, so you see it's cheaper in bulk.
You may be interested to know that my neighbour is getting 17p a kg for his harvest linseed. So Mr Tesco is charging quite a bit to clean it and put it in a bag.
Looking to see if you can buy ready ground linseed online I've found this farm selling 500g packs at a price that makes Mr Tesco seem dirt cheap and that doesn't include postage. You'd soon pay for your grinder at those prices.

Well I've found a place even worse for profiteering than the above farm how about this for cheek £8.95lb + £1.75 delivery. Remember the price the farmer gets is normally 1000kg @ £170

thriftlady_2

OK, you've convinced me Thanks

goonlord

I went to the Whittard Outlet shop to look for grinders after all your good advice and in the end treated myself to a grogeous hand grinder (in preference to the electric grinder which was £5 cheaper) BUT IT DOESN'T GRIND LINSEEDS UP AT ALL!! (and I don't drink coffee so it's completely useless to me).

Before I splash out on an electric grinder (do they definitely do the job? I'm getting paranoid now!) does anyone have any ideas on how I can work with the hand grinder I've got? I've even tried soaking the seeds first but this doesn't work either.

Herbaholic

Yup they do the job, I use mine to grind nuts to a fine powder for nut roasts and also making caster sugar into icing sugar when I run out! The longer you grind it the finer it is

Not sure how you'd get the hand grinder to work as I don't have any experience with them, I do use a pestle and mortar though, mines a heavy based one and that's good for grinding spices to a powder so it may work on your linseeds etc?

goonlord

Thanks - I bought a pestle and mortar first and that is totally ineffective on linseeds...they are so tough!

I thought I might buy a Krups Coffee Mill (£14.97 on Amazon as mentioned by Ted_Hutchinson) - has anyone actually tried this model for grinding linseeds?

This is turning out to be not very moneysaving at all...grrr!